Sermon, Sunday 19 March wk29: Prayer - just do it...WMRBW

READINGS: Ps 131; Matt. 6:1-18                                
SERMON
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

I was sitting in the rec. room at Bible College.
It was the 1980’s –
I confess to wearing what could only be described as a poodle perm.
But there I was, quietly sitting on a sofa reading for self-improvement.
In the background, the sound of a ping-pong ball
was...well, pinging and ponging across a table.
Two of the more energetic and rather competitive young chaps
were in a serious battle of wills, trying to out-do the other.
I turned my attention back to my self-improving book –
a book on prayer.

As I read, a feeling of despondency...and guilt... crept in.
As the writer described the hard work of a disciplined prayer life, and how one should pray,
I was realising that clearly, I just didn’t measure up to his standards.
At that moment, I’m sure the thought of heading off
to find something more agreeable to do, like eating some chocolate,
probably wandered through my head.
Whatever cheerfully distracting thought did pass through my head,
instead, I steeled my resolve, and attended to the wretched book once more.
But not for long.
A huge shout and a cheer from the ping pong match went up.
Game over, and the boys came across to join me.
They looked at the book.
‘Ahh great book!’ said one.
I smiled, ...in an unconvincing way.
‘Nothing like spending time with God,’ ventured the other. He continued:
‘It’s such a privilege and a joy, you know. I get up at 7 and then I’m at prayer by 7.30. 
That hour of prayer sets me up for the rest of the day.’
I smiled again.
...Unconvincingly.
Before I could reply, the first responded:
‘7.30? ...Really?  An hour...only an hour? 
I make a practice of getting up at 5, with the aim to be on my knees in prayer by 5.30. 
That three hours in prayer is precious, precious time with my heavenly Father. 
I can’t imagine spending any time less than that in prayer.’
They began a deep and meaningful conversation on prayer that was
as competitive in nature as their game of ping pong had been.
A serious battle of wills commenced, as both once again
were caught up in trying to out-do the other.
I watched this spiritual slugging match for all of about 5 minutes,
then slunk out, into the night, clearly a spiritual lightweight.
The self-improving prayer book was quietly put aside for the evening
in favour of listening to cheerful music with equally lightweight pals.

Over the two years at Bible College, there were many other self-improving books on prayer.
One advised, in a rather admonishing tone that if you only had one hour to spare for prayer,
the most efficient way of praying would be to break that hour into timed sections:
5 minutes for praising God;
15 minutes for confessing how much you really didn’t measure up;
5 minutes to thank God for His many blessings;
25 minutes to pray for the world, and for others;
5 minutes to bring to God your own prayer needs;
and then, to finish up,
5 minutes for a little more praise.

Each self-improving prayer book did it’s darnedest to instruct one in the art of prayer –
each with its own particular method,
each quite concerned about just how efficient your prayer should be.
It was the language of time management and getting results.
It was the language of business and sales targets.
It was a language I struggled with, as I tried so hard to fit myself
into the spiritual box and measure up, when it came to prayer.
I listened to other competitions, disguised as conversations, on the subject of prayer...
And continued to feel beaten down by it all, and filled with guilt.
Really, all I wanted to do was have a quiet chat with God...
but the books made it feel almost impossible just to settle for that,
and the conversations I’d heard just made me feel shame.

It’s a funny old thing, isn’t it:
that when the subject of prayer comes up, so often, there can be a feeling of guilt.
We know we should crack on with praying, some of us have even overheard
those odd spiritually competitive conversations on prayer.
And you know, I suspect, that these sorts of conversations, which are essentially
a form of boasting about how pious, how spiritual a person is, ...are nothing new.
In fact, we know this, because Jesus, in our passage from the gospel of Matthew
tells us that it’s happening and says to those listening to him
'Gonnae no do that.'
Why?
Especially when previously, in an earlier chunk of this very same section of teaching,
Jesus encourages his followers to let their
‘light shine before others, so they may see your good works 
and give glory to your Father in heaven.’
This in Matthew 5 verse 15.
So, what’s this   all about?
I wonder if it’s about motivation?
If Matthew 5 verse 15 is focused upon giving glory to God,
this later section in chapter 6 examines just where else the glory might be given.
Rather than shining a light on God, this very public, showy kind of prayer
has as it’s motivation a desire to place the focus squarely on
the person praying, ...or fasting, or almsgiving –
three particular forms of spiritual practice in Judaism at that time.
The aim was to play to an audience, and rather than put God at the centre,
it was – and still is – about putting the one doing the act of piety in the spotlight.

Jesus here, is critical of an approach to prayer and piety that is very much:
‘Look at me! Look at how fabulously spiritual I am!’
Jesus asks his followers:
Why?
Why are we are praying, or helping the needy, or fasting? What’s our motivation?
Is it to impress others?
If it’s to impress others, well, a big show is needed.
People should see...
and, being seen, for the person who is seemingly being very spiritual, becomes it's own reward.

There are several problems with this approach:
obviously, the motive is all messed up...
but there’s also this:
perhaps those looking on might be impressed,
but perhaps they might also be mightily discouraged,
might feel that they could never pray or be as spiritual as the one putting on such a show...
might feel that for whatever reason, they don’t seem to fit the right spiritual box...
and they might feel shame for being something –
being someone that they were not created to be in the first place.
It harms those who sincerely want to love God,
but just don’t feel they play spiritual ping pong very well...

Jesus asks his followers:
Why we are praying, or helping the needy, or fasting – what’s our motivation?
And shows a different way, with a different focus:
that prayer and any other ways of practising spirituality should come though
a desire to express one’s love of God...
and a desire to express a love of neighbour.

Jesus asks his followers just to be real, to be authentic,
and to look to, and focus upon God –
whose love is reward enough.
Jesus asks his followers to get on with loving God,
by spending time with God.
He offers a simple framework for prayer for followers who might get stuck...
but in the end, he teaches his followers – us –
in that strangely counter-intuitive way he seems to have,
that, the best way of shining one’s light so that people give glory to God,
comes, not from a competing in some public spiritual Olympics,
but rather, comes from a heart focused upon love and service to God,
where prayer is done quietly in whatever way encourages a relationship
with the One who loves, and is faithful to us.
We turn to God in the quietness of our hearts, in the way that is true to who we are.
If getting up at 5 and praying solid for 3 hours in the morning works for you – great.
Do it.
If you have the sort of personality that likes a more structured framework
to help you keep focused upon God, then by all means pray in timed sections.
But, if you find your natural way of being with God is done by rambling in the woods
or tramping up to the tops of hills... that’s fine too.
Make space to work out how best you pray – where, and when...
And then,
pray.

Oh, and in the end, my own wrestling with how to pray eventually resulted in an answer –
a way of praying that suited who I am, which was a relief.
And yes, I discovered that just wanting to have a chat with God
without any additional suggestions from some of those self-improving books, was just fine.
What I’ve also discovered over the years is that the matter of prayer is a lifetime’s work –
that we’re in it for the long haul...
but we’re in it with God
who knows all our thoughts,
all our prayers,
spoken and unspoken.
God understands the garbled mess of words we sometimes come out with,
and hears the cry from the heart that we may not even know we’ve uttered.
God is with us in this journey of prayer.

Jesus, teaching his disciples, encourages them to examine why they pray;
encourages them to pray.
So I say to you:
pray.
Pray in the way that is uniquely your way
of being with God –
pray without guilt,
and pray without feeling shame caused by those who want to turn prayer into a competition
or who claim prayer can only be done this or that way.
Crack on, and pray:
with God at the centre,
with God as your focus,
with love for God as your motive...
Pray to the One who loves you
and who hears you,
and who is with you.
And, as you do so, you might just find yourself bearing spiritual fruit
that helps bring in God’s kingdom
and also, find yourself transformed in the process. Amen.