Praying Like Monks
Notes
Transcript
Where to begin
Where to begin
I’m not really one for New Years resolutions, mostly because saying I’m going to do something doesn’t really motivate me. But there are changes that I want to see in my life. Part of my spiritual and just life journey is that I’m always in this process of self evaluation, so I’m typically aware of where I’d like to see some meaningful change in my life.
So what I’m learning is that it’s more important for me to define an intention, a “why” that undergirds all of the changes that I may want to see in my life. Setting an intention for a new season of life allows me to change and adapt the behaviors that I engage in over the course of time so that they better suit the trajectory of my life that I’m hoping to travel along. Essentially this insures that I don’t get locked into such a narrow pattern of just doing things to do them, but, rather into doing things that move me in a direction.
So, Life’s been a bit crazy for the past like 7 years. It’s not really looking to slow down. But you know, my relationship with God has been what I would characterize as focused on the intellectual. That’s kind of just who I am anyway, but I really have been very focused on studying and understanding the Bible. Which is great. I’m sure you aren’t mad about that.
And even in my personal life, it’s been just… busy. Always something to do or somewhere to go. Or something to get distracted by. It’s not really a good thing that I have the internet in my pocket.
So anyway, my intention for 2023 and hopefully for the rest of my life is “don’t miss it.” And that goes for my marriage, my relationship with my kids, my relationship with the church, and… you guessed it. My relationship with God.
So if I had to narrow down “don’t miss it” to a single word, I’d call it “abide.” To abide is to dwell with someone. To be present with them, to stay. Which doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult. But it really is quite difficult, because we live in a world that is filled with distraction. We can literally be sitting in the same room as someone and not be with them. And the same goes for God. It’s easy to forget about God.
If that’s you, don’t beat yourself up. Because there’s a story in the Bible that perfectly illustrates this. It comes from Luke Chapter 10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.
But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Listen, this lady Martha had God in her house and she was distracted. So it’s no wonder that its difficult for us. Like I said, most of us have the internet in our pockets now. But I want, and I’m going to guess that you also want, to feel more connected to God. Especially if you’ve been reading your Bible with us and you’ve been reading about how close of a connection that God had with some of the main characters so far. Like wow, must be nice for God to just show up and chat with you.
But the reality is that we are always in the presence of God. There is no place where we are separated from God, other than in our own minds. So to abide with God in 2023, I think that we, you and I both, could likely use a little bit of help in not separating ourselves from God in our heads.
That’s the point of this sermon series that we are in, which is called Brand New. It’s about renewing our spiritual lives through spiritual disciplines that will ignite our love for Jesus, stretch our love for our neighbors, and transform our spiritual journeys. So last week we focused on reading scripture, but today we are going to talk about prayer, because prayer is one of the most fundamental lines of communication that we have with God. Prayer is the beginning of abiding with God. It’s the fundamental recognition that God is present, that God is with us, and that we want God to be a part of our lives.
Follow Jesus
Follow Jesus
Now there are a number of reasons that people don’t pray. People includes me sometimes. I know I’m the pastor but I’m also a human so just know that we are in this thing together.
People don’t pray sometimes because they don’t feel like they are good at it. Good news. Prayer isn’t something that you master. Ever. So don’t worry about it. The only bad prayer is the prayer you leave unprayed. So pray that prayer.
Sometimes we don’t pray because we are actually afraid of the silence that it confronts us with. What happens when we strip ourselves of the music and the community and the sermon that we experience in the church service? Sometimes we are afraid to pray because in the silence we might realize that there isn’t much to our relationship with God. And that can be frightening. The good news here is that God isn’t frightened and God is willing to build the relationship from wherever it is at this moment. So pray.
Now, to the reasons that you should pray. Well, the main reason is because Jesus prayed. And you are here because you follow or at least seek to follow Jesus. Jesus spent a lot of time praying, and Jesus spent a lot of time talking about prayer. And it think it’s curious that a man who was God still spent time praying to God. Have you ever thought about that?
One of the things that I love about the Bible is the way that the authors have structured things to emphasize a point. So in that passage of Luke’s gospel which I read earlier, Jesus concludes by emphasizing to Martha how important it is to sit at God’s feet, to abide with him. And the very next thing, literally, that Luke says is this:
He 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.”
Jesus teaches Martha about abiding in God’s presence and then Luke jumps immediately to showing Jesus’s prayer life, as well as Jesus teaching the disciples what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer.
And this is for those of you who don’t pray because you’re afraid of not praying properly. You can use Jesus’s formula: God you are good and holy, forgive me for my sins, and please give me what I need and protect me from evil. Simple.
And if you are concerned that your relationship with God isn’t good enough for God to listen to your prayers, Jesus has something for you too. The very next thing he says is this:
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.
Now He’s not just saying to bug the living daylights out of your friends. What he means is this: Persistence is the key when it comes to Prayer. God’s gonna listen. He goes on...
“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.
Jesus’s point here is pretty simple: pray with persistence. Now this isn’t a promise that everything that you ask God for will come to you in the way that you want it to come. God is not a genie in a lamp. But God is known for giving us what is good for us — whether we see it that way or not. Jesus’s final words on the matter are these:
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!”
It’s kind of blunt, but the words are meant to bring us to the point that God isn’t going to give us bad gifts… EVEN if we are asking for them. God is in the business of saving us from ourselves, even when it means saving us from the desires of our heart.
All of this is to say that we pray because prayer is how we give up dependence on ourselves. Prayer is how we relinquish control of our lives and turn our hopes and our desires over to a God who knows what is good for us and what isn’t. Prayer is how we find comfort in knowing that we aren’t going at all of this alone, that this life with all of its trials and pains isn’t all on us to navigate alone. But mostly, prayer is for everyone.
National Broadcasts
National Broadcasts
Last monday night Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin took a hit on the football field, and when he stood up almost immediately collapsed. He suffered cardiac arrest on nationally televised Monday Night Football. It was terrifying.
Medical personnel worked on him on field, eventually stabilizing him enough to transport him to a local hospital. But all around him was the entire Bills and Bengals rosters praying on the field. The stadium was filled with fans, hands clasped in prayerful anticipation.
But perhaps the most unlikely thing occurred later on. ESPN Analyst Dan Orlovsky stopped in mid conversation to call everyone in the studio and everyone who was watching into a time of prayer. And there, on national television, America prayed. It was a powerful reminder of how we are called to react in moments of powerlessness, in moments where we come face to face with that which we cannot control.
Damar Hamlin is still in critical condition, and America still prays for him. But what I want us to see is in this very public moment, the immediate reaction of so many was to pray. And I believe that is because its written in our very DNA to be people who seek out a connection with God.
The very thing that we think we don’t know how to do, or think is reserved for professionals is actually something that we know how to do as soon as we stop over thinking it. The problem is that we forget. We get distracted by the business of life, by the internet in our pocket, or by our own self reliance.
Praying Like Monks
Praying Like Monks
In monasteries all around the world, people called monks reside. Among other things they dedicate their lives to prayer. And I think that this is the idea that we have in our heads about what it looks like for us to be people who are serious about praying.
But the funny thing about it is that the only real difference between you and I and the monks in a monastery is that monks have recognized how deeply distracted they are in the world, and so they have separated themselves from it.
Monks aren’t better at praying than you an I. Monks are just better at making space for prayer. Monks are better at structuring their lives around prayer, because they have stripped away the things that distract them from acknowledging the presence of God.
And so my call on us, and on myself included is to pray like monks. I didn’t say live like monks. I just said pray like monks. And monks pray like people who aren’t too busy to commune with the living God. Monks pray like people who want to be in the presence of the One who chose us and chooses us again each day. Praying like monks simply means choosing God each day, the same way that God chooses you.
Monks have a routine of Morning, Midday, and Evening prayer. 3 times a day. It doesn’t seem that hard. But also, its easy to forget. It’s not meant to be legalistic, it’s meant to be transformational. It’s meant to be a time to refocus, recenter, and recommit ourselves to abiding with Jesus.
I’ll admit that I’m not the best here in this particular area. It doesn’t come naturally. I had to build a rhythm of prayer into my life, and it’s going ok. But it’s getting better. It’s becoming more normal. And it’s becoming that way because I’ve built prayer into my routines.
Perhaps the most basic and easy way to get into a rhythm of prayer is to simply take time to pray before you eat. My suspicion is that you eat in the morning, at midday, and in the evening. That could work for you.
Perhaps you commute to and from work. Well, my wife is the queen of car prayers. But she’ll warn you to make sure you do this practice with your eyes open.
The where is not as important as the intention that you set. At this time, I’m going to acknowledge and be present with God. I am going to abide with God in a real and tangible way. I’m going to lay my worries, my complaints, my hopes, my dreams, and my will at God’s feet. I’m going to rest in God. I’m going to be a part time monk. I’m going to stop missing God’s presence.
I promise you that if you do this your life is going to change. What goes on outside of you might not change, but what goes on inside of you will. You will start to know peace. You will truly realize what Mary felt at the feet of Jesus, what Jesus’s disciples felt as they lived life with Jesus, What a stadium filled with football fans felt last monday night, what a nation of people felt when a football analyst felt the overpower need to sit at God’s feet and pray.
That’s the peace that we seek, the peace that we look for when we bring ourselves to the savior in prayer. So church, lets be a church who prays in 2023. Let’s be a church filled with people who sit at the feet of Jesus.