There was once a man walking with his young son down the side aisle of a large urban Gothic-style church. It was the kind of church that had elaborate stained glass windows that reached up high and lofty nearly to the ceiling. It also had a series of commemorative plaques mounted on its massive stone walls. Everything about the church building was awe-inspiring and impressive.
The small boy noticed one of these bronze plaques as he tiptoed by. He stopped to look closely at the long list of names engraved upon it. He asked his father what the plaque was for.
His father replied solemnly that it was a memorial plaque to commemorate the young men who had died in the service.
“Oh,” said the boy very seriously as he looked around at the empty hard wooden pews.
Then he asked, "Which one did they die in, the 8:30 or the 10:00 service?"
Face it: Sometimes people can be bored to death in church. I remember as a youngster sitting through worship in the first row of the balcony with my family.
It was where we stationed ourselves each Sunday, and I was always relieved when the minister finally came to the end of his sermon. However, to be honest, I was only partially relieved because I knew that after the hymn he would be launching into his seemingly never-ending pastoral prayer.
For a child whose devotional life consisted of a brief grace that my father spoke before our evening meal and a four liner I recited at bedtime, a pastoral prayer that detailed supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving (as the author of this 1 Timothy letter enumerated in the verses we just read), well, one could easily think that the Second Coming would occur before the minister concluded that sort of conversation with God on behalf of the congregation.
And yet, according to the author of this letter, prayer like that must lie at the very center of our devotional lives. Though the Apostle Paul likely did not pen these words to his sidekick Timothy, tradition has it that he had sent Timothy to the small church in Ephesus with the task of straightening out its worship life because the congregation was edging toward some practices that would be destructive to its faith.
And so the author of the letter imparts a list of instructions for Timothy. He begins by setting to right the order and purpose of public worship, that is, the getting together as a church family just like we do every Sunday. And first on the priority list for public worship was prayer. The writer might have said outright that worship without opportunities for prayer is hardly worship at all.
As Methodist pastor Jo Anne Taylor commented, ““First of all, then,” … the instruction begins, but this isn’t going to be a point-by-point outline. Prayer isn’t something we do at the beginning and then check off the list. After all, Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).”
In other words, intentional and regular prayer is a principal way the church differentiates itself from, say, the Rotary Club or the Lions or United Way. Here in the church we openly serve our communities and our world in response to the grace-filled and loving relationship we have with God. It is a relationship that is constantly re-established and strengthened through prayer.
I once worked with a couple of young Cub Scouts on some advancement requirements here in Raymond. They were supposed to talk with someone about religion (i.e. Christianity), a topic about which they knew absolutely nothing. I think the boys’ father figured a minister would come in handy.
The Dad insisted upon being in on the meeting, I suspect, because he was concerned that I would brainwash his sons into wanting to come to church. In fact, he announced to me as they were getting ready to leave that being a Christian and attending church was really the same as being a good citizen and attending Scout meetings. Wasn’t that right?
However, contrary to a Cub Scout Pack Meeting or the monthly Kiwanis Club gathering, here in church we overtly recognize and acknowledge that God is in our midst. We do that principally through prayer.
As one blogger I read this past week wrote, “To acknowledge the power, the beauty, and the liberty that the presence of God imparts is to immediately give a sense of reality and vitality to a service.” In addition, prayer puts our own humanity in perspective. Praying for others may make our own problems and issues seem less overwhelming.
Praying for ourselves may help us see those problems and issues in light of the power of God. In church, we are all encouraged to make prayer a part of our lifestyle – not just when tragedy strikes or when we want something beyond our control.
Did you know that there are at least seven different words for “prayer” in Greek? The author of this letter to Timothy uses four of them as he enumerates the types of prayer to be incorporated into public worship.
The first is supplications. That is a word we do not use often these days. It means simply asking God for what you need, appealing to God for real and vital wishes. We often highlight physical or emotional urgencies, and we call out to God to meet those needs. And so, in the church, we find room to pray for ourselves.
O Most Holy God, give me strength to meet the challenges of today whatever they might be. Give me patience when I deal with my children or my elderly parents. Give me hope to trust that our world can change – and for the better. Give me the courage and power to stand up and speak out for justice.
The second type of prayer that the author mentions is simply “prayers”.
That generic term is a catchall for the variety of prayers that might crop up in church and reminds us that prayer in all its forms is a sacred activity. Prayer is an act of worship, not just a listing of our wants and needs, and certainly not something we do to fulfil a religious duty.
In addition, the author insists that we not only offer prayers of all kinds, but also that we pray for all kinds of people. He specifically mentions kings and others who are in authority. Seminary professor Christian Eberhart details the background for this request. He writes, “When understood against the backdrop of the Roman Emperor cult of the late first century CE, these words take on a new meaning. Established in 510 BCE, Rome had been a republic governed by two consuls who were elected to their positions. This system was in effect for half a millennium, but was then changed in two significant ways: First, starting with the rule of Julius Caesar, the republic was replaced by the Imperial system; this means that one emperor would rule from now on. And second, Rome gradually introduced the apotheosis of the emperor.
After his assassination in 27 BCE, Julius Caesar was soon proclaimed divine and accepted among the gods of the state, officially allowing for the initiation of his worship.
Later in the first century CE, this type of Emperor Cult gradually developed in the whole Roman Empire as a unifying and politically stabilizing force. However, it gave rise to the custom of praying to the divinized Caesars.
In this kind of imperial milieu, the request in 1 Timothy 2:2 to pray “for kings” instead of “to the kings” takes on new meaning. It implies most ostensibly that rulers, like everybody else, depend on the guidance and mercy of God. Furthermore, it indirectly implies that they are not divine but mortal humans.”
And so, here in church, we also pray for our leaders. We pray for our President – even if we may not like his policies very much or even if we feel his decisions make it harder for us to live a Christian life. We pray for our Senators and Congressional Representatives even if we may think they are making a mess of the legislative branch of our government. And we pray for our Supreme Court Justices even if we may think that the majority of them study the Constitution from a far too conservative viewpoint.
Almighty God, we pray that knowledge of you and the Gospel that you sent Jesus to proclaim will influence the thinking and decision-making of our rulers and leaders.
We pray for clear thinking and level-headedness for President Trump as he often carries the fate of the world on his shoulders. We pray for the same in our Supreme Court justices as they rule on cases that will affect generations to come. We pray for Susan Collins and Angus King, for Cherie Pingree and Jared Golden that you will give them the courage not to waver, but to stand up for what they believe is right.
The third type of prayer that the author of this letter mentions is “intercessions.” These prayers are ones we offer on behalf of someone else, when we plead for their interests or needs. We may pray for the sick or those who mourn or for those who have a special concern. We may pray for people we know – or for those we do not. Sometimes this type of prayer gets us thinking about what we can do to help those we pray for.
Episcopal priest Rick Morley elaborated on this type of prayer. He writes, “During one of St. Julian of Norwich’s visions she saw God’s hand holding something so small and brown, it looked like a nut. She came to understand that it was the whole created universe. The cosmos cradled in God’s hand.
See that nut. See it nestled in God’s palm.
Look closer at that nut, with its swirls and galaxies and stars and planets spinning around those stars.
Look closer, and amongst the billions of galaxies, find ours. The Milky Way.
Then, look closer, and amidst the hundreds of millions of stars in that galaxy, find ours. Our star, our sun.
And then, look closer, and see our green and blue and white and brown planet spinning around that sun.
Under its clouds, moving by winds blowing high above the surface, see the people. People living in cities, and in suburbs, and on islands, and on farms, and in villages, and in slums, and ghettos – see them all. With their various colored faces, and various colored hair, and various colored eyes.
See them. With all their ideas, and dreams, and creeds, and fears, and nightmares. See them in their poverty and in their riches, their righteousness and their plots and schemes, their goodness and their evil.
See the children. Some well-fed. Some in school. Some in safe neighborhoods. See other children in homes where food is scarce. In countries where education is rare. In places that are unsafe, war-torn, and incubators of terror.
See the adults. Some young and energetic. Others tired and worn. Some with jobs, and homes, and cars. Others unable to find work, homeless, and stagnant. Some fulfilled in life, and others discontent, bored, or angry.
See the elderly. Some cared for, others neglected. Some with means, and others completely without means. Some weak and sick, others still vibrant.
See those who are trying to make their homes, their communities, their country, and their world a better place. See those who are compassionate and concerned about the welfare of others.
But also see those who are hardened, greedy, and concerned only with themselves.
See those who work and pray for peace, and see those who only ever seem to contribute to the violence and disruption of the world.
See all of them. Behold them.”
So much to pray for in this way!
O God of everyone and everything, big or small, significant and imposing or lost in the crowd, we offer to you in prayer Pauline who struggles in a nursing home, Frank with his three broken toes. We pray for Lori and Dan who mourn the death of their son, for Craig recovering from surgery, for Tom as he regains his strength. We pray for healing for Joan and Polly and Adma. We pray for those we do not know – for asylum seekers, for refugees and migrants, for those who hunger and who live in poverty. Grant them wholeness and your peace.
And finally, the author wraps up his instructions with prayers of thanksgiving, especially for God and for all God has done for us. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, put it this way: “We who are grateful believe we have better than we deserve. Instead of taking things for granted, we see good things in life as gifts. Instead of assuming we are entitled, we assume grace underlies all we have. Gratitude gives thanks for mercy. Complaints focus on what we don’t have. Gratitude notices the good and is thankful. Gratitude sets us up for joy in life. Rather than merely consuming or existing, those who are grateful choose to embrace what life gives and enjoy life’s mercies.”
Meister Eckhart, a thirteenth century German theologian, philosopher, and mystic, put it more simply: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
O Gracious God, we have so much to thank you for: the sun and moon and stars, the change of seasons, our families and those who care for us. We thank you for everything that makes our lives beautiful and worth living. We thank you especially for the gift of Jesus, our Christ and our Brother. We thank you for the Gospel message he proclaimed. We thank you that you have a dream for this world.
Prayer is central in defining us as Christians. Prayer is the foundation of both our worship together and our individual devotional lives. Prayer binds us irrevocably to God.
I like what Episcopal priest Geoffrey Hoare said about prayer: Prayers “are not matters of cause and effect, not a straightforward mechanism, not a matter of putting in a request to God and having it answered depending on whether or not God is having a good day.
In the economy of God…prayers are rather more like throwing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples affect the whole environment. I came to realize that things do not happen in the world because I pray. But things do happen in the world when I pray.
I am changed as I discover the deepest desires of my heart and the world is changed in some way to do with the might and majesty and mystery of the One who made us, the source of light and life, the ground of our being, the lover of our souls who brings universes into being.”
Amen and amen.
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