Prayer

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Episcopal Church

July 24, 2016

                                                     Proper 12 C

Since arriving in Hudson almost 3 months ago, my GPS and I have become very good friends.  While I always get where I am going, and I have no problem stopping to ask for directions, my own sense of direction is not great. In my first month here, I tried to take the back route from the church to our house in Connecticut Colony by turning left on Prospect and following my nose. I ended up in Macedonia. So, I like a good set of directions, preferably in the form of a voice coming out of the speakers in my car saying “in one half mile, turn left.”  When I follow the directions, step by step, without second guessing them, I get where I am going.  As I have said before, with the help of the gps, I always get where I am going, but I often do not know where I am.

In today’s gospel lesson, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.   I shouldn’t speak for the disciples, but my guess is that, like many of us, what they really want is something like a good set of directions that, when followed exactly, will get them where they want to be, at least metaphorically.  This sounds much more selfish that it actually is, because I believe that in most cases our prayers are for others, not for ourselves.  We want to be able pray such that our loved ones are healed, war and violence come to an end, hunger and poverty are eliminated, people get along, and our own limitations are conquered.  Teach us how to pray, Jesus, with exact step by step directions, so that God will hear our prayers and be moved to act.  And so Jesus gives us the prayer we know and love as the Lord’s prayer, tells us the story about a man who goes to his friend at midnight and beats on the door until the friend answers, and then Jesus makes what seems like a rash promise that if we ask, we shall receive, if we seek, we will find, and if we knock, the door will be opened. Jesus seems to tell us that persistence in prayer pays off with the desired results, and that God would never give us a scorpion when we ask for an egg.  But, the reality is that we don’t always get what we pray for, no matter how persistent we are, or how closely we follow any particular recipe for prayer.  We ask for eggs, and sometimes, all we see are scorpions.  So, what could Jesus possibly mean? Why bother with prayer when many of our prayers seem to go unnoticed by God?  

I find it interesting that Jesus’ teaching on prayer parallels the last hours of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion.  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells us to ask for 4 things: that God’s kingdom come, that we receive our daily bread, that our sins be forgiven, and that we are spared the time of trial.  These four requests parallel the events of Jesus’ last hours.  Knowing that Jesus’ hour has come and that his earthly life will soon come to a painful end, Jesus takes bread, regular daily bread, and blesses it, gives it to his disciples and tells them to eat this daily bread in remembrance of him.  Jesus also tells the disciples that he will not eat this bread again until the Kingdom of God has been fulfilled.  “Your kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread.”  Then Jesus blesses the wine and says “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  “Forgive us our sins.”  Then Jesus kneels, at the Mount of Olives in Luke’s gospel, in the garden or in Gethsemane in other gospels, and prays.  “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”  When Jesus finishes praying, he says to the disciples, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”  And do not bring us to the time of trial.

There, in Jesus’ last hours, in the face of his suffering and death that his prayers to God will not remove, are all the pieces of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. This is the context into which Jesus’ teaching on prayer must go.  Prayer is not a set of directions we must follow to get what we want or be delivered from our suffering.  Prayer is a way of being persistent followers of the crucified and risen Lord in the midst of whatever scorpions life hands us.  Prayer is a way of uniting ourselves and our concerns with Jesus in his death and resurrection.  That does not mean that we do not make specific requests of God when we pray.  Jesus was very specific in his request: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”  But Jesus reminds us that the primary gift of prayer is not eggs and fish, or whatever it is that we want or need, but the Holy Spirit, which will always be given to those who ask and which sustained Jesus through the darkest of times and sustains us as well.  In the context of Jesus’ suffering and death, the Lord’s Prayer specifically and all prayer in general is not a means to an end or a set of directions to be followed in order to get to the desired location or result. In the context of Jesus’ suffering and death, prayer is a way to connect with the Holy Spirit so that we can live into the words from the reading from Colossians this morning. Prayer is a way to receive Christ Jesus as Lord, to live our lives in him, rooted and built up in him established in the faith, abounding in thanksgiving.

                                                                             Amen.

Balance

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

July 17, 2016

11 Proper C

          My mother firmly believed that hospitality is one of the cardinal virtues.  Had she been prone to such language, she would have called hospitality a gospel value, maybe even the gospel value.  When guests arrived at our home, everything was ready so that she could attend to the guests and not the stove.  She wanted the guests to feel expected and welcomed.  The table was set with utmost care and much thought was given to who would sit next to who.  She remembered her guests’ food and beverage likes and dislikes and planned the menu accordingly.  Since this is the way I was raised, and the language I speak is the language of the church, hospitality is a gospel value for me, even if I am not so good about having everything ready when my guests arrive.

          Great hospitality obviously takes a lot of preparation and work, which is a point that seems lost on Jesus this morning.  Martha has an unexpected house guest today, and wants to offer only the finest hospitality, which takes work.  Her sister, on the other hand, is sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to what he has to say.  We can easily hear this story as one that asks us to choose between work and contemplation, action and prayer, doing and being.  Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part, leaving all of us Type A get-it-done personalities very uncomfortable and a little annoyed.

          The truth, however, is that Jesus has nothing against getting things done.  Last Sunday, we heard the parable of the Good Samaritan.  In that parable, the lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.  When Jesus asks the lawyer what is written in the law, the lawyer responds with the words of the Shema “You shall love the Lord your God with all your, heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus says “Do this and you shall live.”  At the end of the parable, when Jesus asks the lawyer which of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers, the lawyer answers “the one who showed him mercy.”  Jesus says “Go and do likewise.”  Add in all the times Jesus sends the disciples out to do something, and Jesus clearly has nothing against doing.

          What Jesus does have a problem with is distraction and worry.  “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.”  Perhaps Martha simply needs some balance in her life, a balance of work and devotion.  We talk about work/life balance in our own lives as we balance work and play, or times of action and of prayer.  We talk about balance in terms of a scale so that no one facet of our lives outweighs another and we try to stay on an even keel.  If you are like me, that’s a lovely thought that does not play out well in real life.  But there is another way to think about balance, which is to think about the balance of a dancer, having a strong core, a center point, and a great deal of flexibility.  With a strong core, movement is graceful and balance is maintained.  Out of a strong core, comes great strength and focus.  Out of a strong core, responses are deliberate, not haphazard. Perhaps Jesus is encouraging Martha to strengthen her spiritual core, to find that kind of balance, so that she is not distracted and worried in her work, but focused and secure. 

          In the reading from Amos, we hear harsh words spoken to people whose core has been weakened and who are an extreme case of loss of balance.  God’s chosen people are meeting the challenges of the world by trampling on the needy, and turning the Sabbath into something to be endured until they can get back to the work of exploitation and practicing deceit.  The consequences of such behavior will be dire.  The behavior is a result of losing focus on their identity as God’s chosen people, letting the core get weak, and being distracted by many things.   Martha’s distraction is simply the work of hospitality.  The distraction condemned by Amos is the distraction of greed and dishonesty.

          How do we strengthen our core as Christians, both individually and as a congregation?  Certainly prayer and corporate worship are part of that, as are Bible study and theological reflection on our own lives and the events in the world around us.  Knowing who we are as Christians and being able to articulate that identity strengthens our core.  Knowing how our gospel values inform our decisions and our actions strengthens our core.  Practicing living as Christians with each other in this place strengthens our core so we can live as Christians in the world with grace and flexibility. 

          We have seen troubled and fearful times in our country and around the world this summer, especially over the last few weeks.   The Republican National Convention takes place in our back yard this week, bringing fears about security in Cleveland.  We are distracted by many things.  The temptation to retreat from the distractions of the world and simply sit at Jesus’ feet is huge.  In a message to the church on Friday, Michael Curry, our presiding bishop, said “Prayer is not an escape from the world but a way of deeper engagement with it by drawing closer to God and closer to each other.”   Sitting at Jesus’ feet was not an escape from the responsibilities and challenges of hospitality and gospel living, as Martha accused Mary of doing.  Sitting at Jesus’ feet provides focus and strength so that we can engage the challenges of life, not out of fear, or worry, or distraction, and certainly not by the exploitation of other people, but with the balance that comes from being grounded in the gospel.

                                                                             Amen.

Keep it Simple

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

July 3, 2016

9 Proper C

          Our family enjoys taking mini-vacations to nearby cities where we visit museums and enjoy the local cuisine.  By mini, I mean two days and one night, or perhaps two nights.  The mid-west offers many opportunities to visit cities within a short driving distance, and we have been to Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati, as well as some others further afield. When we went to Cincinnati, we visited the Underground Railroad museum the first afternoon and the next morning we went to the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky.  At the entrance to the Creation Museum, we were greeted by a man handling a snake.  The snake was wrapped around his shoulders and was clearly a friendly snake, but a live snake nonetheless.  I was left to wonder whether the snake was a Genesis Chapter 3 snake, which had power over Adam and Eve, or was it a Luke 10 or Mark 16 snake, over which the disciples would have power?  Either way, the clear message was that believers could handle snakes with no fear for their lives or their souls.  However, Don and I had lived in the mountains of western North Carolina for a couple of years, and every year there were one or two stories in the local paper about people who took Jesus’ words literally about the ability of disciples to handle snakes and scorpions.  Unfortunately those folks found that they could not actually tread on snakes and scorpions, and their attempts were met with dire consequences.  If you have ever read the late comedian Robin Williams’ top 10 reasons to be an Episcopalian, you know that reason number 10 is no snake handling. 

          The promise of the ability to tread on snakes and scorpions has such dramatic flair and miraculous potential that we can easily overlook what is perhaps the real miracle in the gospel story this morning.  On this 4^th of July weekend when we celebrate independence and freedom with fireworks that shoot glorious power into the air, Jesus sends the 70 out, not independently, but two by two to recruit more workers for the harvest.  Rather than send them out with everything they need for a successful mission, Jesus tells them to take nothing with them.  Rather than freeing them to be in control of their accommodations as they travel, Jesus tells them to rely on the hospitality of others, eating and drinking what is provided.  Rather than give the disciples a powerful argument that proves the truth of the gospel, they are simply to heal the sick and say “The Kingdom of God has come near.”  By 21^st century American standards, the 70 are destined for failure.  But rather than fail, the 70 succeed and return to Jesus with joy.  They go two by two, make themselves vulnerable as they take nothing with them and rely on the hospitality of others, heal the sick, proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near, and they are successful.  Snake handling looks like a minor miracle in comparison.

          Simplicity and vulnerability are also at the heart of the story from 2 Kings this morning.  Naaman, commander of the army of Aram, has leprosy.  A quick trip to Urgent Care is not an option for Naaman.  Instead, his cure involves a young Israelite girl who tells her mistress about the prophet in Samaria.  The mistress talks to Naaman who tells the King of Aram, who gets the King of Israel involved, who sends Naaman to Elisha.  These connections do not happening via email, much less text message.  These connections likely took weeks or even months to make.  Finally Naaman reaches Elisha, who tells the commander to wash in the Jordan 7 times and he will be healed.  Naaman thinks this is ridiculously simple and is offended.  All of these connections, deep vulnerability to strangers, and this is what he gets?  But his servants say to him, in what may be one of the wisest passages of Scripture “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?"  So Naaman does as Elisha instructed and, indeed, his skin is healed.  The miracle is one of connections, vulnerability, and simplicity.

          Jesus sends the 70 out to draw people into the Kingdom of God by proclaiming that the Kingdom has come near.  If Jesus’ followers are welcomed, they are to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near.  If Jesus’ followers are not welcomed, they are still to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near.  The way we know that the Kingdom of God has come near apparently has nothing to do with the success of our efforts.  The Kingdom of God has come near when we live as people who are connected to each other, allow ourselves to be vulnerable to outsiders, and keep the message simple.  Paul tells us in the letter to the Galatians to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.  Even as someone quite new here, I see you bearing one another’s burdens at Christ Church and in the wider community all the time.  I have heard stories from you about times when your burdens were born by fellow parishioners.  When we live as people who are connected to each other and use our actions bear one another’s burdens, we both show the world what the Kingdom of God looks like and invite them in.  Like Naaman, we sometimes want to make the work of drawing people into the Kingdom much more complicated than required.  We’d like be able to buy a program or get a complicated set of instructions guaranteed to fill this church with people who want to make a gospel difference in the world.  We can think that living as people who are connected with each other and bearing one another’s burdens sounds like a ridiculously simple way to show people what the Kingdom of God looks like.  Wouldn’t something complicated, like the promise of being able to tread on snakes, metaphorical or literal, be much more effective way to draw people to the Kingdom of God?  In response, we hear the servants of Naaman say “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?"

                                                Amen.