Last Sunday of Epiphany (Year A)
Off lectionary alternate text
for Sermon on the Mount series
Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017
I think prayer has more to do with
relationship than “outcomes.” We pray, that is, because it is a vital way of
remaining in relationship, just as we may pour out our hearts to a friend,
lover, or family member not in the expectation that they are necessarily going
to do something about it but because we need someone to share with. And as we
share all these things the relationship grows stronger. I think that makes more
sense to me. Prayer is about relationship.
– David Lose
Theme: Connected
(These
alternate texts are the fifth part of a series from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount,
in four or six parts, through the Seventh Sunday of Epiphany or Ash Wednesday. The
six-part series requires off-lectionary texts for Transfiguration Sunday, Feb.
26. The regular lectionary text also will be posted this week.)
Intro:
Imagine
yourself in the tightly knit group of Jesus’ disciples, hungry to hear your new
teacher’s understandings of the way people should live. Jesus had taken his
disciples away, up a hillside, to share reflections on scripture, ministry and
life, but many more people have joined them.
Jesus had
been teaching about faith practices, and some do’s and don’ts of practicing a
mature faith, such as not turning prayer and fasting into a public show of
piety. We’ll return to that lesson next week. But Jesus digresses from that
lesson to teach the disciples how to pray.
Reflection: I
wish someone had opened my eyes to prayer decades ago. Without a doubt, prayer
has changed how I view God and my faith.
I can’t
remember how early I said my first prayers. They are some of the first memories
I have. Reciting “Now I lay me down to sleep …” and naming people who were
important to me created my first impressions of the Almighty as protector,
someone who cared personally for me.
As most
children do, I went through a stage of treating God like a vending machine:
“God, I want this, please provide it.” I memorized songs and prayers with words
I didn’t understand or examine. For many years, I talked at God.
Somewhere
before my teenage years, church leaders convinced me my faith was solid, and I
prayed well. One pastor even suggested I should consider ordained ministry, or
at least give some thought to becoming a deaconess. I found practical reasons
to decline. And while I never strayed very far from the church, it would be
decades before my church family, things that I read, study groups, and my heart
convinced me that I was still a child at prayer – asking for things in my
distress, saying grace, calling upon God to take care of the sick and injured. The
opening lines of Addison Road’s song “What Do I Know of Holy” covered my
prayers in a nutshell:
I made You promises a thousand times;
I tried to hear from Heaven but I
talked the whole time.
Eventually, I
decided God wasn’t a God of personal relationships. Despite being committed to
my faith, I had never heard from God. If God cared about people, it was in a
general sense of caring for all of creation, and that was good enough. If I had
prayed to God by phone, my prayers would have been messages on an answering
machine: “Oh, God, you’re too busy to talk. Here’s what’s on my mind. Thanks.
Bye.”
I wish I
could say there was a moment, or a lightning bolt that turned me around. But it
came from the repeated message that people wiser than me spent time with God … not talking. Reading scripture
and meditating on it. Spending time outdoors. Driving. Walking. Playing music.
Even showering. And then I heard a comment along the lines of “Prayer doesn’t
change God’s mind. Prayer changes us.”
Overnight, I
became a student of prayer, seeking out how people prayed, eager to try
everything. I wore myself out trying, and then … I stopped. It clicked. Prayer
wasn’t a thing. Prayer was a commitment to being in relationship, connected all
the time. Actual spoken prayers were the starting points, but prayer was
sensing God’s presence, within one’s self and in other people, in the momentous
and the mundane.
I’m still
figuring it all out. Maybe you are, too.
So, when the
disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray,
why did he teach them a prayer? I’m
convinced discovering prayer is much like discovering God. You don’t get it
from reading a book or listening to a sermon. The disciples didn’t get it sitting
on a hillside, even listening to the Son of God explain it. Prayer arrives on
the journey, as a gift.
Faith App: Find a prayer ritual that sustains
you throughout the week. Try different styles until you find one that helps you
stay connected. Remember, prayer is a relationship – let it grow deeper and
change throughout your life (Consider the idea list at the end of today’s blog
post).
HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS
Lord, Listen to Your Children
Praying, ELW 752
O Lord, Hear My Prayer, ELW 751
Forgive Our Sins As We Forgive, ELW 605
What a Friend We Have in Jesus, ELW 741
Lord, Teach Us How to Pray Aright, ELW 745
Take, O Take Me As I Am, ELW 814
Now Thank We All Our God, ELW 840
Give Us Clean Hands, Chris
Tomlin
Pray, Sanctus Real
Touch the Sky, Hillsong United
What Do I Know of Holy, Addison Road
Thank You, 33 Miles
Blessings, Laura Story
LESSONS
2 Chronicles 7:12-18 Then
the Lord appeared to Solomon and said to him: “I have heard your prayer.”
Psalm 86:1-10 Give
ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.
Philippians 1:3-11 I
thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy.
Matthew 6:7-15 Pray
then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Summary of
the Lessons: Lesson 5
– Connected: It’s about relationship. A
collection of the Bible’s wisdom figures agrees – prayer is more than begging
when you’re in trouble or saying an occasional thank you when things go your
way. Prayer is the language of an ongoing relationship with one’s Creator and
Sustainer.
OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 86:1-10
L: Please, Lord, show me
that you’re listening,
C: I’m really struggling
here, and I need you.
L: This is something I
can trust only to you –
C: Rescue me! I can’t do
this without you.
L: Heal my hurting
places, Lord, raise my spirits,
C: Despair overwhelms me;
I weep every day.
L: Forgive me and repair
my shattered pieces –
C: You hear what I ask,
yet give me what I need.
L: No one comes close to
your majesty, Lord;
C: Sun and stars come to
light in your hands;
L: People of all nations
will join to worship you,
C: Awesome, unmatched
Creator – you are my God.
CONFESSION
L: Lord, we confess our
lack of connectedness to you;
C: You promise to listen,
but we fail to keep in touch,
L: Once in a while, we
seek help for a loved one in need,
C: Or remember to thank
you for the joys of our lives.
L: Lord, we confess that
we go through the motions,
C: Repeated empty phrases
leave us deaf and numb;
L: Everything we need,
you’ve anticipated already.
C: Yet we keep talking,
never hearing what you say.
L: Lord, do you ever
wonder why we’re distant,
C: In the ordinary
moments of our everyday lives,
L: In our workplaces,
classrooms and leisure time,
C: When we wake in the
morning, until we fall asleep.
(Silent
reflection)
L: In our confession, we
pray together,
C: Ever-Patient God …
Just as Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, teach us again. Forgive us for
thinking that we should leave prayer to the experts – our pastor or certain
gifted leaders – when you long for ongoing give-and-take with the people you
love so much. Humble us, God, so that we develop a deepened relationship with
you, ever seeking your face throughout our days.
Hear this
Good News: You are held in the heart of
our God, who longs to be in constant and authentic relationship with every
beloved child. God’s eyes are open and ears are attentive for our prayers.
Receive these words of pardon, that God forgives your sin and removes everything
that would divide us from this overflowing love.
In the name
of…
Amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
L: We pray together,
C: Loving God … we seek a deeper relationship
with you as we grow into discipleship. We come before you, humble and real,
staying connected to the one who already knows our needs. Help us to see our
lives as one long conversation with you – listening, speaking, and serving in
response to your Spirit moving in and through us. Amen.
COMMUNION BLESSING
L: We pray together,
C: We give you thanks, most gracious God, for
the relationship you build with us and between your people here, each time we
share this meal. Thank you for hearing and seeing the prayers of your people in
worship, in solitary time with you, and in our acts of service. Gather our
prayers together, and led by the Spirit, let them become love in action. Amen.
SENDING
L: Send us now as living prayers,
C: God’s kind words on our lips,
L: Peace and justice in our hands,
C: Love overflowing from our hearts.
L:
Go now, called and connected, to love and to serve the Lord.
C:
Thanks be to God!
First Reading 2 Chronicles
7:12-18 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Solomon
kept David’s promise to construct a great temple to house the Ark of the
Covenant and honor God. The temple took seven years to build in the mid-10th
century B.C. This conversation between God and Solomon takes place after the dedication
sacrifices and festivals.
Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him:
“I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of
sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the
locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who
are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and
heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer
that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so
that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all
time. As for you, if you walk before me, as your father David walked, doing
according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my
ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne, as I made covenant with
your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over
Israel.’
Second Reading Philippians 1:3-11 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Paul
started the church at Philippi on his second missionary trip, when he had a
vision to respond to a call for help in Macedonia. This church is now at least
10 years old and is having some growing pains, with divisions from within and
without. Paul writes to the Philippians from jail, probably in Rome.
I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying
with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in
the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one
who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus
Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold
me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my
imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my
witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And
this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and
full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of
Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Gospel Matthew 6:7-15 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Jesus
and his disciples are surrounded by followers and curious onlookers on a
hillside as he continues teaching about ministry and interpreting scripture. As
Jesus tell the disciples what not to do in prayer, he responds to questions
about how one should pray.
When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the
Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many
words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask
him.
“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the
evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.
Some Alternative Prayer Ideas
Prayer Postures and
Settings
God
listens no matter what posture we use to pray.
But if you always pray sitting in a chair or kneeling, you may want to
change your posture just to reignite your own prayer time. Consider praying while
reclining, standing or prostrate. Instead of folding your hands, perhaps trying
opening your hands in a receptive way in front of you. You also might light a
candle or darken the room, or play gentle music.
Rhythmic activity
Almost
any activity that is repetitive is an opportunity to pray or meditate. Combine
short word or two-word breath prayers with the repetitions of exercises or
movement.
Tai
Chi or yoga fit well with prayerful spiritual practice, but you may use your
time on a stepper, treadmill or elliptical cycle for the same purpose. How
about using a time of gentle stretching to be thankful for your healthy body? Walking
or running allow for many different practices: breath prayers, sharing the
concerns on your heart, or a contemplative time to allow God to speak to you.
Artistic interpretation
Perhaps
fine art is your method of expression. The movement of drawing, painting or
sculpting, the full body movement of dance, or the sounds of vocal or
instrumental music can be prayer or meditation. Express what you might express
in a prayer instead in visual or musical form. Consider how you might convey
healing, forgiveness, faithfulness, concern or any other thought you may want
to share in your favorite art form. Or listen to God speaking to you as you
create.
Centering Prayer
A
simple method of silent prayer developed by three Trappist monks in the 1970s
is called Centering Prayer, referencing Thomas Merton's definition of
contemplation as prayer "centered entirely on the presence of God."
Thanks to Fr. Richard Rohr for this description:
Centering
Prayer is simply sitting in silence, open to God's love and your love for God.
Choose a sacred word, with one or two syllables, "as the symbol of your
intention to consent to God's presence and action within. [Then,] sitting
comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly, and silently introduce your
sacred word. . .. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to
your sacred word. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes
closed for a couple of minutes." Begin with five or 10 minutes and work up
to longer periods like 20 to 30 minutes. Allow thoughts to come and go without
latching onto them, without judgment. Then come back to your sacred word and
return to resting in God’s presence.
Consider these sacred
words, or use a word that speaks to you:
- Love
- Peace
- One
- God
- Word
Journaling or free
writing
Perhaps
the way you like to communicate is in writing. Writing out your prayer is a
reflective practice that connects your mind, hand and heart in a meaningful
way. Some people keep prayer journals for just this reason. Give yourself space
and a time, then write what comes to your mind. Don’t worry about finding
perfect or religious words – just say what is resting in your heart about a
situation. Here are a couple of writing prompts: “God, I need guidance about …”
or “God, the person who is on my heart today is …” You also may write in reflection with what
you are reading or as you read and study various sections of scripture. Don’t
get pressured by the page or the time.
Lectio Divina
Lectio
divina means “sacred reading.” The actual practice of lectio divina begins with
a time of relaxation, making oneself comfortable and clearing the mind of
mundane thoughts and cares. Some lectio practitioners find it helpful to
concentrate by beginning with deep, cleansing breaths and repeating a chosen
phrase or word several times to help free the mind. Then they follow four
steps:
- Lectio - Reading the Bible passage gently and slowly several times. The passage itself is not as important as the savoring of each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase that somehow speaks to the practitioner.
- Meditatio - Reflecting on the text of the passage and thinking about how it applies to one's own life. This is considered to be a very personal reading of the Scripture and very personal application.
- Oratio – Responding to the passage by opening the heart to God. This is not primarily an intellectual exercise, but is thought to be more of the beginning of a conversation with God.
- Contemplatio - Listening to God. This is a freeing of oneself from one's own thoughts, both mundane and holy, and hearing God talk to us. Opening the mind, heart, and soul to the influence of God.
Prayer Beads
A
rosary is just one type of prayer beads. People can use all types of beads or
counters to physically touch something as they pray. A beaded multicolored
bracelet or even a group of photos can be used to recall specific people or
situations about which you wish to pray. Something with five to 12 beads or
counters may be a manageable number of people or situations.
One simple set of
counters is your fingers. Here is the well-known five-finger prayer:
-
Your thumb is nearest to you, so pray for those closest to you.
-
The pointer finger is for those who instruct: teachers, doctors, pastors and
others.
-
The tallest finger reminds us to pray for our leaders.
-
The ring finger is the weakest finger. Pray for those who are sick, in trouble
or pain.
-
The little finger reminds us to be humble and put others first. Pray for your
needs last.
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