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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 12) July 29, 2007 Go To Trinity's Home Page

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-19
Luke 11:1-13
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 75 th General Convention of the ECUSA

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:1-13)

But what if he asks for a snake?
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop

     Prayer and spirituality have become increasingly popular in recent years. Some Episcopal churches have devoted Sunday School or evening classes to these topics. Volume four of The New Church’s Teaching Series is entitled The Practice of Prayer, and was written by Margaret Guenther.[1] In that book, Guenther discusses prayer as a conversation and asks how God has spoken to her readers and how God has answered their prayers.

     Prayer and spirituality are also very marketable. Amazon.com lists 251,789 book titles with the word “prayer” in them; six years ago there were 10,427 such books. That is a 2,315% increase. The results are similar for the word “spirituality.”[2] It is hard for me to believe that this huge increase is driven by anything except public demand. People want to know more about prayer and spirituality.

     There are three prayers that all Episcopalians know. Can you think of them? The first is the “Now I lay me down to sleep …” prayer we learned as children. The second is the Lord’s Prayer, which we just heard from the Gospel of Luke. The third prayer is probably the most commonly uttered prayer by Episcopalians and others who profess a belief in God. Can you think of it? There are various wordings, but the general form of the prayer is: “O God, if you’ll just get me out of this, I’ll do whatever you want me to …”

     Today’s Gospel lesson contains two parts. In the first, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. In the second, Jesus uses a parable to teach us something about what we might expect in response to our prayers.

     The Lord’s prayer is so familiar to us, we often say it without thinking, just like we recite our social security number or address when someone asks us for them. How long has it been since you stopped to listen to the words themselves, and reflect upon how those words actually pertain to your life right now? Let’s take a look at a couple of the petitions Luke gives us.

     In verse three, it says “Give us each day our daily bread.” The words we are most familiar with come from the Matthean version of the prayer which we will recite in the Eucharist shortly. “Give us this day our daily bread.” “Give us this day …” It doesn’t say tomorrow’s bread, or food for the rest of our lives. It simply asks God for the provisions to survive this day. I don’t know about you, but that is hard for me to do! Living day-to-day is hard for compulsive people. We more often want to know exactly how our investments are doing, when to cash them in, and when and where we will go on vacation – months in advance. Perhaps that is because we, unlike the poor of Jesus’ time, have the luxury of free time to worry about such things. But I think that there is a lesson here for us in not only how to pray for our daily needs, but also how to live day-by-day.

     Mrs. Jones was a 40 year-old married mother of a 13 year-old boy I met a number of years ago when I was a chaplain. She was admitted to the hospital for a serious infection of the skin on her leg. Mrs. Jones had dropped out of school at 14 to work full time to support her family. But at 17 years of age, she was diagnosed with serious liver disease. Her liver began to slowly harden and become non-functional. Her spleen later became so enlarged it threatened her life, so it was removed. During the operation the surgeon discovered she actually had a second, smaller spleen, and so the operation was extended so that that organ could be removed as well. She finally got on the national waiting list for a liver transplant. But a few months before I met her, she received the disappointing news that she had developed a form of high blood pressure that affected her lungs. This meant that she was no longer eligible for the transplant. Over the years, she has had over 12 bouts of skin infections that could have easily resulted in the loss of one or more limbs. When I asked Mrs. Jones about where she found the strength to endure the pain and suffering she has experienced for the past 23 years and to serve as a community volunteer, and to be a full-time mother to her son, she looked at me and said, “I really don’t know. I just take it one day at a time…”

     One day at a time.

     After the Lord’s prayer, Luke gives us a rather badly worded parable to tell us something about prayer itself, and what we might expect of God in answer to our petitions.

     It was late, and the time had come for bed. This typical, poor Galilean home consisted of a single room with one tiny window open to the street outside. Because there was a common courtyard where the women of the village baked their bread, everyone knew who was likely to have bread left at the end of the day. The floor was beaten earth covered with dried reeds. The room was divided into two parts, with a raised platform, like the chancel here, separating this area from the rest. On the raised part was a charcoal stove.[3] In the evening, one of your older children was probably responsible for bringing your livestock into the home at night for protection. When the goats, chickens and children were all in place, you, your spouse, and your children slept around this stove for warmth and comfort.

     (Rapping on the pulpit as if it was the door) “Friend, friend, please help me. Lend me three loaves of your leftover bread, for a friend has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” If you get up, you will step on someone or a chicken, and pretty soon everyone will be awake.

     Your neighbor must be in need, because it would be a terrible breach of hospitality for him to not serve bread to the guests that arrived so late at his house.

     (Rapping more on the door/pulpit) “Friend, please! We have no bread to feed our guests. Please, please help me.”

     “I am sorry, friend. Do not bother me; the door is locked, and my children are asleep with me. I cannot get up and get you anything.”

     (Rapping more on the door/pulpit) “Please, my friend, please.” Because the neighbor’s pounding and your yelling have awakened your family anyway, you grudgingly get up, and get the extra bread. You open the door and hand him the loaves.

     “Thank you friend,” he says as he hurries off to feed his guests.

     Shaking your head, you slowly close the door, and lie down, stroking the head of your daughter Rachel as she falls back to sleep.

     This parable tell us something about what prayer is and what it is not, and about what we may or may not expect from prayer. Jesus assures us that all of our prayers will be answered. He says, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. But it is important to note that the wording does not imply that God will necessarily provide exactly what we pray for. The phrases “Everyone who asks receives” and “Everyone who searches finds” do not say “Everyone who asks receives that which she asked for” or “Everyone who searches finds exactly what he seeks.” What we have is a promise that God will provide for us. In effect, Jesus asks us to trust in God’s faithfulness to us.

     In just a little while, the summer will be over, and the school year will begin. And in many ways, our church life will take on a new dimension as our members return home, and our EYC youth and children’s Sunday School start up again. Luke has given us three wonderfully appropriate stories these past three weeks that frame for us how to thoughtfully begin the new year. Three weeks ago we heard about the Good Samaritan, and noted that this story taught us that our church needs to be a spiritual inn where all people are truly welcome and treated with dignity and respect, just as the Inn Keeper took care of the injured Judean above and beyond what was expected of him. The story of Mary and Martha we heard last week showed us how being hospitable meant to be attentive to the needs of our guests and how we can all learn from each other just as Mary sat ready to learn from Jesus. Finally in the story today, we are reminded that the work we undertake in the church is work that if prayerfully undertaken, is a step of faith and of great trust that in our prayerful work, God will answer our prayers.

     Luke devotes more time to Jesus’ prayer practices than any other Gospel. There is a lesson in that: No undertaking of Jesus was done without prayer. Let us not get lost in the details like Martha. Let us not forget to be radically hospitable to all people. And above all, let us pray for what we need and want, knowing that God will do for us better things than we can desire or pray for.

     Let us pray:

O God, the Holy Spirit,
come to us, and among us:
come as the wind and cleanse us;
come as the fire, and burn;
come as the dew, and refresh:
convict, convert, and consecrate
many hearts and lives
to your great good and greater glory,
and this we ask for Jesus Christ’s sake.[4] Amen.

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Hosea 1:2-10

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.” When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.” Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Psalm 85 Benedixisti, Domine

1 You have been gracious to your land, O LORD, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.

2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.

3 You have withdrawn all your fury *
and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

4 Restore us then, O God our Savior; *
let your anger depart from us.

5 Will you be displeased with us for ever? *
will you prolong your anger from age to age?

6 Will you not give us life again, *
that your people may rejoice in you?

7 Show us your mercy, O LORD, *
and grant us your salvation.

8 I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, *
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.

9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.

10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

12 The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.

13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.

Colossians 2:6-19

As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Collect of the Day

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[1] Margaret Guenther. The Practice of Prayer. Boston, MA: Cowley Publications, 1998.
[2] As of 26 July 2007, there were 125,300 books listed on Amazon.com with the word "spirituality" in the title, as compared to 12,347 in 2001.
[3] William Barclay. The Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 145.
[4] George Appleton. The Oxford Book of Prayer. (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1985), 155.

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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
26 July 2007

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