Thursday, I Lent
(Matthew 7)
A man commented last week that it is useless to pray that God end a war. He thinks that war involves so many people that God could not have much say regarding its outcome. The man did not say that God couldn’t answer prayers of personal needs, but many believe that is so. In fact, a whole theological movement known as “process theology” believes that God is powerless over events in people’s lives. Then why pray at all, we might ask?
Process theology adherents might answer that prayer at least lifts a person’s thought from worrying about a problem to imagining a solution. Psychologically, prayer facilitates positive thinking. Such reasoning, however, hardly convinces us. If we needed to think about solutions, we could do that without directing our hearts to God in prayer. In the gospel, of course, Jesus does not seem to doubt that prayers will be answered. “Ask and it will be given to you,” he says confidently.
Those who doubt the value of prayer to achieve its purpose have an inadequate conception of God. God knows what we need before we express our need, even before we exist. He wants us to pray, however, so that our relationship of faith may strengthen. He will respond to our prayer by providing for our need. His answer may not conform exactly to what we ask for, but it will see us through the difficulty. Once a mother brought her son who was dying of a brain tumor to Lourdes for healing. Shortly after their return, the boy died shortly. When the mother was asked if she felt God had let her down, she said, no, the experience of praying with so many faith-filled people at Lourdes strengthened her to accept her son’s death. The boy died in God’s grace and the family lives in assurance of God’s love for them.
Showing posts with label evangelical prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evangelical prayer. Show all posts
Homilette for Wednesday, January 17, 2007
(Hebrews 7)
Once a seminary professor was complaining to his class about the way evangelicals pray. “Why do you always say ‘just,’”? he asked. “Why do you have to say, ‘we just want to thank you, Lord,” and “we just want to ask you, Lord.” A student answered somewhat testily. “Just is a word we used to express awe,” he said. “We don’t feel that we are on equal terms with God. I suppose that when you are a seminary professor, you can walk right up to God and act like a pal.”
It’s true. Sometimes when we pray, we forget to whom we are talking. God is so much greater than we that we might as well be fruit flies communicating with a whale. What is remarkable – no, more than that, stupendous – is how much God wants to hear us. He sent His Son to open communication lines with us. It is as if for something of the utmost international importance, George W. Bush would not send Condoleezza Rice but his own father, the senior George Bush, whom he trusts intimately and completely.
This is the point which The Letter to the Hebrews makes today and over and over again. Jesus Christ is not the ordinary priest but unique perhaps akin to Melchizedek who makes a fleeting appearance in the Book of Genesis. He is the one most worth praying to because he has complete access to God since he came from and has returned to Him. Furthermore, he knows our condition intimately since he walked our ways. We also must never stop entrusting our lives to him.
Once a seminary professor was complaining to his class about the way evangelicals pray. “Why do you always say ‘just,’”? he asked. “Why do you have to say, ‘we just want to thank you, Lord,” and “we just want to ask you, Lord.” A student answered somewhat testily. “Just is a word we used to express awe,” he said. “We don’t feel that we are on equal terms with God. I suppose that when you are a seminary professor, you can walk right up to God and act like a pal.”
It’s true. Sometimes when we pray, we forget to whom we are talking. God is so much greater than we that we might as well be fruit flies communicating with a whale. What is remarkable – no, more than that, stupendous – is how much God wants to hear us. He sent His Son to open communication lines with us. It is as if for something of the utmost international importance, George W. Bush would not send Condoleezza Rice but his own father, the senior George Bush, whom he trusts intimately and completely.
This is the point which The Letter to the Hebrews makes today and over and over again. Jesus Christ is not the ordinary priest but unique perhaps akin to Melchizedek who makes a fleeting appearance in the Book of Genesis. He is the one most worth praying to because he has complete access to God since he came from and has returned to Him. Furthermore, he knows our condition intimately since he walked our ways. We also must never stop entrusting our lives to him.
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