March 8, 2020– Second Sunday in Lent

Sermon by Veronica Gould, “Not My Will, But Thine”

Matthew 6:9-13, 7:7-8, 26:36-42

Going a little farther, Jesus fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

I thought I’d start my sermon the way I usually start my Discovery Table with the children: by asking a question. No show of hands necessary this time! How many of us have a regular practice of prayer?

Now, another question: How many of us would like to pray, but get stuck, finding ourselves without words or without trust or maybe without even knowing what it is that we really want? Most of us would like to pray, but life gets in the way. We wake up late, and the car won’t start, and it’s raining, and the pharmacy isn’t open yet so we decide to run another errand before picking up that prescription, and suddenly we’ve lost two hours out of our day. Our best intentions get interrupted and in the midst of the chaos of our lives, it feels too overwhelming to stop and pray. Like the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, we fight exhaustion to watch and pray but getting caught sleeping on the job.

Martin Luther once said “I have so much to do today that I have to spend the first three hours in prayer.” I wonder if he would have felt differently if they had to respond to emails in the sixteenth century.

But worst of all is the voice that tells us not to pray for fear that we are not worthy. “I’ll pray once I resolve that argument with my spouse”. “God doesn’t want to hear from me when I’m angry. Or drunk. Or high.” “I’ve never prayed before, so it’s too late to start now.”

How, then, shall we pray?

We aren’t the first ones to struggle with prayer. Prayer has been a divine mystery since the beginning of time. In the Christian tradition, prayer is as diverse as the stars in the sky. It has been described as a life line, a phone line, a conversation, a gift, a resting place, a discipline, and a way to transformation. Prayer changes us, and prayer can change the world. In prayer, we bring our whole selves to God, our deepest desires, our fears, hopes, and faults, to walk in communion with God.

So how, then, shall we pray?

When in doubt, we start with the Sunday School answer! Who taught us to pray? (Jesus)

The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most important prayers in our Christian tradition. Last fall, as I talked with our Sunday school teachers about helping our children learn to pray, Katie shared that she remembered how powerful it was to learn as a child that the prayer we pray in church came right from the words of Jesus.

One of my earliest memories of this prayer was when an older gentleman in our church choir offered a dollar to any kid who could memorize the Lord’s Prayer! 

You probably each have your own memories of prayer. The first prayers you learned, or the first time someone prayed for you.

The words I have used to pray the Lord’s Prayer have changed in the past twenty years since I memorized it the first time. I have prayed “Father” and “Parent”; “trespasses”, “sins”, and “debts”; as well as “lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from the time of trial”. Last year during Lent, we even prayed an alternative Lord’s Prayer with modern language.

The marvelous thing about the prayer Jesus taught us is that he did not say “this is what you pray”, but rather “this is how you pray”. A pattern of prayer. A template for us.

We address God as Father or Mother or Parent as a reminder that God has already loved us and called us children of God, so we can stop worrying about our own worthiness. We bless God’s name and marvel at the sacredness of the gift of prayer. We ask God for justice and goodness to pour over the whole earth, remembering the needs of others. We remember God as the source of all good gifts, of food, water, shelter, health, and friendship. And we ask that there will be enough for this day. We recognize our imperfections and turn to God for mercy and strength. And we ask God to help us walk in the way of mercy, growing compassion for everyone in our lives. We ask God to save us from the evil within and the evil without. And that little word “Amen” is the sign that we believe all things are possible with God.

So that’s the template. All of our prayers can be found somewhere in these words. And believe me, we could do an entire sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer alone. But since we are talking about transformation through prayer, I’d like to share a few stories of prayer in our lives.

Of course, this week, Pamela and I will be leading a bible study Tuesday night and Friday morning on the topic of prayer, so if you want to learn more, we invite you to join us. Bring your questions or your stories, or simply the prayer you need to express to God.

[The following stories were not included in the full manuscript]

The first story I want to share is the story of Hannah: Deep desire (1 Samuel 1)

The second story I want to share is the story of Monica: Steadfastness (Mother of St. Augustine)

The third story is my story: What kept me from prayer

1. “Thy will be done” and “You know our every thought”

The fourth story is Carla’s tomato story (gratitude)

The fifth story is Jesus in the garden: Not my will but thine 

Bring our whole selves to God, trust God, walk with God, and face the future with courage

Let us take a brief time for silent reflection to allow God to speak to us in prayer.