Leading up to Easter we’re beginning a series of sermons on prayer and the Lord’s Prayer out of Luke 11:1-13. This comes out of a desire for our church to become more of a praying church that prays for one another and for its neighborhood. I told the church this past Sunday that this is a project that, “doesn’t cost us a single dime.” What I’m hoping is that folks will start becoming open to the idea that when we pray, our prayers are a means of worshiping God and for being in conversation with God. Often our prayers are like a game of tug of war with God, “If you do this for me Lord, I’ll do this for you.” How do we move to a place of truly talking with God and allowing ourselves to come to God with an openness that brings to him our needs and our desires like a child goes to a parent when they need or want something?

Luke 11

¹ One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” ^2-4So he said, “When you pray, say,

Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

^5-6Then he said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’

⁷“The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’

⁸“But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need.

⁹“Here’s what I’m saying:

Ask and you’ll get;
Seek and you’ll find;
Knock and the door will open.

^10-13“Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

The Message Paraphrase

A Prayer for Lent, by Henri Nouwen
How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it? But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death? Yes, Lord, I have to die—with you, through you, and in you—and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection. There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess…. I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it. O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.

A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee

We recently purchased a new car that needed to have some extra gadgets installed. I took the car to the dealer this morning and I decided to kill some time and walked to the local Panera to do some work for church and to crank out around 3000 pages of reading prior to a class that I’m taking at the end of the month. As I was sitting at one of the tables a group of folks sat at the table next to me. The group was a committee from a local church meeting to do some planning for an event they were having in the community. The church seemed to be a large church because I kept hearing things like, “our four worship services.” They were speaking my language. The conversation sounded familiar.

As I sat and listened (Of course reading my book) I have to admit that the conversation they were having was very concerning to me as a pastor. It was very concerning to me as a follower of Jesus. It overwhelmed me. Their meeting gave me flashbacks of serving at a couple of other larger churches where it seemed that all we were ever doing was programming. We never really talked about the people and I wondered if I do the same thing even today as a pastor?

As the group sat and worked at planning this event, they covered every detail they could think of. They talked about child care that was needed. They talked about who was doing the food. They even talked about which committee needed to make the announcements in church and what the church secretaries job was for this event. What was concerning to me was that there was a huge element missing in their planning. I couldn’t figure it out until they left the table. They forgot to pray and to include God in the process. And I wondered if I do the same sometimes in the midst of the chaos of “planning church.” Now don’t get me wrong. They opened their planning meeting with prayer for the meal. I have no doubt these folks have a heart for the Lord and for the people they serve. Their planning seemed scattered. They were all over the map. At one point the conversation even took a turn for the worse in that the head of the committee made reference to a member in the church who had lost a ton of weight and was a huge success at a certain diet regimen and forgot that the lady sitting next to her was obviously dealing her own weight issues. I wanted to crawl out of my skin.

When they left the table I wanted so much to say, “Can I pray for you all?” I wanted so much to say, “what are you really trying to do in this event and who are you really trying to reach? I even wanted to pray that the church they were serving would come to know truly what it means to love others as Christ loves us. The church seemed stuck in some time warp in the 80’s where program and success were a priority over people and needed to be jolted back into 2008.

My prayer for 2008? That I’d include God in my planning. I want to be the kind of pastor that includes God in everything I say and do. I want to be the kind of pastor that adds the simplest of elements to planning. Prayer. I want to be a praying pastor. I want to be bold in the way I pray.

Something else in 2008? That I’d listen to the nudge of the Spirit when God tries to get my attention and wants me to do something that people usually don’t do for fear of looking silly. I should of offered a prayer for them as they were leaving.

Amen. Found this on Mark’s site. Continued prayers for the Malibu Church.

“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”
Karl Barth

ht: Juan

Today, I spent some time with a wonderful guy and church member named Jimmy. Jimmy has cancer. It’s a horrible cancer. His body is filled with tumors. This last year has been difficult in that the doctors can’t stop the cancer. Nothing seems to work. Radiation and chemo haven’t worked. He began hospice a few weeks ago and just yesterday his hospice nurse said that his kidneys are failing and that he’s only been given a few weeks to live.

If Jimmy crossed your path today, all you’d see is his smile. His smile is contagious and his heart loves the Lord. He loves his kids, his wife, and his mom. You’d never know that he was physically in pain. As Jimmy and I spent some time together this afternoon, Jimmy is certain that he’s going to heaven. He said, “Last night it hit me, that I was going to heaven soon.”

As I sat in the quiet of his back-yard with his wife, I reminded him of a recent trip he and his wife took to Alaska. I asked if he was doing anything else or if he was spending time with family. Jimmy smiled and said he wanted to go to the ZOO and that this Friday he was seeing the opening of a movie and that this was the first time he had ever seen a movie on the day it opened.

Something I did grab from a theology professor in seminary was the art of being present is what matters and that pastoral care sometimes is just being physically present in the midst of someones pain. No answers, no fixing, just being present.

Today, Jimmy and his wife and I sat. We laughed. We were quiet. A few tears were shed. We laughed some more and we prayed and we will continue to be present praying for Jimmy and that he would enjoy these last days sitting in the presence of family, friends, and the Lord.

Please pray for Jimmy.

We have a time in our service at church where we hear prayers of concern or praise. Let me take you back to our church this morning for this little bit of coolness…

Me: “Are there other prayers of praise or concern?”

Child 1 raising hand: “I’m going to Tahoe.” (Going with family member)

Child 2 raising hand: (Huge smile on his face as a he raises his hand) “My dad is taking me to see transformers.”

It was the cutest thing I’ve ever experienced in church and a reminder of the need for us big people to come to the Lord in prayer with a kids heart.