Boldness, Humility, Faith and Persistence
Boldness… humility… faith… Persistence. There is an ancient story that is told of a Jewish priest who would faithfully say “Good-bye” to each member of his family each day before he set off to the Temple to pray. When asked why he did this, he responded in this way: “When I pray, I request an audience with the creator of the universe. The audacity of that action takes my breath away, for God could, in a heartbeat, fling me into a far corner of the universe, never to return me again to this time and this place. To stand in the presence of the Almighty is not something to be taken lightly. Each time I open that door, I give myself over to the possibility that I may never see my family again.” How many of us, I wonder, approach prayer with that attitude? I think a lot about prayer. I talk a lot about prayer in my life… and you may talk a good deal about prayer in yours. But let’s be honest: most of us are pretty lousy at praying… at least in the fullest sense of the term. I don’t mean to say that we don’t pray. It is just that our prayer lives are so far from what they could be.
One of the blessings of Jesus’ teaching about prayer is the simplicity of it. We don’t have the elaborate rituals that surround prayer that some of the other great religions of the world have… binding our foreheads and our arms with scripture… kneeling and bowing as we face the east… the use of incense or prayer wheels… and so on. And yet, prayer was not something that Jesus took for granted. He set aside time to pray… time to be in relationship with God. In a sense, it is like a memory I have of my son, Julian, when he was young… a memory that is probably familiar to all parents. I was working on some project at my computer and I heard Julian come to the door. He poked his head in and I looked up from my work, hoping to quickly answer whatever question he had. “Mom, are you busy?” he asked. At that, I took my fingers off of the keyboard and turned to face him. “What is it? What do you need?” I asked. He crawled up in my lap and wrapped his arms around my neck. “Nothing,” he said. “I don’t need anything. I just want to be close to you.” That brief time together was more important than all the beds I’ve made… all the laundry I’ve done… all the meals I’ve cooked… all the bills I’ve paid. That time together made us a family. How many of us take that time with God? How many of us take time to be with God… even when we don’t need anything? And yet we expect that relationship to be there when we need it.
I am going to propose that, based upon what we read in the prayer that Jesus taught, there are four words that describe our approach to prayer. Those words are boldness… humility… faith… and persistence. I begin with boldness, because that is where Jesus began… and where he ended. “Father,” he said, is the way that we should address God. Wow! Is there any other world religion that offers that kind of intimacy to its adherents? Among the ninety-nine names of God in Islam, not one is “father.” Nor can a worshipper find “father” among the Hindu gods or in the Buddhist faith. Yet, we are invited to call God “Father”… and, at the end of our scripture, there are a series of rhetorical questions that drive the point home: “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Thus, with the boldness of a child who knows he is loved and cherished by the parent he approaches, we can also approach God, knowing that God will listen and will never turn us away.
The second word is humility. Like the priest who said “Good-bye” to his family before going off to pray, we should be aware of the power… the majesty… the holiness of the One whose presence we seek. This is the One who created the heavens and the earth and all living things. This is the One who commanded Moses from the burning bush to take off his shoes, for he was standing on holy ground. This is the One whose presence in the Temple is described in Isaiah’s vision… that the train of his robe filled the Temple and all the cherubim and seraphim flew around him. This is the One who raised Jesus from the dead… and has the power to raise us as well. We are sinners… and we stand in God’s presence only by the price that was paid for us through the death of one man… our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Thus, we are called to hallow… or revere… or bless… God’s name… and to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom on this earth… and God’s will to reign in our lives. It is God’s plan that is unfolding… and God’s will that should rule in our lives.
And that brings us to the third word, which is faith. Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” This is probably the most difficult part of Jesus’ teaching for all of us, because we can all think of times when we asked God for something and we did not receive it. And so, we shake our fists at God, as the psalmist did, and say, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me,” not realizing that, perhaps, it is we who have missed the boat. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus, in teaching his disciples, told them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive." How easy it is to say, “Have faith,” and how hard it is to do exactly that! I’m sure we can all think of times when we prayed earnestly for something, while throughout the prayer, a little voice in the back of our heads was saying, “Are you nuts? That will never happen. It is not scientifically possible! Sure, you can say the words, but let’s get real: It ain’t gonna happen.” Perhaps, there have even been times when those doubts were so overwhelming that we could not continue to pray. We did not have faith that our prayers would be answered… or we were unwilling to accept the answer that God might give. “My way or the highway,” is often our approach to prayer. We think we know what God should do and we spell it out in our prayers. Andrew Murray put it very succinctly: “Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what God can do." I know I am still learning how to “Let go and let God.”
The final word is persistence. Jesus teaches us to insist prayerfully on what we need from God until we get it. In fact, the Greek form of the verbs “ask”, “seek,” and “knock” imply continuous, ceaseless action… “keep on asking”, “keep on seeking”, “keep on knocking” and we will receive… we will find… and the door will open. Although the text asserts that "everyone who asks receives," Marti Steussy notes that the story of the friends at midnight acknowledges that sometimes when we're knocking, the door seems slow to open. But we must not let God's seeming aloofness keep us from insisting on what we most need. In another parable, Jesus tells a different story that confirms this… the story of the widow and the unjust judge who changed his mind simply because the widow was persistent. The Apostle Paul tells the church at Ephesus, “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. And to the Thessalonians, he says, “Pray without ceasing.” Just as Jesus never stops knocking at the door to our hearts, so we are encouraged to keep knocking on the door to God’s heart with our petitions.
The entire Lord’s Prayer has been summarized by Peter Woods of the Methodist Church South Africa in this way:
“Our Father. Thank you that despite the dysfunction of some families of origin, I need never think of myself as spiritually orphaned nor abandoned in my life as it is now.
Who art in heaven and not in some faraway destination, but right within the heart of your creation. You live in the place of perfect bliss and love, which I can access every time I open to your reality within me.
Hallowed be Thy name which is above every human distinction and status. You are without equal and thus in competition with no one. As wholly other, you do not require of me to justify you, explain you, or even defend you. I need only acknowledge you as the ultimate and everything else then finds its proper place.
Thy Kingdom come. May the discovery that you are in charge of all reality as the Prime One, be the experience of every conscious being.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May your dreamed destiny for everything you have created be realized within us, and made real around us, so that the intended perfection of all beings and relationships may manifest.
Give us this day our daily bread. Restore our perceptions so we may see you at the heart of all provision, and work for a living and not to make a killing.
And forgive us our trespasses(sins) as we forgive those who trespass(sin) against us. Help us to understand that your unconditional acceptance of every person and culture is the ground of harmony and community for us all. May compassion grow for victims and perpetrators alike, so that real transformation will be our experience.
And lead us not into temptation (Save us from the time of trial) Guard us from our own destructiveness and the oppositional forces within us that keep us from being healed.
but deliver is from evil. May our shadows never overwhelm us, and may fear not be the ruling principle in our living and decision making.
Prayer brings us into the very presence of God… intimate and yet all-powerful. Jesus, in teaching his disciples, has given us a simple way to reach into that intimacy and that power for the things we need and desire for our lives and all of creation. The four words that show us how to approach God come out of Jesus’ teaching. Those words are boldness… humility… faith… and persistence. Then, armed with these attributes and standing in the awesome presence of the Almighty, we have the courage to approach the throne with our needs… our desires… our petitions… knowing that we are loved… and that all we do… all our days… are in God’s hands. Amen. Luke 11:1-13