Sermon Index

"Things are looking up!" The phrase could describe a lot of things that are happening at Beargrass right now. We have had wonderful participation in our summer camp and mission programs. Worship attendance and financial support of the ministries of the church has been solid. Even though some people tried to squash the idea or felt it was corny, the Farmers Market project has exceeded all expectations. And we continue to welcome a steady stream of new members and guests! Thanks be to God for the growth and excitement we are experiencing in our family of faith!

"Things are looking up!" The phrase also describes our current sermon series. Last weekend Tommy did a super job of getting things started UP with his message about Mary and Martha-"Listen Up!" We'll continue to take a look at passages from Luke today and in the coming weeks. The next two weeks we'll examine Luke 12 and 13 and the sermon titles will be opposites-"Giving it Up" and "On Not Giving it Up." Other messages will include "Don't Get Hung Up," "On Being Puffed Up," and "Don't Let Up."

Today we will think about "Freshening Up." And I'm not talking about taking a detour to Destin, as my family did recently week, or checking our make-up, or grabbing a quick shower. What I hope we will discover in today's passage are ways to freshen up our spiritual vitality and relationship with God and each other.

TODAY'S TEXT PROBABLY SOUNDS FAMILIAR TO MOST OF YOU. We hear some of Jesus' finest and most familiar words-the "Lord's Prayer" and the "Ask" sayings in verses 9-10. But the familiarity of the phrases can become a blessing or a burden. Sometimes we hear the first words of a passage like this one and shut down-"Been there, heard that, done that; let's get on to something new like a study of Obadiah or Haggai!" So, we are challenged to read these words again as if it is the first time-with new eyes and alert minds and open hearts.

For instance, I think it is important to notice that the disciples are the ones who ask Jesus for a prayer-I guess you could say that they didn't have a prayer without Jesus! Jesus' friends come to him and say, "Lord, teach us to pray!" He doesn't impose the prayer on them. He doesn't volunteer the information or distribute handouts. And let's pay attention to the context and timing for this request. When did the disciples ask for this? Was it after Jesus gave a lecture on prayer? Was it after Jesus led a seminar on prayer? Was it after Jesus preached a powerful sermon on prayer? What does Luke tell us? "Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished, they said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'" They saw the power of prayer in Jesus. They saw how he made it a priority in his life.

Some years ago Harry Emerson Fosdick talked about this in his book, The Secret of Victorious Living. "Note that their awakened interest in prayer came not at all from new arguments about it, but from a new exhibition of its power. "Here, before their very eyes, they saw a personality in whom prayer was vital and influential! "The more they lived with him, the more they saw that they could never explain him or understand him unless they understood his praying. "They saw the amazing spiritual power released in him by prayer. "They wanted him to tell them how to pray."

In my own life, I cherish the memories of mentors and friends who, by their example, exhibited the importance of prayer. My father was also a minister. When I was a child, I recall vivid images of my father praying during communion. As a preacher or worship leader-one of the most difficult things to do during worship is worship-we're too busy thinking about how things are going and what to do next. But for my father, communion was a time when he would humbly bow, fold his hands, close his eyes, and commune with God. The intensity of the expressions on his face left its mark on me.

"Lord, teach us to pray!" Some have suggested that it would be far more appropriate to refer to this prayer as the "Disciple's Prayer" rather than the "Lord's Prayer." Some would say that Jesus offered the real "Lord's Prayer" in the garden before his betrayal and death. Either way, Jesus assures his disciples that their relationship to God is one of beloved children.

This is good news for us as well! We have the assurance that we may confidently pray for the reign of God to come-which has an "almost but not yet" feel to it. There will still be daily needs and trials and tests and temptations. We may see others around us stumble and fall-Michael Vick's career may go to the dogs. The NBA blows the whistle on basketball referee Tim Donaghy. Michael Rasmussen's efforts in the Tour De France go downhill. Barry Bonds gets pumped up as he nears the home run record. Lindsay Lohan louses up her life with alcoholic liquids. Alberto Gonzales gets hounded by the House Judiciary Committee. NASA sends drunken astro-nuts into outer space! And we all have our own stuff-though it probably won't make the headlines. Trials and temptations will taunt us-but Jesus offers assurance that God is with us-even in the midst of our struggles.

Then, to assure the disciples of that assurance-he offers almost comical, exaggerated examples of God's extreme love for us. Go ahead-pound on God's door in the middle of the night! Go ahead-and wake God up! Go ahead-ask, knock, search, seek! When a child cries out, a loving parent is not going to hand them a snake or a scorpion or do anything to hurt that child! How much more? How much more does God love you? How much more will God take care of you? How much more will God give the gifts of the Spirit to those who ask! So, pray like this-and continue to pray! And don't give up and don't give in! Jesus encourages his disciples to go continually into God's presence in prayer. But God, unlike human parents, delights in our clamorings in prayer all hours of the day and night. God wants to talk!

CAN THESE WORDS AND THIS PRAYER BECOME FRESH AND ALIVE AND NEW FOR US? Some things we do automatically-without thinking our way through them. We learn and develop good habits so that they become natural-we brush our teeth, buckle our seat belts, look both ways, and on and on. But in some parts of our lives, we don't want to be on cruise control or automatic pilot. In some situations, we need to give our full attention and demand that same degree of attention from others. Family members can quickly tell the difference between an automatic, "I love you," and a heartfelt expression of genuine love. Our children can tell the difference between an automatic, "What did you do at school today?" and an honest, authentic interest in the events in their lives. Friends can tell the difference between an automatic, "How are you?" and the compassionate reaching out of one soul to another.

Isn't it funny how we sometimes convince ourselves that God doesn't notice our automatic recitations of the "Lord's Prayer?" I've done it-have you? I've even lost my place when I was leading a wedding or funeral because my mind wandered away. And sometimes we even poison the prayer to become some kind of "good luck" saying or meaningless mantra.

Some of you have played football-several of our young people have headed back to the practice field for 2 or 3-a-days in preparation for the upcoming season. But you know what will happen before many of the games this fall all across our country! The pre-game, locker room prayer-"Our Father…." "Amen-now let's go out there and kill them!" The very prayer that Jesus gave us to keep us spiritually alive and alert and fresh-becomes a selfish, vain repetition.

There was a Peanuts cartoon that showed Charlie Brown kneeling beside his bed for prayer. Suddenly he stops and says to himself, "I think I've made a new theological discovery, a real breakthrough!" "If you hold your hands upside down, you get the opposite of what you pray for."

Prayer is not some kind of emergency magical lamp rubbed in a crisis. It doesn't become more effective because of the way we hold our hands or the way we select our words. Unfortunately, much that passes for prayer is irrational, superstitious, and self-centered. But not this prayer….

St. Thomas Aquinas described the Lord's Prayer as the most perfect of prayers. "In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired." "This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them." The Lord's Prayer or Disciples' Prayer-all of our prayers-are offered to keep us wired! Wired to the Spirit! Wired to God and our neighbors and ourselves! Wired to the radical call to live our lives the way Jesus lived and to pray as Jesus taught us to pray!

Some of you may remember the powerful scene from Shadowlands, a movie based on the life of C. S. Lewis. Lewis has returned to Oxford from London, where he has just been married to Joy Gresham. The ceremony was private, performed at her hospital bedside. She is dying from cancer. But through the struggle with her illness, she and Lewis have been discovering the depth of their love for each other. As Lewis arrives at the college where he teaches, he is met by Harry Harrington, an Episcopal priest. Harry wonders if there is any news. Lewis hesitates. Then deciding to speak of the marriage and not the cancer, he says, "Ah, good news, I think, Harry. Yes, good news." Harrington is not aware of the marriage and thinks Lewis is referring to Joy's medical condition. He says, "I know how hard you have been praying." "Now God is answering your prayer."

Lewis says, "That's not why I pray, Harry." "I pray because I can't help myself." "I pray because I'm helpless." "I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping." "It doesn't change God; it changes me."

Prayer is not a message scribbled on a note, jammed into a bottle, and tossed into the sea in the hopes that it will wash up someday on God's shoreline. Prayer is communion with God. We speak to God, but God touches, embraces, shapes, and changes us. We pray the Lord's Prayer over and over again-Not out of habit-but because we want to participate in the lifelong act of bending our lives toward God. THY will be done; not mine. Whether we pray for sunshine or pray for rain, our prayers are answered and our spirits are restored. Because in the act of praying we receive the gift we really seek…Communion…intimacy with God.