Wandering, Prayer, and Salvation

The New Revised Standard Version (The Prayer of Faith)

The Prayer of Faith(Cp 1 Kings 18:41–46)13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, 20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

All wander.

Through prayer and care for one another, we bring each other home. This is our calling as the church, bring each other home to the saving love of God.

Prayer is not a private matter. It helps form a community where people share their lives with each other, a community committed to bearing one another’s burdens in prayer and in real life action.

Praying from right where we’re at

The New Revised Standard Version The Prayer of Faith

13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.

There is such grace for us in the opening verse of this morning’s lesson. Are you suffering? Then we pray. Are you happy? Then we praise God. The grace is this — God meets us right where we are. It is from where we are, not where we long to be or where we were or where we think we should be…no it is where we are that we enter into prayer and gratitude.

We could expand the list beyond suffering and happy.

Are you lonely? Then look around you and see the cloud of witnesses ready to be with you.

Are you hungry? Then come to the table and be fed, in body and in soul?

Are you hopeful? Then share your expectation and joy with others, that they may be lifted up.

Are you fed up at injustice? Then stand up and say something, challenging the faithful church to act.

You see — there are entry points for us all in this prayerful, worshipful endeavor. The work is not to get yourself into some state of righteousness to be then allowed to pray. No, the good news is that where we are at, right now, we begin. It is a practice we enter into, a rhythm of prayer that is unhindered by our state of mind or what we’re digesting from last night’s dinner. We enter into community from where we are.

I wonder — where are you at?

Are you hungry, lonely, happy, hopeful, doubting, exhausted, emboldened, or at the end of your rope? Begin there.

St. Benedict of Nursia, who founded the rhythmic rule of life and the Benedictine order, reminds us: “Always, we begin again.”

With each new day, need, moment, event — we begin again. We come in prayer to God, again and again. And, as our lesson today reminds us, we come again and again in prayer and those prayers do matter and do help.

I was up on campus at Western a couple of days this week to help welcome new students as they start their Fall term. This was my 20th year marking the beginning of campus life in Bellingham at Western. As I did this, I reflected upon how I’ve changed over those years and how I’ve come to see ministry and campus and the church’s role in caring for and supporting students.

In my early years of ministry, I had this perception that in order to connect with students or young people, that we needed to make our churches and our ministries flashy and exciting. That if we just were cool enough or said the right things, this coveted demographic of people would flock to our buildings and get involved. But looking back now, I see things differently. I see, in line with James’ teachings and Benedict’s instruction to begin again, that we are to invite people into our life together from right where we are. And right where the other is. No program or flashy signage or cool lingo is going to hold up when it comes to the hardships and the joys of life actually lived out.

So, as I approached the welcoming of students, I wanted to come at it from a posture of simple hospitality. We’re glad students are here. We celebrate all that God will do in forming them during this time of life. And as the church, we say, “welcome.” We say “you can belong here, with us, you are very welcome.” “Wherever you’re coming from, whatever your strength of faith or level of doubt, come and be and we will come alongside you and be with you.”

We’ll see in a moment how this coming alongside is exactly what James says saves us, how the invitation into community and belonging is what helps the wandering soul find home.

The Role of Elders (and Deacons)

Before we move to the wandering part, let’s look a little more deeply at the efficacy and power of prayer. James wants us to know that prayers lifted in faithfulness have power. And as we bring new folks into our community, it is the witness and practices of the longtime faithful that will strengthen us and encourage those seeking such belonging and healing.

This text includes a focused directive to the elders of the church — when there are hurting people in your community, be prepared to visit, anoint them with oil, and pray over them. Elders and deacons of the church — listen up — this is your work to do. Traditionally, in our Presbyterian church structure, the work of visitation and anointing falls on deacons and the pastor, a teaching elder. But it is important for us to remember that all who are called by God to the ordained ministries of the church are instructed to care for the hurting and sick in our midst. Elders and deacons — your presence in the lives of our members and community matters immensely.

This has become all the more true in our current season of life together. It has become increasingly difficult to always know when someone is in need or is sick or hurting due to our less frequent face to face interactions these days. The small talk that yields updates on health and family needs has become less frequent. So the work of our church leaders reaching out and making themselves available for care is all the more important. And mutually, we really need help from the rest of the congregation to know and share the needs we have — no one can read minds. But it is our duty as the church to provide care for each other, so we need to help each other know when we are struggling or need support. Our posture is to be one of openness and availability — to the stranger who walks into our doors, to the longtime member who can no longer get out of the house, to the wandering friend who has been long absent — we make ourselves open and available to each other so that we can put down our burdens and receive the healing that comes through prayer.

We may feel the need to critique some of James’ theology here: He makes it sounds like there are special abilities or position placed upon the elders of the church. Like it is their prayers that are more efficacious in times of trial. James goes on, in vs. 16, to say that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. Does this mean the prayers of the weak are less potent? Should we be discouraged if we are not elders in the church or ordained deacons or new to the faith?

Absolutely not! Sure, James notes the powerful prayers of Elijah, a prophet of deep faith and conviction. I know I am not Elijah. But does this mean my prayers matter less? No. How do we grow in righteousness and the power of faithful prayer? Well, we practice it. We put in time. And sure, someone who has prayed for the needs of their community for years may have a more weathered sense of how to pray. But that should never discount the prayers of us all. The practiced pray-er may have a more mature sense of God’s presence, but the prayers of a child come from their heartfelt need and longings. So let us not promote others to having more powerful prayers. Rather, let us see all of ourselves as effective parts of the collective whole that is the church, praying and overlapping in prayer with one another, together, for the hurting and the lonely.

Welcoming back the wandering soul

Let’s move to the final verses of our lesson by first looking back a couple of weeks to our initial studies of James. Remember, it is James who tells us that faith without works is dead. And we talked about how while prayers said on behalf of the hurting are certainly important (a point which our morning lesson today affirms), while prayers are important, we must also pray with our bodies, moving out into caring postures and action in the world. We pray, but we also live our prayers. We pray that someone among us will heal from their illness — and we go pick them up and take them to the doctor. We pray that new students will find a safe faith community of refuge and support, and we live this out by making sure our doors are open and our welcome is authentic. We pray for the lonely people among us…and we invite them out for coffee or a bite to eat. We pray AND we share our lives in tangible ways.

Remember this. Look back and look forward with this as your lens.

James closes his book with a powerful statement about salvation and returning those who wander into community.

The New Revised Standard Version The Prayer of Faith

19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, 20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

It is us, the body of Christ, who welcome the wanderer back home. Not only are we to welcome them back but we go out and bring them back. Like Jesus’ story of the shepherd who goes out to find the 1 sheep to bring it back to the 99. Whoever brings back a wandering soul saves them.

Now, these verses can be grossly misused, so let’s address that first. It can be easy for us to get pumped up with pride at our righteousness and feel it is our duty to go out and correct and bring back the sinners of the world, of whom we are certainly not one. If we go out to find the sinners of the world and bring judgement, harsh criticism, and in a sense expect we can reeducate and reform the wayward soul — then I think we are mistaken at the purpose of this text.

Instead, it is the work of God’s people to go and walk with the wandering soul. Have you ever felt like you were wandering? Have you ever felt distant from community or from the church? I know I have. I know you have. So, what helps? Well, it’s the faithful person who comes and gets close and knows you and loves you and, like the passage before, meets you where you are at.

When we’re hurting, we need people to come save us. Help us. I recently reached out to a dear dear friend to talk and walk and seek counsel. I did this because I knew I was hurting. And his faithful action has been to come close to me, to persistently walk with me and check in on me. I have been saved by this friend. Saved by the love of God that this person embodies.

So may it be with us. We seek out the wanderers to say, come home. Find refuge. It is safe here for you. This does indeed cover a multitude of sins. The hand that grips tightly over control of its wayward journey can begin to relax. The heart that is hurting and closed off can begin to soften. Salvation is right there. That is what it means to free the captives — to come and be with them and let them know they are free.

May we be this, these people who walk with, who pray for, who come alongside and share the journey with all who are in need. And may we ask for the help we need when we have wandered, as well. No pride, no stiff upper lip. Vulnerability and willingness to start where we are. This is where prayer can be powerful and effective in bringing healing and bringing us home.

Amen.