PROPER 12, YEAR C
July 29, 2007
Susan N. Blue

"I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
I didn't have time to pray.

Troubles just tumbled about me,
And heavier came each task;
Why doesn't God help me? I wondered,
God answered, 'You didn't ask.'

I wanted to see joy and beauty,
But the day toiled on grey and bleak;
I called on the Lord for the reason,
God said, 'You didn't seek.'"(copied)

This rather simplistic little poem by an anonymous writer speaks to many of us in our varied and busy lives. Prayer can become rote or non existent in our lives of high tech. We can forget that it is about relationship with a loving God, a God who is addressed as Abba, the name small children used for their fathers in Jesus' time.
The Lord's Prayer is found in both Matthew and Luke, and probably came from the lost Q document and is believed to be authentic to Jesus. It is found in the earliest known liturgy, the Didache, written some fifty years after Jesus' death. In Luke's version Jesus was heading to Jerusalem and his death. This travel time was his last opportunity to teach the disciples what they would need after he was gone. In this case, the disciples asked to be taught to pray after watching Jesus in prayer. Jesus responded, as was his custom, not with a lecture and/or absolutes, but with a simple formulaic prayer, one in which the order is as important as the words. Notice that all of the pronouns are plural, indicating that it was to be a community prayer, not just a private one.

If we look at the prayer line by line we find that it begins with an affirmation of who God is – Abba (personal), creator and the Holy One. Next we find an assertion of what God wants – the coming of the Kingdom or Reign of God. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus preached the Kingdom, not himself. How many of his parables begin with: "The Kingdom of God is like…." It is followed by a variety of examples from a mustard seed to a woman who has lost a coin. We do not find "…your will be done" in Luke as in Matthew, but, in reality it is redundant. In the Kingdom of God all will be done according to God's will. It is only after one acknowledges who God is and what God wants that the petitions come. First, we ask for our human needs to be met, with 'bread' symbolizing what is absolutely necessary for our existence. It emphasizes that we are totally dependent upon God for all that we need and for our very being. (Russell Pregeant, "Lectionary Homiletics," Vol. XVII, No. 4, P.74)

Then, we beg forgiveness for our sins or trespasses, promising also to be forgiving. Matthew uses the word "debts" which could be closer to the earliest version. At that time Rome taxed people heavily, and forgiving debts within the community could be a necessity. Whatever version one prefers, we are called to care for and forgive one another if we are to live in harmony in community. It is important, however, to know that God's forgiveness is freely and abundantly given, and is not dependent upon what we do. It is unearned. Finally, we acknowledge that we need God's help to resist those things that tempt us to turn away from our relationship with the One who created us and loves us beyond all imagining. Both "trial" as in Matthew or "temptation" in Luke are realities of dealing with evil in our daily lives.

Finally, the words we say: "For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever" are a much later addition. This prayer is one of the unifying pieces of our membership in the "one, holy catholic (universal) church." It is interesting, for it could be said by any religion that believes in a monotheistic, creator God. For many of us it resides so deeply in our psyche that I have found that even people on life support or those with advanced Alzheimer's disease can call up the words…mouthing them when they cannot speak. Prayer is not about calling on God to give us what we wish, but rather an opportunity to be still, to listen as well as to speak. It requires persistence and the carving out of time. My first rector, Walt Zelley, used to say that "prayer is not turning God on but tuning God in." God is always there, waiting; waiting for us to be present.

The two passages that follow further explicate the meaning of the prayer. The first is grounded in hospitality…an unexpected guest arrived, the host had no bread, so importuned a friend, awakened him in the night, for help. It would have been shameful to have no food for a guest and even more shameful to refuse to help a friend. From Frank Lyman we hear a story about Sam Rayburn, the Speaker of the House of Representatives longer than any other person. "One of his friends lost a teenage daughter, and early the next morning Rayburn knocked on his door. 'I just came by to see what I could do to help.' The father replied that there was nothing to do. 'Well, ' Rayburn said, 'have you had your coffee this morning?' The man replied that they had not taken time for breakfast. While Rayburn was working in the kitchen fixing the coffee, the man came in and said, 'Mr. Speaker, I thought you were supposed to be having breakfast at the White House this morning.' 'Well, I was,' Rayburn replied, 'but I called the president and told him I had a friend who was in trouble and I could not come.'" (copied)

Let us as a community and individuals make time in our lives to be with God, to be fully present to the Holy One, to remember that God is waiting for each and all of us. We simply need to stop, be quiet and listen.

The epilogue to the poem by the anonymous author that I read at the beginning of this sermon goes like this:

"I woke up early one morning,
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
That I had to take time to pray."

AMEN