A Life Habit

When Jesus was finished praying, one of his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray.

And Jesus said, when you pray, say.

In the name of the Blessed Trinity, amen.

Last Sunday, Jesus went to the home of Mary and Martha,

and through what he did, he taught the disciples about the meaning of his death,

his life, and the purpose of their lives.

Nobody in the home asked him for a teaching, yet they got one anyway.

Rarely in the New Testament does anybody ask Jesus for instruction.

He does it no matter what, but rarely do people ask so directly.

Today is different. His disciples ask Him, teach us how to pray.

And Jesus gives them not merely a model of prayer.

He gives them the exact prayer, word for word.

It's the prayer we persistently pray here every Sunday, a prayer that many of you may pray every day,

probably, probably the prayer you could read from the heart in any place at any time.

I find it fascinating that Jesus had to teach his disciples to pray with such precision.

I'm sure you've run into a person or two in life who kind of brags about their

ability to pray extemporaneously.

We don't read prayers out of a book in our church. At least,

maybe I am the only one who gets this.

Prayer is from the heart. We're free to tell God what's ever on our mind,

get to ask for whatever we want.

The suggestion is that extemporaneous prayer is sincere and heartfelt,

personal, and that planned prayer is not.

It's the perspective that telling God what's on your heart is the goal of prayer.

And it's an attractive idea about prayer.

And of course, there's a part of prayer that is like that. After all,

it's about intimacy with God.

But here comes Jesus today, the time that he is asked about prayer.

And he implies that prayer is not a matter of spilling your guts to God and

sharing what's on your heart.

Rather, prayer is something that is taught.

We have been taught by Jesus to pray for certain things and not for others.

We have been given certain words and not others.

We have been given specific things to pray for,

that this prayer might shape our hearts and cause our hearts to care for the

very things that God cares about.

I wonder if that's the goal of prayer.

I love the vulnerability of the disciples here.

They plea for instruction the same way we plea for instruction from Jesus.

And they show that nearly everything about living in Jesus' name doesn't come naturally.

Responding to the grace of God is a choice.

It's not that God's grace depends on our choice.

God's grace comes to us and is with us already.

How we respond to that amazing love and grace is the question.

Living in the way of Jesus and listening to Jesus' words and paying attention to his actions.

And when it comes to the conversation with God, there is a pattern to it.

And that pattern is intended to help shape our relationship with God.

When you pray, says Jesus, pray like this.

Our Father, not my Father, our Father. God doesn't belong to me, but to everyone.

And the relationship we are called to have with God is intended to draw us into

relationship with each other.

Father, our relationship with God is intended to be intimate.

God can take anything that we have to say,

as this whole service always begins God already knows the secrets of our heart,

who art in heaven God is able to be the bridge between the kingdom to come and

the kingdom of this world.

Hallowed be thy name. Holiness is the topic under consideration here.

Thy kingdom come. Uh-oh. Politics.

God's reign is complete.

And no ruler of the earth is above the reign of God no matter the party, the tribe or the nation.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Heaven is God's realm and so is earth.

God is determined to have God's way here and now. There's no place to hide.

Your will be done is a declaration. There's no condition here.

Your will be done. It's not a question of whose authority we follow.

The way it's actually written originally, it's almost a cry, a revolutionary cry.

Your will be done against all others.

And let it begin with me.

Give us this day our daily bread.

We have so many specific needs when we have our prayer list.

But only until midway through the prayer do we get a specific give us this day

our daily bread enough to sustain us for today,

we are creatures we are fragile we are dependent and contingent upon the gifts

of God and upon the labors of others because you know bread needs to be made by someone,

It could give us enough blueberries or something that we can just go out and get on our own.

But bread needs to be made by someone.

So asking for bread implies the connection that we have with those who made the bread.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us right after we ask for bread.

Jesus insists that we ask for forgiveness for what we have done or left undone in this world.

But even more than that, after asking so much from God, we are asked to do one

thing in the entire prayer.

Forgive others.

Forgive each other just as God forgives us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Life with Jesus is not intended to be like an inoculation.

That from the moment of baptism, we won't experience struggle or evil or be challenged in any way.

Someone said the saved are still in need of rescue.

Temptations are what human life is about.

And the regular give and take of a conversation with God is prayer that asks

that we be guided and set our lives against evil.

We don't like to use that word in our modern society there can be all types

of challenges and dangers of using it too much so to say especially about others,

but it's descriptive,

and each day we see it in the world in which we live keep us from evil.

Help us set our lives against it.

Not merely for ourselves, but for the benefit of each other.

I doubt that we would pray like this if we weren't taught it.

It takes just a second for Jesus to teach it.

It takes a lifetime to pray it by heart.

And maybe that's Jesus' greatest teaching here. About prayer.

About conversation with God. About life with God.

The main thing is to just keep at it.

It's no mistake that the next two parables after teaching the Lord's Prayer

are really about persistence.

That might be one of the greatest challenges of life with Jesus. Keeping at it.

Keeping the faith even when it doesn't personally please you or benefit you. Seemingly.

To do the right thing. Even if the right thing benefits someone else.

To stay in love with Jesus over the long haul.

Because face it, being a Christian is difficult.

Because, well, it's difficult. We get distracted.

We lose interest.

We become bored. We get discouraged.

As I say, there's not much about this walk with Jesus that comes from our natural inclinations.

We must be formed and reformed again and again and again.

And that's why we come here again and again and again. and why we say the prayer

again and again and again.

How do we persist when our prayers often seem like we're talking to ourselves?

What do we do when it doesn't please us to be obedient, you might say, to God's will?

What do we do when we fail?

Be persistent. Keep at it.

Keep wanting what God wants. Keep praying that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Keep asking for forgiveness. Keep feeding your neighbor as you work hard to

keep feeding your people. and your family.

Remember that your neighbor needs food too.

Keep forgiving others. Keep demanding that the leaders and systems of this world

reflect the kingdom above.

Keep resisting evil, no matter what quarter it comes from, even if it comes

from my quarter and my people.

No matter who tries to pass it off as good, keep resisting it.

I don't think we like to admit it, but prayer is habit.

So keep at it. Even when we are not emotionally fulfilled by doing it,

and even when it doesn't personally please you to do it.

Sometimes in just doing the faith out of habit, it becomes a part of who we are.

We find that when we profess it, we can begin to live it.

We aren't working at prayer.

As much as prayer is working on us, becoming part of who we are and part of our daily lives.

Be careful about giving too much credence, too much credence about feeling it,

being deeply moved by it, or being spiritually renewed.

It's not that those things don't have a place in our overall understandings,

but they don't seem to be the primary barometer that Jesus gave us.

Jesus gave us a prayer with specific words,

one that we can keep at time and time again,

and one that shapes our life with God. Keep at it.

Do it even when you don't feel like it.

And let's, by all things, do it together.

Because thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Thanks for listening to 60 Church Street, a podcast of Trinity Episcopal Church

in Asheville, North Carolina.

Now, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

The homily was offered by the Rev. Dr. R. Scott White.

Introductory and closing reflections were shared by the Rev. Amy Peterson.

Musical contributions were performed by Dr. Kevin Seal.

Sermon audio was prepared by Nanette Popa. Production was guided by Karen Marie Frederiksen.