“Jesus was praying in
a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said,
‘Lord, teach us
to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’”
Luke 11:1 (Common English Bible)
Some years
ago I returned home from a business meeting in South Carolina. After claiming
my baggage at the Tampa International Airport I proceeded to my car parked in
the short-term parking garage. I found a flat tire. Only once in my life had I
ever changed a flat tire. That was before I was married. That one time it took
me nearly forty minutes. I remember my father once telling me that I wasn’t
worth much with my hands. I never disappointed. Exhausted from my trip and
staring down at a flat tire I made the decision to call my father-in-law who
lived near the airport. He giggled – he giggled at me often, wondering what
kind of man his daughter married – and said he would be there in ten minutes.
In about the same amount of time it took him to arrive, my tire was changed and
I was ready to go. I thanked him, we hugged and each of us said “I love you” to
the other. On my drive home I realized that it had been nearly a month since
the last time I spoke with my father-in-law.
Often, this
is what our prayer life looks like. Life is moving forward in a pleasant
manner, we are happy, and our needs are few. Conversation with God – in prayer
– is virtually non-existent. Suddenly we look down at a flat tire and a phone
call is made to God. For many, it completely escapes them that there is anything
deficient in their practice of prayer. All that has been understood about
prayer is that God is the great giver who shows-up when we make the call. Some
of you reading this will recall the major home appliance manufacturer, Maytag,
and their television commercials of the Maytag repairman sitting by the phone
waiting for a call. When our flat tire is not resolved quickly we question,
“Where is God?” Our confidence in the power of prayer wanes. Perhaps even more
tragic is that some may begin to question the very existence of God.
Jesus’
practice of prayer astonished the disciples. Such was their amazement at Jesus’
prayers that they asked him to teach them to pray. As far as we know from the
Gospels, this is the only thing the disciples explicitly asked Jesus to teach
them. Notice that this fresh interest in prayer does not arise from the study
of an apprentice manual for discipleship or from a conversation with Jesus on
the topic. It followed immediately after observing Jesus at prayer. There was
something about Jesus’ prayer life that was different from their own practice
of prayer; something that evidenced a greater sense of intimacy with God, and
something that gave release to more power. As Harry Emerson Fosdick so clearly
expressed it, Jesus went into prayer in one mood and came out in another.
Praying was not a form but a force.[i]
Fortunately
for the church today, the Gospels have captured many of Jesus’ prayers. A close
examination of those prayers reveals a surprise for many: absent is any hint of
begging. Jesus does not approach his heavenly father with pleas for his
personal welfare, as though a disinterested God must be cajoled or convinced to
offer a blessing. What becomes startling clear is an affirmative tone to Jesus’
prayers. Jesus turns his back on any doubt of God’s goodness and stretches out
his hand to appropriate the inexhaustible resources available to any one of us.
Such prayer retires for a moment from the swirling darkness that may surround
us from time to time and affirms that God is present and active in our life.
Such prayer, Fosdick affirms, “does not so much asks as take; it does not so
much beg for living water as sink shafts into it and draw from it.”[ii]
That is praying as Jesus’ prayed.
Joy,
[i] Harry Emerson Fosdick, “On
Learning How to Pray”, Riverside Sermons
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), 112.
[ii] Fosdick, 116.
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