People of Faith, Pray!

Rev. Linda Fernandes-Bailey
August 12, 2007

The disciple asks his master, “What can I do to attain God?”
The master answers by asking, “What can you do to make the sun rise?”
The disciple says indignantly, “Then why are you giving us all these methods of prayer?”
And the master replies, “To make sure you’re awake when the sun rises.”

We all know that prayer is central to our faith right? Well, certainly when I read scripture it is clear to me that prayer is central to the people of God both in the Hebrew scripture and the New Testament. We hear in today’s scripture lessons that Jesus is up all night praying and Paul says don’t worry pray! When I read the gospels it seems clear to me that Jesus grounded his life in prayer. It was central to his life with God. It was central in his discerning God’s will for him. It was central in his relationship with others. He prayed for others and with others. Sometimes he goes off by himself to pray and I imagine that his prayer is sometimes grounded in silence. But other times, he cries out to God, like in the garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest when he says, “remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” Crying for intervention but accepting God’s way. So it seems to me that prayer for Jesus is both verbal and non verbal, private and communal. It is as much about his relationship with God as it is about his relationship with others. And it is interesting to me that in today’s gospel lesson after he spends the night in prayer he calls the disciples. So, I can’t help but wonder if somehow his prayer helped in his selection and also helped him to discern his ministry of teaching and healing.

We know also that prayer is important for Paul. Paul encourages us to pray without ceasing. In his letters to various communities he usually says pray for me and I’ll pray for you. It’s part of the fabric of their relationship. And in today’s reading he says “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication (the act of praying for someone or something) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. So, for Paul prayer is relational and conversational.

So, again I would say that I think that most of us would agree that prayer is central to our faith…in fact in some shape or form it is central to people of every faith tradition. SO, it always surprises me when I hear how few people actually have a discipline of prayer! I mean people who come to church regularly and are people of faith but when it comes to prayer they feel confused. Many people I find are just uncomfortable with prayer. They are not sure how it works or why they should pray or they say they don’t know how. OR they never really learned how in their childhood. Many people say they only learned rote prayer that felt meaningless to them. SO rather than explore prayer we stop.

Why pray anyway? What exactly is prayer about? For me it comes down to a few things. I think prayer is first about being in relationship with God. Relationships need attention or they die. Prayer is our way of being with God and sharing our deepest self with God. Now that in itself can be a problem because a lot of times we want to clean ourselves up for God…put our best foot forward. BUT read scripture and you know first that God calls very imperfect people with lots of problems and when you read the psalms you know that people of faith cry out and share all their emotions and frustrations. They hold nothing back! I think we know from our human relationships that it is in those relationships that we risk revealing all of our selves that are the most intimate and life giving and so it is with God.

As the opening parable suggests prayer is also about learning how to pay attention. When we take time to pray we begin to notice God working in our lives and begin to recognize God’s voice. When we pray we become aware of God’s presence, guidance, and love. In prayer we open ourselves up to experiencing God’s grace. In other words when we pray we wake up. We begin to see with different eyes, hear with different ears and our heart begins to expand. We move towards conscious living. Prayer can transform us and give us the new life.

The best kept secret about prayer is that it is a discipline. I don’t think that most of us pray naturally so we need practice and we need to make a commitment to it. The more we pray the more we will want to pray the less we pray the harder it will be. If you read about prayer most books will suggest that you have a special room or chair and that you prayer at the same time of day; in other words, a routine or a discipline. On one of the retreats I just led we developed a “rule for life” meaning we each committed to a practice of prayer and paying attention using some of the methods we had learned in class. A rule for life helps us to create a balance between solitude and community. .Remember Jesus had a rhythm of solitude and community. Private prayer gives us that solitude.

At the same time, I believe we can live our lives prayerfully…that’s where paying attention becomes very important. Rather than racing around and doing as much as we can… we become present in every moment noticing how God reveals God’s self to each of us in every moment. BUT having a discipline of prayer helps us come to the place where it is possible to live our life prayfully.

I remember one class I was teaching and the subject that evening was prayer and someone asked “Linda, what did you learn in seminary about prayer?” And I said, “Nothing” “No really” they insisted. “I’m serious” I reply. I know all of you think as ministers we are prayer experts. But the truth is we learn how to pray by praying! We learn how to pray by listening to others pray, we learn how to pray by letting worship become part of the fabric of our lives AND if you are book obsessed like me, you can learn a good deal about prayer by reading about it. BUT the best way to learn is by praying!

Nothing was more frightening to me than when I did my clinical education at Masonic Home. I served as a chaplain visiting the sick and I was expected for the most part to pray. Now for many years I had prayed at least on and off but this was different people were expecting me to pray out loud with them. Boy did I struggle! Why exactly am I praying? What am I suppose to say? (remember I did not learn this in seminary) So in total frustration one day I decided I am just not praying today…it feels fake… uncomfortable…I don’t know what to say so how can it be doing any good. So I visit a woman and we have a nice pleasant conversation and as I am leaving the room (without praying) I say good bye and she grabs my hand and says “Pastor, will you pray with me!” I got the distinct impression that God was trying to tell me something. It didn’t matter how uncomfortable I was! I learned that people feel comforted when you pray with them and for them. And maybe it’s just not that important to know how prayer works but to assume it does in some way that we might not yet understand. But friends, don’t leave all the praying to the ordained minister…we are all ministers…we are all in relationship with God. It’s true that I am always grateful that one of the vows for ordination is to promise with the help of God to have a practice of prayer…it keeps me praying. But see, you don’t have to get ordained to make a promise to have a prayer life the promise can be between you and God….OR like the retreat I led the promise was among the group members who promise to support one another along the way.

One of the stumbling blocks to prayer is that we think there is one way to pray. But that’s not true…there are so many different ways to pray. There are prayers of thanksgiving, confession, and intercession. There is silent prayer, conversational prayer praying with scripture and even body prayers. AND, that rote prayer that many of you learned and complain about is a way of prayer and for many a form of deep meditation. The point is that rather than not pray because you are uncomfortable I want to invite you to explore prayer. Learn more about prayer. Learn different methods. Try praying with others and for others. Find out what works for you and most important stick to it. I am learning all the time that God’s time is nothing like ours. When we pray things happen very slowly. There are no immediate results. Answer to prayer can be very subtle so learning to pay attention is vital! We are an instant gratification society…we like everything at high speed. But prayer isn’t like that and that’s why I think a lot of people give up. Prayer is not for most of us about having a mystical experience it is about having a relationship with God. Prayer methods and committing to a practice of prayer help us to live our lives pray-fully, to walk gently and speak kindly…to be thoughtful rather than reactive. Prayer is about paying attention to beauty and love and living in gratitude. Prayer is about learning to love God and allowing God to love you.

In this time of transition prayer will be important to sustain us and to help us discern God’s voice. It will be important that all of us pray together. So, I would encourage you to explore prayer…try new ways… find what fits… be persistent… begin anew or just begin. In the words of trappist monk Thomas Merton “ If you want a life of prayer, the way you get it is by praying…You start where you are and deepen what you already have.” Amen