Meeting God in Prayer

Written by Ed Kauffman

Meeting God in Prayer

September 11, 2011

Ed Kauffman

Scripture: Luke 11:5-13; Luke 18:9-14

Let’s face it; to talk about prayer is to invite all kinds of difficult questions and theological issues.  Some of you may have seen the letter to the editor earlier in the week that dismissed prayer as simply talking to yourself.  Skeptics abound, and the questions are not always easy to answer.    I recall a person who spoke of always praying that they would find a parking space and testifying that indeed, their prayers were always answered.  Does God really care about whether you find a parking space?  And if God always answers that prayer, why doesn’t God answer the prayers of those who face death or some other crisis? 

Some would have us believe that answers to prayer depend on how much faith you have.  And so, obviously if your prayers aren’t answered, you just don’t have enough faith.  That was a rather popular theme back in the 70s, and still is with some groups.  Yet, a mustard seed is really small, and Jesus said if you only have that much faith your prayers would be answered.  And experience tells us that sometimes bad things happen to really good people.

And yet, in spite of all the questions, prayer is a constant part of most religions. One interesting story I read was about the Buddist prayer wheel.  According to Buddist thought each revolution of the prayer wheel sends a prayer heavenward.  Some modern Buddists have decided to use technology, and so have put their prayers on their computer hard drives, which spin at tremendous speeds.

Christian prayer is widely talked about and attested to.  The Bible is full of prayers and teaching about prayer.  Books have been written and entire web sites are devoted to prayer, like allaboutprayer.org.  When Philip Yancey, popular author, was researching for his book entitled Prayer, he asked many people if they prayed and almost everyone said they did.  Yet many of them also said they found little satisfaction in praying.

Do we only pray because we think we should?  Does prayer make any difference?  Does prayer change God’s mind, or just ours?  And what do we pray about?  Yancey suggests that most prayers are either cries for help, or about trivia – like finding parking spaces.  Is there someone listening?  In an episode of the TV program M*A*S*H, Father Mulcahey found himself going deaf and at one point he says to God, “What good is a deaf priest? I keep praying but it just keeps getting worse.  Are you deaf too?”

We have probably all experienced prayer in different ways and with many different feelings about it.  All of us have undoubtedly raised questions, even if we did not dare to ask them.  Today, on this 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 there will be many prayers said, even by people who may not pray at any other time, as remembrance ceremonies are being held.  Many prayers were said that day, yet thousands of people died. 

I am certainly not going to answer all the questions this morning, and perhaps I will raise more than I answer, but let me share at least some of what I believe about prayer and about what we can learn about prayer from the Bible.

I think first of all we need to be clear and say that prayer is not something that we can speak of in scientific, provable terms.  Prayer is a matter of belief and faith.  So to try and prove that prayer works, or doesn’t work is fruitless.  There have been studies done which purport to prove that prayer is effective, even for persons who don’t know they are being prayed for, but one can always find contrary evidence.  So prayer, not the results of prayer, but prayer itself depends on faith.  Yancey suggests that prayer is based on three beliefs. 1. God exists; 2. God is capable of hearing our prayers; and 3. God cares about our prayers.  He goes on to say, “None of these three can be proved or disproved.  They must either be believed or disbelieved.”

For us as Christians, prayer is based on a relationship.  Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father...”  In other places we are told that we can address God like children talk to their Daddy or Abba.  Now certainly people pray to God without much of a relationship, but clearly our relationship to God allows us to speak in familiar terms to one that we trust and have come to know through our experiences.  The psalms, which are often addressed as prayers to God, show us the broad range of emotions that the writers feel free to share with God.  Such freedom comes as we develop our relationship with God. 

One writer I read spoke of someone who was upset, saying they had lost faith in God and spend the whole night ranting and raving to God because God seemed so far away.  “But,” said, this author, “what you were really doing all night was praying.”  When we trust the other enough, we can say anything, knowing we will still be accepted and loved.

But does prayer do anything?  Yes, I believe it does, although as another writer said, “I believe prayer is effective, but I don’t know how, why, or when.”  We have examples in the Bible of God being persuaded to change by people’s prayers .  Moses pled with God on behalf of the Israelites and persuaded God not to destroy them.  While Abraham was not able to save Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction, he did manage to get God to save more people, and certainly when the people of Ninevah repented and prayed to God, God decided not to destroy the city, much to Jonah’s chagrin.

And prayer also has an effect on us.  We are told to pray for enemies, “bless them”  Paul writes in Romans 12, “bless and do not curse them.”  One of the stories Gay has often told is how praying for a person who seemed most opposed to my ministry changed their relationship.  Who it changed more is hard to say, but the effect was real.

We are told of numerous times when Jesus prayed, and it is perhaps instructive to note that not all of Jesus’ prayers were answered in the way he might have wished, for example in the garden.  Jesus also spoke about prayer, both directly and in parables such as the ones we read earlier.  These were two passages that were part of the VBS story times this summer. 

The story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying seems fairly straightforward and is reinforced by other saying of Jesus.  Don’t make a show of your praying.  God is not impressed with fancy words or elaborate ritual.  That theme is already established in the prophets, like the familiar passage in Micah 6: 6-8:

6“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”8He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

But the other parable seems a bit harder to understand, especially in light of the first.  Does God really want us banging on the door again and again.  Doesn’t God know what we want or need?  Or is it primarily about the fact that God wants to give us good things if we will only ask?

Perhaps Yancey says it best when he says, “Jesus taught a model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, but otherwise gave few rules.  His teaching reduces down to three general principles: Keep it honest, keep it simple, and keep it up.”  I like that.

Is there then a right way to pray?  I don’t think so.  While we have the Lord’ prayer as a model, there are many ways and styles of prayer.  I remember one exercise I was involved in one time where we were only supposed to pray prayers of thanksgiving or praise– no asking!  It’s harder than it sounds.  There are prayers of petition, both for ourselves and for others.  There are cries for help, prayers of praise and thanksgiving, silent and spoken.  And at times, we don’t have the words for prayer, and the Spirit takes over and intercedes for us, according to Romans 8: 26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”  Many of us have probably been there and know that feeling.

Some people pray best in a quiet place or with a candle burning to symbolize the presence of God.  Others pray while they walk or simply as a part of their everyday activities.  Different personality types have been shown to approach prayer differently.  I know that is something that helped me to understand both myself and other. 

Jan Karon, popular author of the Mitford series featuring Father Tim, speaks through him of the prayer that is always answered, namely, “Thy will be done.”  That prayer not only opens us up to accept whatever God has in store, but also obligates us to work toward that goal as well.  As James says it doesn’t do any good to say to someone who is hungry, “We’ll pray for you,” if you don’t also give them something to eat.  “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is not only a petition, but a call to action.

We worship and pray to a God whom we believe loved us enough to send Jesus among us in the flesh, to live and die for us, and raised him to life so that we can experience life in relationship to God.  Because of that, we have the opportunity, even the audacity to talk with God – that’s what we call prayer. 

As I quoted at the beginning – I believe that prayer is effective, even if I don’t know how, why, or when.  Just like any relationship, if I want to nurture my relationship with God, I need to keep talking, and listening.  And I need to keep in mind those three simply principles:

Keep it honest. Keep it simple. And keep it up.