Prayer

 

Sermon for July 24

PRAYER

All the lessons and even the collect for the day point us to aspects of prayer.

The collect is a prayer for Mercy. Hear what it says.

“Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that with you as our ruler and guide, we may pass through things temporal, that we not lose the things eternal.”

We always need mercy. And we need, constantly, to show mercy to those who offend or harm us.

Then, from Genesis, Abraham ‘bargains’ with God.

And in doing so, he saves the people of Sodom and Gomorrah from death and destruction.

He bargains God down from 50 righteous people in the city to 10—to save it.

Prayer can involve bargaining with God. Asking this for that. One for the other.

God will bargain with us in prayer.

Psalm 138 is a prayer of ‘thanksgiving’. And we should always be thankful to God.

We have so many good and valuable and lovable thing to give thanks for.

“I give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart…”

So should we.

Colossians is a prayer for forgiveness.

Lord knows we need to be forgiven.

Listen to what Paul wrote:

“And when you were dead in trespasses….God made you alive together with him, when he forgave all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with it’s legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Then, in Luke, his disciples asked him ‘how to pray’.

And he gave them what we will say together at the end of the Eucharistic prayer and what we call ‘The Lord’s prayer.”

Also in Luke, Jesus tells us to be ‘persistent’ in our prayers.

To keep asking—as you would ask a neighbor for food.

Be persistent.

Pray for mercy.

Bargain with God in your prayer.

Always, always, give thanks to God for God’s gifts to you and yours.

Pray—as we all need—for forgiveness.

And in the Prayers of the People today and in the Lord’s prayer, be persistent in your prayers.

Prayer must be a major part of our lives.

 

So many people told me the prayer of silence last week meant something to them, that we’re going to center again to end this sermon.

Close your eyes. Relax. Try to clear your mind.

Be present to God.

Be present.

Be still.

Be.

(Two minutes of silence.)

Be.

Be still.

Always listen for God.

Always pray.

Amen and Shalom.