Pray Always

By Steve Houghton, Lay Preacher

​Well good morning.  The readings this morning give us a lot of advise about our responsibility for our actions.  Jeremiah tells us there is change coming and good things are in store for Israel and part of that will no longer be children suffering for the sins of their parents but “all shall die for their own sins. . .”  

God is so persistent in holding relationship with us.  If you read the whole Hebrew scripture you will see that Israel continuously, and Israel is standing in for all of us, Israel continuously fails to hold up their end of the covenant.  Yet God, like the widow in the gospel, persistently says “Okay, how about we try it this way?”  God goes on to say “I’d like you to offer me due respect but I would also like you to take care of each other in real ways.”  That covenant was offered to the people when they were captives in Egypt and they broke it so many times in the desert.  Golden calf, grumbling about food, water, general conditions all during the time in the desert and each time God would consistently come back, sometimes with punishment but always with a new chance.  Once in the Promised Land it was the same thing, break the rules, do what you want and always God comes back with a way to mend the tear in the relationship; with a new covenant or a renewal of the old one. This time, though, God uses a new covenant that God writes on the hearts of God’s people and it will be within them, no one will have to teach it to them.  You know that voice in the back of your head that speaks up when you are doing something you shouldn’t, yeah that one.  That’s God’s voice speaking from your heart.

You know what stands out to me in the Letter to Timothy that we just heard?  “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.”  Sort of has a ring of the current times in my ears.  We are walking away from the Covenant once again.  God with God’s persistence and adherence to the Covenant waits for the the voice in our hearts to call us back to the relationship even through our itching ears.  Again, I think, responsibility is settled on each of us individually for how we respond to returning to that covenant as God promises in Jeremiah.

In the gospel we join Jesus heading for the final time to Jerusalem.  We are halfway to the culmination of his ministry, “going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.” (Luke 17;11).  Jesus’ teaching in this part of Luke almost seems frenetic to me, jumping from one topic to another in rapid succession, as though Jesus is anticipating the final days and wants desperately to get all of his understanding to his followers.  Jesus does something sort of out of character for him in first telling us what he is teaching, “their need to pray always” and then giving us the parable of the unscrupulous judge and the persistent widow.  Listen up, Jesus seems to say, you need to pray always and here is how important it is. Using the widow and the judge he demonstrates the power of constant prayer.  She harangued the judge constantly to the point where she becomes a constant distraction to him and he rules in her favor.  

Those of you who have or have had children have a very clear understanding of what that looks like.  “Mommy can I have a . . .” “Daddy all the kids have a . . . I need one too.”  The chorus is repeated over and over and over and over again till we give in or something else more interesting happens.  The importance of the needed thing slips away.  Might that be part of what Jesus is trying to teach us here?

Pray always.  That has often been a stumbling block for me and many that I know.  How do you carry on in life and still pray always?  There are other things you need to think about to get through the day never mind your work life.  Is this even a rational thought?

As one of the members of our Preaching Guild said during one of our meetings, the repetition of prayer of petition leads to clarification of the real need and can send us in another more productive direction.

One of the things that helped me to get my arms around the idea is a book of the writings of Brother Lawerence, a French, Carmelite monk who lived from 1614 to 1691.  The book is called Living In The Presence of God and in it Brother Lawrence explains how he prays always in his daily life.  It is living life aware of God’s presence.

We sometimes come to the conclusion that prayer is always a petition for something we think we need.  Prayer is much bigger than that.  The Catechism in our Book of Common Prayer, you know that part near the back of the Book of Common Prayer that most of us, like me, unless we are dragged to it by a class or presentation or having to write a sermon, has a bit to say about Prayer.  “Prayer” it says “is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.”  It goes on to say “The principal kinds of prayer are adoration, praise, thanksgiving, penitence, oblation, intercession, and petition.”(BCP p.856)  Prayer can be thankfulness for what we have in our lives.  It can be dedication of our work to God.  That is the focus of Brother Lawrence.  What I am doing right now, what ever that may be, is being done to the best of my ability for God.  This kind of approach to the day’s activities makes everything a prayer.  It can also lead to thankfulness for so many things that are part of the day and our lives that we wouldn’t normally think about or give thanks for.

Charlie and I spent many summer vacations on the beach in Wells, Maine.  Charlie loves the ocean and needs to get there as often as possible.  As we were trying to make reservations one year we found that the rates for cottages had gone beyond what we could afford that year and I prayed, Petition, that we could find the money to still head to the ocean.  As time went on it became clear that my prayers were not going to be answered the way I hoped they would be.  In the meantime, Charlie had found a cabin on Moosehead Lake for a very reasonable amount of money and suggested we go there.  I was disappointed that she would not have her time at the ocean but we had such a great time at Moosehead that we went there for several years in a row.  Struggling with the situation in prayer had brought us to a better outcome.  My petition was answered in a wonderful and totally unexpected way.

Another reason for praying constantly is that it keeps God foremost in our daily lives.  That I think is the crux of what I learned from Brother Lawerence.  If when I seek an outcome other than the one in front of me and consider it prayerfully, I have a better perspective on what would be the more love centered, Jesus centered, way to respond.  When I am doing anything, cutting the lawn, going grocery shopping, making deliveries or even washing dishes as Brother Lawerence describes and I do it to the best of my ability, with love, and with God in mind, my thoughts and actions are prayer and I am praying throughout the day.  I am less apt to respond angrily to things that happen through the day.  I am less apt to respond angrily to the actions of people I do or should love.

When I am trying to engage the day in prayer I am less likely to over react when I get cut off in traffic.  Don’t get me wrong, I still get mad but I get a reminder that this isn’t the end of the world and I should be able to put it behind me.  Or when I was younger and one of the kids did something I reacted to angrily, I was better equipped to calm myself down before addressing the issue if I was praying constantly.  To be honest I have not mastered praying always and there are days that I completely miss the mark.  On the days when I do keep God in mind things work out better.

When I was growing up my Mom and my grandmother would often say that God was watching me constantly and I should behave knowing that.  Sound familiar?  In a more adult approach it is that we ought to keep the values and principles we honor here on a Sunday morning all the days of the week.  I think it keeps us better equipped to deal with the political and social divides we encounter daily.  We will with God’s help?  Maybe praying constantly is the answer to our current cultural quagmire.

So in the coming week try praying constantly.  No one is keeping score and you will be the only one who knows if and when and how often you succeed.  Well God is watching all the time so . . .   Seriously, verify what I am saying this morning and see if makes your days run smoother.  And don’t be afraid to let me know if it made a difference or if, after trying it, you decide I’m just off my rocker.

Amen

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