July 28, 2019

“Praying from the Center”

St. Luke 11:1-13

Some faith communities are using labyrinths as part of a spiritual practice of prayer.  The image is that of a journey toward a center.  Entering the center then praying from the center.  It is a helpful way for some to enter into prayer.

There are two parts to this text.  The Lord’s Prayer and an admonition to persist in prayer, we will consider the first section – The Lord’s Prayer.  We have two versions in the Gospels – Matthew’s and Luke’s versions:

Luke 11:1-4 

11He 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.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Matthew 6:9-15

9“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Matthew makes these additions: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…debts instead of sins, and rescue us from the evil one. The old English changed debts and sins to trespasses because Mathew’s Gospel goes on to say:  14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

Each Gospel writer is tailoring the nuances to speak to their community.  Matthew has a Jewish audience and is influenced by that piety.  While Luke is writing to a Gentile audience concerned with being marginalized and left out. 

Luke’s version is more direct and pragmatic.  Matthew’s version is a bit more poetic and embellished.  Yet both capture the word of the Teacher.

Note that the ending of the Lord’s Prayer:  ‘for thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever’ is missing.  It first appears in an ancient document called ‘The Didache’ [the early teachings of Jesus - AD 100] and later Byzantine manuscripts of Matthew.  It is a doxological tribute of praise addition to the Lord’s Prayer that has its roots in Judaism.

Although we know this as the Lord’s Prayer – it has been misnamed.  It is really the ‘Disciples’ Prayer.’  It is the disciples who ask Jesus to teach them to pray.  At their request he teaches them this prayer.  It is a prayer tailored for those who follow Jesus.  John’s Gospel in chapter 17 has a long prayer by Jesus that is really ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ 

So, I invite you to reconsider this prayer as ‘The Disciples’ Prayer.’  That means it is an outline of how to follow Christ.  It is a practical guide for walking the path of the ‘Way.’  It is a prayer for our Journey with Jesus.  It is a call to discipleship.

‘Our...’ – Matthew begins the prayer with ‘our.’

A popular strain of contemporary Christianity has made the Christian faith all about me and my relationship to Jesus.  As long as I pray daily, don’t go on a murder spree, or rob a bank – I’m a good person walking through life with Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. 

The ‘my faith is about me and my relationship to God’ “Christianity” ignores the neighbor or any complicity for the social sins.  All I have to do each Sunday is repent for the little naughty things I’ve done throughout the week in order to get back on the good side of Jesus.

If our faith is simply about ‘me and my relationship to God’ we have a neighbor-less Christianity – a sweet Jesus who carries me on the dark days of my journey leaving one set of footprints! 

Consumerist lifestyles are affirmed as God’s will for the best of the rest of our lives.  Such Christianity is oblivious to the neighbor and ignores the social sins of hunger and poverty. 

A neighbor-less Christianity is too busy praising Jesus to deal with the injustices in our world.

The first word of this prayer is a Christianity of ‘our.’  Here is a poem found in a mailing from the Omaha Home for Boys:

You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say, ‘I.’

You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say, ‘My.’

Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer and not pray for one another,

And when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother.

For others are included in each and every plea,

From the beginning to the end of it, it does not once say, ‘Me.’

The Lord’s Prayer is about a dynamic relationship between us and God.  Prayer is not merely private but communal.  The community of faith comes together to pray and together to listen to God.  The community of faith prayers together.  Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love!

What words land right in the center of ‘The Disciples’ Prayer’?  Give us this day our daily bread…and forgive us our sins…  Bread and Forgiveness are at the center of the Lord’s Prayer.  Bread and forgiveness are at the center of the teachings of Christ. God’s name is holy and God’s Kingdom comes and God’s will is done when there is Bread and Forgiveness.

Praying from the center of the Lord’s Prayer is like making one’s way into the center of the labyrinth and from that vantage point deepening one’s prayer life.

Bread – God is concerned about our daily sustenance and Jesus is very practical.  In his ministry he eats with those considered outside the pale of society.  Christ includes the marginalized at the table.  He goes out of his way to share bread with the least of these and those that have no bread at all.  Christ feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves and two fish and then in the Gospel of John pronounces that he is the bread of life come down from heaven.

The center petition of the Lord’s Prayer is a petition for bread.  So, ought not the church be about bread:

• sharing of our sustenance with the marginalized,
• providing bread for the hungry,
• using our citizenship to advocate for the elimination of hunger? 

Our main mission is not to provide a comfortable relationship with Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior!  Our main mission is at the center of the Lord’s Prayer that is for us to be bread for the world.

Praying from the center:  Bread and forgiveness.

Forgiveness:  it is not a commodity that you can pick up at the grocery store.  It is not a prescription that you can get renewed at the local pharmacy. 

Forgiveness is God’s gift to the community of faith.  A gift that keeps on giving when we pass it on.

George Herbert a 17^th century [1593-1633] Welsh poet and Anglican priest writes:  He who cannot forgive another breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself.

The sainted Walter Wink, former Emeritus Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York tells the story of two peacemakers who visited a group of Polish Christians ten years after the end of World War II.

“Would you be willing to meet with other Christians from West Germany?” the peacemaker asked.  “They want to ask forgiveness for what Germany did to Poland during the War and to begin to build a new relationship.”

At first there was silence.  The one Pole spoke up.  “What you are asking is impossible.  Each stone of Warsaw is soaked in Polish blood!  We cannot forgive.”

Before the group parted, however, they said the Lord’s Prayer together.  When they reached the words ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive…,’ everyone stopped praying.  Tension swelled in the room.  The Pole who had spoken so vehemently said, ‘I must say yes to you.  I could no more pray the Our Father; I could no longer be a Christian, if I refuse to forgive.  Humbly speaking I cannot do it, but God will give us his strength.’

Eighteenth months later the Polish and West Germans Christians met together in Vienna, establishing friendships which continue to this day.”

[Source:  Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink, p. 275]

God’s forgiveness is like a chain reaction.  We forgive because we have been so graciously forgiven. Forgiveness is essential to life.  Whether it is forgiveness between child and parent, spouses, relatives or friends – it is essential for life and health as much as bread is essential to sustain life.

Lifelong bitterness and holding of grudges destroys both the victim and the oppressor.   The source of our forgiveness is God.  When we cannot forgive we humbly step out of the way and say, ‘I cannot do it, but God will give us strength.’

Forgiveness is a process of reconciliation.  It is a new way of seeing each other.  It puts us on common ground. 

It is not a matter of ‘I’m sorry!’ and the response:  ‘That’s ok!’ 

Authentic forgiveness allows the two parties to begin again and see each other in the light of God’s grace.

The Lord’s Prayer is really The Disciples’ Prayer.  We live our lives out of the center of that prayer:  ‘Bread and Forgiveness!’

Each time we receive Holy Communion – we receive the Bread of Life and the new wine of the Kingdom and hear the words: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sin.’

Bread and Forgiveness - each time we partake of the Sacrament of Holy Communion we can remember the center of the Lord’s Prayer.

Save is from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. 

Evil has a way of seducing us.  So often when we attempt to overcome evil we become the evil we despise.  Today we hear cries of hate and racism from the highest office in the land.  If we go low and return evil for evil the good will not flourish. When they go low, we go high!

Evil spelled backwards is Live.  We pray here that God empowers us to Live – Live justly and stand in vocal and bodily solidarity with those under siege.

For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

Faithful followers of the Christ believe and act in spite of the evidence and watch the evidence change. Situations change as we are attentive to God’s reign among us and participate in it.

Our journey and Jesus’ journey come together as we pray The Disciples Prayer.

Amen  

May be quoted with permission

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