One evening when my son was at college, he called me. Now parents of college-aged children, and indeed my kids now, know that calling rather than texting means pick up the phone – I need to talk to you. The conversation centered around a faith question – earlier that day on campus, there had been one of those folks who like to come on to college campuses, megaphone in hand, to deliver sermons that were judgmental centering on the bedroom lives of students. You know the ones – if you do this you are going straight to hell.
My son’s roommate was upset – this was a young 
man who very much centered his life around his faith and this “preacher” had upset him greatly. The young man’s faith was a quiet one without judgment. His fear was this “preacher” would drive students away from God rather than draw them to God. My son wanted to know what he could say to his roommate to comfort him.
I thought about that conversation as I reflected on this passage from Matthew where Jesus describes what prayer should be as opposed to what it was too often. Performative hypocrisy is what Jesus terms the ones who stand in the synagogues and on the street corners shouting their prayers so that they can be heard. Or babbling like the Greek pagans who over and over named their small g gods as a way of making sure they were heard.
Instead Jesus encourages his followers to engage with God in a quiet space – to engage with God in a personal conversation. God knows what we need before we even ask it so no need to babble, no need to perform. Don’t be like the hypocrites – come to God honestly, reverently, quietly. That’s one way of praying on a personal, individual level.
And, then Jesus introduces the Lord’s Prayer as a way to pray. Acknowledge the holiness of God, ask that the kindom, the beauty that is heaven, that is God’s desire for us, be brought here and now in our time and place. As for the sustenance you need for today – remember the manna in the wilderness was just enough for that day. As we seek forgiveness from God, let us forgive one another. Don’t lead us into a time of trial and keep us from the evil one.
It’s a beautiful prayer and one that over time became the corporate prayer said in worship. But how many of us rush through it? How many of us take the beauty of an individual prayer said “in secret” as part of our own relationship with God and rush right through it. So that it has the potential to become performative rather than heartfelt.
Jesus tells us in this passage that is part of the Sermon on the Mount how to pray as individuals – mimicking his own prayer practice. Remember Jesus so often sets aside time to pray on his own – gaining strength and courage to continue his ministry from those prayers.
So we see that individual prayer as a daily, lifelong exercise is a good spiritual practice for disciples/apostles, (students, learners, messengers). Prayer is an essential part of our spiritual life – it deepens our relationship with God, it can open us up to more honest conversation with God, it allows us to share our whole lives with God. Daily prayer gives us the opportunity to reflect on our day, to pray for others, to pray for our church, to grow in our ability to trust God. To know that even if our prayers aren’t answered in the way or time we want them to be answered, there is a God who is listening and present.
But our prayer life shouldn’t be confined to that secret closet – at least I don’t think so. Praying in pairs or groups or all together in worship is important too. Which is what James tells us. Pray together for the healing of people, for the forgiveness of sins, for someone’s suffering. Let your answer be to all situations to pray. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve – do we believe that? What about a group of righteous people coming together to pray?
In her book Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism, Martha Reese says that any effort to spread the good news of the Gospel needs to first start with prayer. She backs that up in the book with case studies of ways in which churches have been led to do miraculous things in their communities through dedicated prayer. I remember a Presbytery meeting from several years ago – there was a United Methodist pastor speaking about the way in which prayer changed his congregation.
They were a smaller congregation and one Sunday he invited people to join him in prayer to discern where God was calling their church to serve in their community. About 30 people took him up on that invitation and they spent months praying together. I can’t remember all the specifics but what I do remember is those months spent praying together led the church into all sorts of healing missions and ministries in their community. Without the roots of prayer, their efforts would have been like slinging boiled spaghetti towards a wall to see what sticks.
Discipleship and apostleship must be rooted in prayer – conversation and relationship with God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and one another. How else will we know how and to what we are being led? How else will we be held accountable?
I so often hear these words when we talk about prayer: I don’t know how to pray. Guess what, I have said those exact words myself. But I learned through practice, through spiritual directors (and guess what – we have six affiliated with this congregation – check out the brochure on the information rack in the South Building or on the table in the Narthex), and through my prayer partnerships. Praying often takes us out of our comfort zone but isn’t that the reality of a relationship with God? That we are often taken out of our comfort zone at where God is guiding? Prayer gives us the strength and courage we need to get out there and do the work we are called to do.
Currently, there is a prayer team consisting of four folks – three of whom are Session members: Aileen Williams, Phil Fair, and Kari Keyoke. The team meets most Wednesdays at 1 p.m. here at the church building to pray. Talk to them about joining. Find and meet with a spiritual director to learn more about prayer. Find a prayer partner to pray with on a regular basis.
And speaking of that, I wonder if a way to end this sermon prior to our moment of reflection might be a moment of indulgence towards me. Would you be willing to turn to the person sitting next to you or near to you and take the next few minutes to ask what you might pray for that person this week. If you are online, maybe you are willing to put up a comment about something you would like prayed for – and then perhaps someone will comment back that they will pray for you. Then do it and check back next week with that person. Let’s try that. See what might happen. May it be so. Amen.