Abundant Prayer
Preached by Pastor Matt Braddock
Philippians 4:6-8
It’s
not too difficult to see that this is a fearful and painful time of
history. It seems that that the powers of darkness are more visible than
ever, and that we are being tested more severely than ever. Have you
ever wondered what it’s going to take to survive our times? What is
required of those of us who want to shine light into the shadows? What
is required of those of us who feel called to enter fully into the agony
of our times to offer a word of hope? In her song “If We’re Honest”,
singer-songwriter Francesca Battistelli sings about one of the biggest
struggles of our culture:
Many of us have grown tired, bitter, resentful, or simply bored. Where are we supposed to find nurture and strength?
You know what I don’t find helpful? It’s when I talk about my difficulties and someone else says, “I’ll pray for you.” It’s not bad or wrong. It’s just that I have some hang ups about it. Is that person going to pray, or is it just one of those phrases someone says to be polite? What exactly is the person praying for? Who are they praying to, and what do we all expect from this? Or maybe the person is uncomfortable with my vulnerability and says, “I’ll pray for you,” to get me to stop talking. Or, they disagree with me and pray that I will see the light.
The phrase, “thoughts and prayers” is now controversial. Thoughts and prayers are offered by politicians and public leaders after mass shootings to offer comfort. It gives politicians and public figures something to say that sounds sympathetic. Thoughts and prayers … at its best it’s a three-word sympathy card, spoken when there’s not much else that can be said. At its worst thoughts and prayers don’t offer much that is thoughtful and are about as far as one can get from prayerful. The backlash on social media criticizes “thoughts and prayers” as ineffective to bring about change, when it comes to preventable violence.
My biggest hang-up with prayer is that I don’t believe in a god who intervenes in our lives like a cosmic puppeteer in the sky. I’ve given up on the Big Guy or Big Gal upstairs who hears my prayers and then may decide to bend the laws of nature to answer me … or not. I’ve given up praying to the god who cannot or will not fix the plague of poverty, the deception of discrimination, and the wounds of war. Some want be to pray to a god who lets a multi-million-dollar football player score a touchdown over saving those suffering from starvation. It doesn’t make sense It’s a strange thought to think that God cares for the elite but not those suffering.
But here’s the thing: Just because my ideas about who God is are changing, I still believe in the power of prayer. I believe prayer has worked and continues to work miracles! I pray expecting it can make a difference. How do I think prayer works? The truth is, I just don’t know. I don’t know how prayer works. Prayer remains a mystery to me. I can’t do anything more than speculate, and I’m fully aware that I may have it all wrong.
I wonder if part of being human is the power to heal one another, to heal the planet, and to heal the world. There is tremendous power in the bonds between us, in the gentle touch we can offer one another, in the hospitable presence of love extended to our friends and even to our enemies. The power that lies in the connections between us is the power we access when we pray.
Prayer is vulnerability. Maybe that’s why I have such a reaction when someone says, “I’ll pray for you.” I want people to pray for me. I really do. But not in a cavalier way. Not in a way that makes someone superior to me. I do not like to be condescended to. If I risk being vulnerable to you in my sharing my pains and weaknesses, I want you to enter my pain with your pain, my weakness with your weakness. We seek help and healing from a place of mutuality.
It’s never easy to admit our faults and weaknesses, and then speak them to God. But it’s necessary. Vulnerable love is how we connect with each other.
Many people hear vulnerability and think weakness. Genuine
vulnerability is hard. It takes courage and boldness. It is also the
beginning of true connection between people.
The power of Christ is the power of vulnerability. We can only be vulnerable with one another because God was first vulnerable to us. This is where the traditional language of falling to our knees in prayer and surrendering to God has the most power. We must make ourselves vulnerable to God. That’s the hardest part, but it’s the only way we can give our whole selves to God in prayer. God does not coerce or force God’s self on anything. God lures and draws everything into the divine adventure of justice and beauty, healing and wholeness. God calls and we respond. God does not force, act “supernaturally” or invade. God doesn’t manipulate. God calls.
I pray because God exists. In case you heard me differently earlier, let me be clear. God exists. I’m just not into God as the cosmic monarch whose will controls all things and rewards the rich. God exists in love. Love is God’s fundamental character. Love is vulnerable. God exists in all of our faults, in all of our mistakes, in all of our worries, and in all of our pain. If we come to God with our whole selves, we will experience something holy. When we are at our most vulnerable, that’s when God’s can be the most present. That’s when we find the courage to be vulnerable. For me, this is prayer.
What it’s going to take to survive our times? What is required of
those of us who want to shine light into the shadows? What is required
of those of us who feel called to enter fully into the agony of our
times to offer a word of hope? It’s going to take some prayer … prayer
that changes who we are and how we acts, prayer that moves us to embrace
our neighbors in deep bonds of love, prayer that seek the healing that
our world so badly needs. Pray without ceasing. Pray abundantly. Offer
your requests to God as you open yourself to the power of love. Expose
yourself to the divine who lives and breathes in you, and with you, and
through you, and beyond you, so that you can become more fully human.
Embrace all that you are. Embrace your humanity in prayer, embrace it in
your life which is the greatest prayer you will ever pray. Feel the
embrace of the bonds of love that bind us one to another. Be the love
that is God in the world.
Let us pray:
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war; for we know that You have made the world in a way that we must find our own path to peace within our self and with our neighbor. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation; for You have already given us the resources with which to feed the entire world if we would only use them wisely. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, too root out prejudice; for You have already given us eyes with which to see the good in all if we would only use them rightly. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair; for You have already given us the power to give hope if we would only use our power justly. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease; for You have already give us great minds with which to search out cures and healing if we would only use them constructively. Therefore, we pray to You instead, O God, for strength, determination, and willpower to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish.
https://pastordawn.
com/2018/02/04/so-as-a-progressive-christian-how-do-i-think-prayer-works-a-sermon-for-epiphany-5b-mark-129-39/
Truth is harder than a lie,
The dark seems safer than the light,
And everyone has a heart that loves to hide,
I’m a mess and so are you,
We’ve built walls nobody can get through
The dark seems safer than the light,
And everyone has a heart that loves to hide,
I’m a mess and so are you,
We’ve built walls nobody can get through
You know what I don’t find helpful? It’s when I talk about my difficulties and someone else says, “I’ll pray for you.” It’s not bad or wrong. It’s just that I have some hang ups about it. Is that person going to pray, or is it just one of those phrases someone says to be polite? What exactly is the person praying for? Who are they praying to, and what do we all expect from this? Or maybe the person is uncomfortable with my vulnerability and says, “I’ll pray for you,” to get me to stop talking. Or, they disagree with me and pray that I will see the light.
The phrase, “thoughts and prayers” is now controversial. Thoughts and prayers are offered by politicians and public leaders after mass shootings to offer comfort. It gives politicians and public figures something to say that sounds sympathetic. Thoughts and prayers … at its best it’s a three-word sympathy card, spoken when there’s not much else that can be said. At its worst thoughts and prayers don’t offer much that is thoughtful and are about as far as one can get from prayerful. The backlash on social media criticizes “thoughts and prayers” as ineffective to bring about change, when it comes to preventable violence.
My biggest hang-up with prayer is that I don’t believe in a god who intervenes in our lives like a cosmic puppeteer in the sky. I’ve given up on the Big Guy or Big Gal upstairs who hears my prayers and then may decide to bend the laws of nature to answer me … or not. I’ve given up praying to the god who cannot or will not fix the plague of poverty, the deception of discrimination, and the wounds of war. Some want be to pray to a god who lets a multi-million-dollar football player score a touchdown over saving those suffering from starvation. It doesn’t make sense It’s a strange thought to think that God cares for the elite but not those suffering.
But here’s the thing: Just because my ideas about who God is are changing, I still believe in the power of prayer. I believe prayer has worked and continues to work miracles! I pray expecting it can make a difference. How do I think prayer works? The truth is, I just don’t know. I don’t know how prayer works. Prayer remains a mystery to me. I can’t do anything more than speculate, and I’m fully aware that I may have it all wrong.
I wonder if part of being human is the power to heal one another, to heal the planet, and to heal the world. There is tremendous power in the bonds between us, in the gentle touch we can offer one another, in the hospitable presence of love extended to our friends and even to our enemies. The power that lies in the connections between us is the power we access when we pray.
Prayer is vulnerability. Maybe that’s why I have such a reaction when someone says, “I’ll pray for you.” I want people to pray for me. I really do. But not in a cavalier way. Not in a way that makes someone superior to me. I do not like to be condescended to. If I risk being vulnerable to you in my sharing my pains and weaknesses, I want you to enter my pain with your pain, my weakness with your weakness. We seek help and healing from a place of mutuality.
It’s never easy to admit our faults and weaknesses, and then speak them to God. But it’s necessary. Vulnerable love is how we connect with each other.
It may be hard, but the best thing we could ever do
Bring your brokenness, and I’ll bring mine,
‘Cause love can heal what hurt divides,
And mercy’s waiting on the other side,
If we’re honest.
Bring your brokenness, and I’ll bring mine,
‘Cause love can heal what hurt divides,
And mercy’s waiting on the other side,
If we’re honest.
The power of Christ is the power of vulnerability. We can only be vulnerable with one another because God was first vulnerable to us. This is where the traditional language of falling to our knees in prayer and surrendering to God has the most power. We must make ourselves vulnerable to God. That’s the hardest part, but it’s the only way we can give our whole selves to God in prayer. God does not coerce or force God’s self on anything. God lures and draws everything into the divine adventure of justice and beauty, healing and wholeness. God calls and we respond. God does not force, act “supernaturally” or invade. God doesn’t manipulate. God calls.
I pray because God exists. In case you heard me differently earlier, let me be clear. God exists. I’m just not into God as the cosmic monarch whose will controls all things and rewards the rich. God exists in love. Love is God’s fundamental character. Love is vulnerable. God exists in all of our faults, in all of our mistakes, in all of our worries, and in all of our pain. If we come to God with our whole selves, we will experience something holy. When we are at our most vulnerable, that’s when God’s can be the most present. That’s when we find the courage to be vulnerable. For me, this is prayer.
Bring your brokenness, and I’ll bring mine,
‘Cause love can heal what hurt divides,
And mercy’s waiting on the other side,
If we’re honest.
‘Cause love can heal what hurt divides,
And mercy’s waiting on the other side,
If we’re honest.
Bring your brokenness, and I’ll bring mine,
‘Cause love can heal what hurt divides,
And mercy’s waiting on the other side,
If we’re honest.
‘Cause love can heal what hurt divides,
And mercy’s waiting on the other side,
If we’re honest.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war; for we know that You have made the world in a way that we must find our own path to peace within our self and with our neighbor. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation; for You have already given us the resources with which to feed the entire world if we would only use them wisely. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, too root out prejudice; for You have already given us eyes with which to see the good in all if we would only use them rightly. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair; for You have already given us the power to give hope if we would only use our power justly. We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease; for You have already give us great minds with which to search out cures and healing if we would only use them constructively. Therefore, we pray to You instead, O God, for strength, determination, and willpower to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish.
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