Sermon preached at Mt. Hollywood Congregational Church on 5/22/11.
When I heard Nancy say last week that Rachel really wanted her to follow the theme of “I believe...” I thought... shoot. I better figure out what I believe before I figure out what I preach next week! And then, as I sat at the soundboard, I realized that my “I believe” poster from confirmation class was right behind me. PERFECT! I’ll refer to my public display of faith to tell me what I need to preach about. As I looked over my board I realized that there was a common theme.... I believe in God... and transformation... and prayer.... and particularly those three things together. So with that, let us pray.
God may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be found acceptable in your sight... for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Picture this: I’m kneeling beside my bed with my grandmother, hands folded, eyes closed...“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Now, picture this: I’m sitting around the dinner table with my family, eyes closed, hands folded... “Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.”
And really, it sounded more like ”comelordjesusbeourguestandletthesegiftstousbeblessedamen”
…. nothing could get between me and my mashed potatoes... except this prayer.
You see, these are the prayers that I grew up with. And, for the most part, I thought this was it. I mean, that’s all I really remember praying when I was little. Then, once I got into high school, I didn’t do much praying at all. And in college, as I grew more into my call to ministry, I would say a prayer and put the books under my pillow in an effort to do well on a test.
Yea, I’m that girl.
And if you can’t tell by that little anecdote, guess what, I’m not an expert on prayer. I know just as much about prayer as any of you. I have gone to workshops about prayer, but the truth is, the best way to “get good” at prayer, is by doing it. There’s a secret about the service today... something that I wove into the service that you may or may not pick up on. So, just in case you missed it, let me just get this out of the way: pay attention to the three hymns we’re singing today because they each express a different way to be with/talk to/lean on God. Just take note of that, and lets move on.
Prayer is a very intimate thing. It draws us near to God, no matter our state of being. It connects us to God in the same way that a conversation with a good friend connects us to them. You don’t just talk AT someone, right? You have dialogue (which includes speaking and listening)...you reveal your deepest secrets... you discuss concerns you have about others. You open up your soul to that person... and in the end, you do some serious truth-telling about yourself... Prayer is more than just words or a conversation. It is about acknowledgement.
So maybe you’re sitting there thinking, “Ok, Emily, I hear you but I don’t necessarily believe in God, which makes prayer pretty tricky.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “Ok, I have conversation with God on a regular basis and I feel like it doesn’t do anything.” Or perhaps, “Oh, great, someone trying to connect me, again, to a spiritual practice that doesn’t make sense to me.” Hear me out.
Let me tell you a quick story.
Last week as I was sitting down to my computer to write this sermon, I sent my pastor from home a gmail chat messenger thing just to say hi. I told her I was writing a sermon about prayer. She asked me, “What is the most prayerful practice in your life right now?” My mind went blank. I thought, Oh no... I’m trying to preach about prayer and I can’t even tell you what it is that’s bringing ME close to God right now. Great. I’m going to have to change my topic. I was racking my brain, scrambling for an answer and almost on a whim, I responded to her and simply said, “writing.” She asked why... I responded... but it wasn’t enough... she kept pushing me...she continued to ask “yea, but how does that make you feel? what makes it different than other practices?” Eventually we got to the bottom of it... Writing is currently my most prayerful practice because it brings me comfort. And that was the truth. I didn’t pull it out of nowhere, afterall!
I share this not because ALL prayer is meant to bring comfort but because of what my pastor said next. She said: It brings you comfort in your struggle because that is what’s relevant in your life right now.
You see, prayer is a practice that relies on relevance. Prayer connects you to God in your current mental/physical/spiritual/emotional state. If you are feeling angry, YELL AT GOD. If you can’t do anything but cry, cry with God. If you feel stagnant and are looking for liberation, go running or dancing. If you are frustrated with life, ask God those questions. If you are pissed about the way the world is working, go march for justice. My favorite African Proverb says, “When you pray, move your feet.” Do whatever makes the most sense to you in relationship to God. By doing this we recognize and acknowledge those things that are so personal and so painful to us that we have a hard time admitting them to anyone else, much less admitting it to ourselves.
You know how when someone greets you and they ask how you’re doing and you say, “Hi, I’m good” but you don’t really mean it? That’s not at all what God is looking for. That’s one of those conversations that I imagine happening like this.
God says, “oh hey, how are you today, my child?” And I say, “Oh, I’m fine.” Then God says, “Ok, no, but really. How ARE you?” Then I say, “No, really. I’m ok, I promise.” Then God says, “No, I mean it! I want to know how you are feeling! Please, fill me in on your life. I love you and want to figure out how to help you.”
As the author and spiritual guru, Wayne Muller says, “In our frantic craving for relief, we try to make the appearance of suffering go away.” You see, when we do that, we turn into our own oppressors... we suppress that suffering in an attempt to please the people around us... or perhaps in an effort to subconsciously put it on the back burner because it is too painful to deal with. But as we know, oppression is an awful thing no matter what form it takes... no matter who is doing it to whom... no matter the issue. We cannot... I repeat... we CANNOT be our own oppressors.
As it says on my board back there: I believe it’s okay to be angry... particularly with God! That’s what we heard in our Psalm this morning, wasn’t it? It’s a desperate plea from the author: “Don’t let me down! Take me seriously this time!” In this Psalm we hear various emotions: anger, need for safety, confidence, pain. I mean, have you read through the book of Psalms? Surely you know of the cries for justice in Psalm 82... and the lamenting of Psalm 44… and the rejoicing of Psalm 150... and the plea for comfort in Psalm 23... the list goes on and on. There are 150 Psalms... it’s sorta like Baskin-Robbins... there’s a flavor for everyone.
But in all seriousness, something else I believe in is the Holy Spirit and its ability to move me in unimaginable ways. When we give ourselves and our concerns and our hopes to God, we leave room for the Holy Spirit to move in our lives. My mentor always says, “Prayer should be to us like breathing. God is never farther away than our own breath.” These two sentences have saved my life over and over and over again. They remind me that God is real and present in my life every moment of every day. They remind me that the suffering, the pain, the joy I feel is just as real to God as it is to me... like I said … “ She feels this too.”
So, if we’re going to make prayer relevant in our own lives, we need to make it relevant in our church community, too, since that is our common context. These gold banners on the altar tell us that we’re still in the season of Eastertide, which means we are still living in the after-glow of Christ’s resurrection. The themes of renewal and hope and new life still ring in our hearts and minds.
Easter is all about incarnation, right? It’s about God becoming flesh and dwelling among us...it’s about Christ experiencing the same feelings we have experienced... the love of beloved ones... the frustrations with the world... the stupidity of people... the pain of death... and the joy of new life. This incarnation helps us believe that God knows exactly what we’re going through. I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope that just maybe we too will have little resurrection moments after we have experienced the emotionally and physically heart-wrenching realities of life.
This is why we exist in communities-- “One people, bound together, by God”, right? God brings us together to support and encourage one another. Ultimately, we are here to love each other. And when our friends- or God- ask us how we’re doing, tell them how we really are, because THAT’S what builds a community. I believe in the transformative power of prayer, but that transformation only comes when we let God in... Because when we, in the context of our present realities, acknowledge our fears, desires, hopes, joys, and struggles, we embody the incarnation of the Holy, and by doing so, it brings us closer to God. When we become willing to acknowledge that we are hurting, the Holy Spirit begins to move in ways that become tangible and real.
The German Christian Mystic, Meister Eckhart once said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your life is Thank You, that will be enough.”
So whether you are Standing in the Need of Prayer, resting In Solitude, or Siyahamb' ekukhanyen' kwenkhos', marching in the light of God, know that you are loved. and heard. and known by the God of all.
Amen.
