Teach Us to Pray

            It’s a request from pretty much every band of religious followers asked of their spiritual leader, “Teach us to pray…”  It rarely means that the followers are totally clueless about the quick, instinctive pleas or relief or happiness directed to the holy presence.  The question is more asking “teach us to pray the way you think we should.”  Some is form, but much is acknowledging that the leader seems to be tuned in and we think we should follow that.  Sometimes it is almost like the followers want to get the secret formula, the hidden secret to connect with the divine.  Certainly many ancient religions around the Mediterranean believed that the right words— almost incantations, even— would bring fast results.  

            So it makes all kind of sense that the disciple wanted to get it right, to hook up with God the way Jesus seemed to be hooked up.  And it makes all kind of sense that Jesus’ prayer for the apostles was ’way simpler and more heartfelt.  He just touched upon the basics: we are related to God as children to parents, make things on earth like in heaven, take care of us, forgive us and help us forgive others, keep us out of trouble.  Nice, simple.  Not highfalutin’.  Rather in character for the informal rabbi with divine intensity.  Of course, the church in its early years touched it up and made it more formal and more suitable for liturgy and named it “the Lord’s Prayer,” and we still use it as a straightforward everyday model for prayer.  Even children can handle that!  Which is why we teach it to our children and include it in worship before they leave for their program.  It’s a children’s prayer that even adults can pray.
 

Anne Lamott called her recent book “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers,” which I think kind of recaptures the heartfelt simplicity of Jesus’ prayer and reminds us that the essence of prayer is not the heaped up theological words but the honesty of the emotions as we lean toward God.  Sometimes I’ve talked to people that think they need a professional like me to do the “right” prayer and that they are merely amateurs.  Jesus pretty effectively reminds us that the real pray-ers are the amateurs!  “Uh, I could use some help here, God” is every bit as good as the old Anglican “Prosper thou the work of our hands.”  Get it? Jesus is telling the disciples and us that simple and sincere is what he’s listening for, so relax and ask.  And then listen and watch.  There will be an answer sooner or later!

            Join your sisters… and brothers… this Sunday as we pray together in Jesus’ presence.

                                                                                                            In Christ,

                                                                                                          

David

Texts for Sunday

From the Epistles       Colossians 2:6-15
From the Gospel         Luke 11:1-13

M & M

          It’s not that their brother was Lazarus which makes Martha and Mary in this week’s lessons two of our favorite characters in the Bible.  Nope, it’s that they bicker just like other sisters (and brothers, of course) we know.  If there was a patron saint for sibling rivalry, I’d nominate Mary and Martha!

          Every church has the practical folks like Martha who show their devotion to God in pretty tangible ways.  And every church has the more spiritually-minded, mystical folks like Mary who devote themselves to Jesus’ teachings.  In our society, like Jesus’ day, we tend to prize the pragmatists, the workers, the doers, and sometimes smile sort of indulgently at the spiritual, studious sorts of disciples who merely like to bask in the presence of God.  That may be a little less brutal in an academic community, where the life of the mind is valued more, but in general, more of us are with Martha, kvetching that Mary isn’t “doing” anything.  So we, too, sometimes need to chill and simply “be” in the moment and “be” in the presence of God.  It is enough to just “enjoy” God.  Jesus likes to “hang out” with his friends.  With us.  Even if we are not bustling around in the kitchen.

          Somewhere in this parable we have to cut each other some slack, understanding that has put different wiring in us, and that Jesus likes both sorts of friends around him.  And, sometimes, we have to cut ourselves some slack that we Marthas are not like Mary and we Marys have a hard time being Marthas, but that’s fine with God.  Jesus loves the whole world, Marys and Marthas!

          Just remember that the bag full of the candy “M&Ms” have not just two colors, but a whole bunch of them, just like a church. We have a whole spectrum of variations and variegations to enjoy.  Sure, sometimes it can be a bit crazy or crazy-making to have so many siblings in the family of faith, but that rich and wild assortment is actually part of the fun, too.  And that’s when we have to remember that even with all the colors of our outsides, on the inside we are the same: we are all beloved children of God, even when we squabble like children.

          I think that is why Jesus has such affection for his two friends, the sisters he loves like they were also his sisters.  And, if we are all children of God, then we are, in fact, related to each other.  Sometimes we bicker with each other, but just like the to women with different ways of relating to Jesus, but in the end we are bound by those family ties of love.   We can love each other because our big brother Jesus loves us first.

          Join your sisters… and brothers… this Sunday as we worship together in Jesus’ presence!

                                                            In Christ,
                                                                  
                                                                           David

Texts for Sunday

From the Hebrew Bible       Amos 8:1-12
From the Gospel                Luke 10:38-42

The Good Ithacan

            For all our familiarity and affection and belief concerning the story about the man who fell among robbers who was ignored by passersby until a Samaritan came by and took care of him, it turns out to be one of the hardest parable of all to live!

            The first two people who don’t want to get involved are not really hard to understand, even if we know we should be like the guy from out of town.  We all suspect that if we were in such a situation, we could go either way with our reaction.

            There is something subtle going on in the conversation around the familiar parable.  The lawyer correctly quoted, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself,” then asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  That’s when Jesus tells the story.  But at the end, Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  Not, “Might he be my neighbor,” but “Do I act like his neighbor?”  That’s a very different question.  It turns the relationship from passive to active; it turns the question from who exists as a disconnected person who lives in proximity to how do followers of Christ act as neighbors to people in need.  Not only is the first twist that it is a Samaritan— by definition a disliked stranger to Jews— the one who cares for the victim of violence, but Jesus’ big twist is that it comes down to acting like a neighbor, not just “being a neighbor.”  The address on your driver’s license has nothing to do with it.  “Did you help?” is everything.  Do you act the way the Bible asks?

            This week, like most weeks, there have been horrible things that happen, including the airplane crash in San Francisco and the last procession bringing home the 19 firefighters who died in the Colorado wildfire.  But the closest to Luke 10:30-36 were the Maine fire and rescue responders who went to the aid of the Canadian town where a train derailed and exploded.  Borders mean nothing to such souls.  And there are people coming from all over to help after the storms and floods in Binghamton and Herkimer.  That’s acting like neighbors; that’s putting mercy into action.  That’s what we all should do.

            The guy who stopped to help, bind up the wounds, get the hurt man to shelter and aid, who not only provided monetary resources but physically lifted him and got him the help he needed answers the question, “Who was the neighbor to the man?”  It is how we help the least of our sisters and brothers, no matter the proximity.  That’s how the lesson ends: Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

But this Sunday I’m not going to preach about that.

You will just have to go out and do it.

                                                            In Christ,
                                                                  
                                                                           David

Texts for Sunday

From the Hebrew Bible          Amos 7:7-17
From the Epistles                 Colossians 1:1-14
From the Gospel                   Luke 10:25-37

Weekly Word from the Interim Pastor

    More and more in this country we have ambivalence about July 4, “Independence Day.”  What began simply as a celebration to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 sometimes has morphed into a somewhat self-congratulatory patriotism, too often with a dismaying thread or two of dividing “real Americans” from others, especially those of other skin tones and languages than the once-upon-a-time white Anglo-Saxon majority.  Ironically, that perspective often overlooks or denigrates the original populations displaced by European colonists.  At least around here there is more appreciation for the other heritages which participate in and enrich our society.

    And, as we move from the 20th into the 21st century, we are also appreciating how we are all part of a global whole.  Not only are there fundamental similarities across all peoples around the world, but we are financially and economically linked to other nations.  Notice how credit concerns in China affect our stock market.  And, for several decades, the environmental connections have been clearer and clearer, so it is not merely the human population of the whole wide world we are connected with, but every creature and every micro-environment and climate change.  Where once a person may have traveled only ten or twenty miles from home, we now realize we are interwoven with everything.  We are one internet click from everywhere.

    So, I like to remember that while we may be politically independent from Great Britain now (and, yes, that is worth a party and picnics and pyrotechnics!), we know we are interdependent with the whole world, figuratively and actually.

    That is also the perspective of the Church, that we are all connected with each other because of our relationship to Jesus Christ.  We are all related through, as Paul writes often, our “big brother” Jesus.  Another way: we are all enlivened and inspired by the same Holy Spirit, no matter our politics or citizenship.  Remember how “catholic” means “universal?”  If you are not into theology, remember the old song, “We are one in the Spirit.”  We are all connected, religiously and practically.

    Take a moment this holiday also to celebrate that we are all interdependent on God and each other and the world.  Remember that other great motto of the early United States, “E pluribus Unum,” out of many, one.  It’s a good way to forge a nation.  It’s really good theology, too!

    Happy interdependence day!

                                                            In Christ,
                                                                  
                                                                           David

Texts for Sunday

From the Epistles         Galatians 6:7-16
From the Gospels         Luke 10:1-10, 16-20