The Power of Prayer
Sunday, July 29th, 2007A Vicar’s cat got stuck at the top of a tree, and so he mounted a rescue operation! He carefully climbed a ladder and tied a rope to the tree trunk as high up as he could reach. He then attached the other end of the rope to the tow bar of his car, which he gently drove forward in the hope of bending the tree enough to be able to reach the cat. Unfortunately, however, the rope snapped, catapulting the poor animal into the sky!
No more was heard of the cat, until a while later when the Vicar was visiting one of the young families in the parish - to his surprise, there was his cat sitting on the hearth rug, purring contentedly. Trying to act with guarded innocence, he asked, ‘wherever did you find such a lovely cat?’
‘Well, Vicar, you’ll never believe this’, replied the mother, ‘but little Johnny had been asking for a pussy-cat for weeks, and we told him that he had better just pray for one. And do you know what? The very next morning, just as we were hanging out the washing . . . . . . .!’
In September, our parish will be embarking on a new venture - the Parish Prayer Programme - an initiative to bring prayer into the heart of all that we do, both as a parish, and as individuals.
Let me read you some words which have been written by Robert Smith, who is the Chairman of the PPP implementation group: ‘As I have discussed the issue of prayer with various people and groups in the parish, I have come to believe that God’s vision for prayer in our parish is much bigger than I was thinking of at the start. I know that the evidence is there from other growing churches that being grounded in widespread and heartfelt prayer is key to moving onto God’s path and moving along it. Prayer opens up the way for God to work out His plans and grow His kingdom. It now seems that we are being challenged in our parish to put some time and effort behind our belief in the power of prayer.’
So, I wonder, what is our belief in the power of prayer?
Serious prayer does have a number of risks associated with it! For instance - it might get answered! Or it might get answered in a way we don’t like!
And it has problems too - like the problem of having to avoid the simplistic ideas which are too often associated with it, especially in the minds of those who seek to ridicule what prayer is.
There was a drama series on television some years ago in which coal miners stuck down a pit were prayed for by a Vicar. When they were eventually rescued he proclaimed it as an answer to prayer. But one of the miners asked, ‘If God saved us, then who got us stuck down there in the first place.’
There is an understanding of prayer which sees it as a simple task of asking God for stuff and waiting for God to perform - waiting for the cat to come flying through the air! Or as George Bernard Shaw famously put it: ‘Most people don’t pray: they only beg’!In today’s Gospel, we heard the central chunk of Jesus’ own teaching on prayer. And it’s worth remembering that this teaching came in response to the disciples’ question, ‘Lord teach us to pray’.
The problem which I suspect that a lot of us have, is that like the disciples we are confused by prayer. Perhaps the reason why people do not pray very often reflects this confusion. Often people will ask, ‘Why doesn’t God answer my prayers’
And this, again, presupposes that prayer is just about asking God for things.
I wonder how many of you have visited ‘Tesco.com’ or ‘Ocado’, placing your grocery order online and waiting for delivery? You sit down, hopefully somewhere quiet where you can concentrate, log on, then go through all the things which you need. Somebody at the store then receives your requests and the goodies are delivered. If you order something and they haven’t got it then they will sometimes substitute what you asked for with something else. Occasionally something does not arrive which you asked for and on other occasions you actually get something more than you bargained for, normally because the shopping has been mixed up.Now for many people this is a model which expresses their understanding of what prayer is all about. Sitting down with the shopping list and waiting to see if it arrives! In this model, prayer is essentially asking God for things - and there is disappointment when we ask for something which we do not get. Perhaps so much disappointment that people do not bother to pray again, because they feel that it just doesn’t work!So, when you hear the word ‘prayer’ what do you think of? How would you describe prayer to somebody who was not a Christian?If we were to listen to the words of some of the passage from Luke this morning, superficially it appears that prayer is about going to God and asking for things. ‘Ask and it will be given to you - seek and you will find!’But if we look closer at the text it is apparent that Jesus is not saying that at all. Rather, he is saying that when we ask God for good things, he will not give us bad things: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” So it appears that the importance of prayer is knowing what we should pray for - listening not asking. And alignment of our wills with God’s will for our lives. If we asked for a scorpion would God give us one? Much of what passes for prayer is about wanting what we think we want and need. Because of that it becomes irrational, superstitious, and self-centered, and ultimately unworthy of the pattern of the prayer which Jesus offered to us his disciples.The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, because they recognised in Jesus a spirituality which they envied. They wanted to have a rapport with God, like Jesus had, and clearly Jesus wanted them to have it too.Prayer is not just about saying words but it is about an attitude of life and of the heart. About being prepared to disturb the complacency of our lives and put ourselves at risk. This is real spirituality, real Christianity. By ’prayer’ we mean the readiness to rest in the presence of God, trying to look at life through His eyes, and bringing our activities under His sovereign will.Prayer is not finding a way of making ourselves bullet proof so that we don’t get sick like everyone else. When we pray we show that we recognise the authority of God, and recognize that there is one who watches over us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You will be hearing a lot more about the Parish Prayer Programme in September - a launch brochure, an article in the magazine, and a series of thee sermons which will be preached in both churches.The PCC have already endorsed the Parish Prayer Programme and agreed that it is a vital way forward for the life of our parish. It now needs your support, and especially, of course, it needs your prayer - and that begins today, as we pray for Robert and the implementation group, and thank God for this exciting initiative!
Let me bring you back to those words which Robert has written:
‘Prayer opens up the way for God to work out His plans and grow His kingdom.’ May we all grow to believe and celebrate that!
This Sermon was given by the Vicar, Roy Woodhams, at the Combined Sung Eucharist at P&J on 29 July 2007