‘ . . . . where two or three are gathered in my name’ 
Matthew 18:20

‘ . . . . where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ That is the theme on which I am asked to preach today, and there is no doubt that it is the predominant text which jumps out of today’s readings. And whilst, on it’s own, it’s a great text to preach from, I have to tell you that I really struggled with this sermon, the week before last as I prepared it to preach at P&J last Sunday!   You see, these readings are so full of contrasts: on the one hand, in the passage from Hebrews, we have all of this very difficult language about entering ‘the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus’, and having our ‘bodies washed with pure water’.  And in the Gospel, all this stuff about disputes which have arisen as a result of one member of the church ‘sinning against’ another. While on the other hand, there is some encouragement - (in Hebrews) there is encouragement to come to God in prayer, approaching him ‘ . . . . in full assurance of faith . . . . for he (that is God) who has promised, is faithful.’  And then (in the Gospel), there is more encouragement, in the shape of this wonderful promise of Jesus, that ‘ . . . . if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done’, and ‘ . . . . where two or three are gathered in (his) name, there (he is) amongst them.’ 

So, as I said, there seems to be a conflict here, and the problem I have been left with, is trying to fathom out where all of this sits in relation to our Parish Prayer Programme, as I preach the third in a series of sermons, which are aimed at introducing the Programme, and encouraging you to engage with it and get involved in bringing prayer to the very centre of our parish life? Well, let’s be realistic for a moment?  It’s hardly surprising that I have found this difficult, is it?  Because I’m talking about prayer - and prayer is difficult!   I meet plenty of people who tell me that they pray, and plenty more who tell me that their prayers have been answered in some way or another.  But I don’t very often meet people who tell me that they find praying easy! I wonder if there is anybody here this morning who would be prepared to stand up now and tell us about how easy they find it to pray?  (I thought not!) 

It was Archbishop Michael Ramsay who once said, ‘I may kneel in prayer for 30 minutes, and if I’m lucky I may really pray for 30 seconds.’ And it’s hardly surprising that we all find prayer difficult, is it?  Because even Jesus own disciples were struggling when they asked him, in their confusion, ‘Lord, teach us to pray . . . .’ and in response he gave them The Lord’s Prayer. But pray, we must - because there is one thing that is absolutely certain in all of this, which is that if we don’t ask, we don’t get! And my experience, is certainly that Churches who really work at getting their prayer life right, are churches whose members are Christ-centred, are churches where there are enough volunteers to do all the things that the church needs to do, are churches where there is sufficient financial support to do all of those things, and are churches where great things do happen! 

Now, I really don’t want to offend anybody in what I’m about to say, but I need to say it anyway, and it’s this:  I don’t actually think that as churches (either here, or at P&J) that we have got there yet!  Yes, we are moving in the right direction, by having launched this Parish Prayer Programme, with all the potential that it contains - but the problem at the moment, is that much of it remains as potential, rather than as reality!  And that’s because not enough of us have yet engaged with the programme! As I said a few weeks ago, when we launched the Programme, we can’t all do everything - but I do fervently believe, that if each of us were to get involved in just one aspect of this programme, then the life of this parish would be transformed. When we launched at the beginning of last month, you were all given the launch leaflet to take home - did you all read it, I wonder?  I suspect not! Having made that rather negative statement, I do want to balance it with a positive one, which is that I, at least, have felt enormously strengthened by the support of the Prayer Hub, which I know has been praying for me, and the others leading our worship, before each of the 9.30 services the past few weeks. 

You see, prayer presents us with a wonderful opportunity:‘ . . . . if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done’, it’s almost like winning the lottery or being given a blank cheque!   But there is a catch!  And the catch is this - that we have to agree - not just two of us - that might work in our families or in other smaller units, but I’m afraid that in a unit the size of our churches, God expects more than just two of us to agree, and more than two of us to pray. And perhaps that’s where the stuff about disputes in the Hebrews reading fits in? Because agreement is crucial, and so is encouragement - we are reminded that we need to constantly encourage one another in our prayer.  And then the other crucial ingredient, of course, is faith - we have to actually believe that God answers prayer! 

We have to ‘ . . . . approach . . . . in full assurance of faith . . . . for he who has promised is faithful.’  And I can tell you from my own experience that the faithful one does answer our prayer - not always in the way we will, but in the way he wills! As I said at the beginning, I really struggled with this sermon - on and off during that week, I spent time grappling with these readings -  on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday and on Thursday - and I had only managed to write a few words, and I know that they weren’t very good words! And then on the Friday morning, at Morning Prayer, I was sharing with Mary, just how difficult I was finding this, and we prayed about it - that God would help me to find the right words. And after Morning Prayer, I walked home, poured a stiff coffee, and I found that the words flowed from the keyboard, and in no time at all I had been given what I now offer to you - a real example of answered prayer! 

Prayer is the key which will unlock all the potential which we have as a church. Prayer will provide us with all the resources to do all of the things that God longs for us to do in our community. Prayer will lift our dull and uninformed lives, into the living presence of the God of all life.  It’s not easy, but we must persevere, and as I have said before, I do fervently believe that our Parish Prayer Programme, provides us with the means to set our churches ablaze with God’s power and Glory. That is a hope, and it’s a destination on a journey - are you going to join me, so that it’s a journey we make together?

Genesis 18:20-33

Luke 11: 5-12

Luke 18:1-8

Robert Smith

This is the first of three sermons on Prayer to coincide with the launch of our new Parish Prayer Programme in September. The theme of my sermon is ‘persistent prayer’ and as well as the three readings we have heard, I need to draw from another story. …This is about three men who were trekking through a jungle when they came across a violent, raging river. They had no idea how to cross. So the first man decided to pray: “Please, God, give me the strength to cross this river.” Immediately he grew enormous muscles in his arms and legs, and he managed to swim across the river in a couple of hours, nearly drowning twice.The second man saw this and he prayed “Please, God, give me the strength AND the tools to cross this river.” A boat appeared from nowhere, and he battled across the river in an hour, nearly capsizing twice.The third man saw this and prayed “Please, God, give me the strength, the tools AND the intelligence to cross this river.” To his surprise, immediately he turned into a woman. She looked at the map, walked upstream a hundred yards, and crossed over the bridge to the other side.This morning I want to address four aspects of prayer:

q       Can we change the mind of God?

q       Persistence in prayer

q       Being specific in prayer

q       Answers to prayer

So, firstly, can we change the mind of God through prayer? At first glance, in our Old Testament reading, Abraham appears to have changed God’s mind through his repeated petitions asking for the city of Sodom to be spared. (Gen 18:20-33.)

To give some background, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities that were condemned by God to destruction if He finds that the ‘outcry’ against them is true. Some of Abraham’s relatives (it is thought about 10 of them) lived in Sodom. They were Lot (his nephew) and his family. Abraham knew that God is a just judge and that it is in God’s nature to spare the righteous. But Abraham thought that implied sparing Sodom and was unaware of any other way around it. God indeed said that, if necessary, He would withhold His judgement to protect a righteous remnant of ten or more. However, reading on, we see that there were only 4 righteous ( Lot, his wife and 2 unmarried daughters) and God spared these anyway by guiding them out of the city.

God sent two angels to check the outcry and then destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah anyway.

So, can we change the mind of God? Isn’t it more that, by praying, we change:

q       ourselves – and our relationship with God

q       the circumstances – by being a praying church

q       our involvement in the situation

q       God’s ability to communicate with us, and work through us

q       which is the best option open to God.

eg. He can revert to Plan A (for a praying church) rather than Plan B or C (for non-praying churches)By accepting the burden of prayer we can become part of the solution.Now lets look at the importance of persistence in prayer. Abraham was certainly persistent! God did not seem to have a problem with this, although Abraham was pretty worried! In the reading from Luke 11, Jesus recommends persistence in a parable, ending:“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”And in Luke 18 he specifically says “…pray always and do not lose heart.”So how can we ‘pray always?’ Obviously this does not mean on our knees at the side of the bed! It suggests that prayer should be an on-going conversation with God alongside us. It is our relationship with God that is of most importance to God, and prayer is an essential element in maintaining it. For example, I wrote some of this sermon while mowing the lawn! I hd to stop occasionally to make some notes, but I find that I can often have a very close conversation with God whilst undertaking such a mindless occupation.Moving on to being specific in prayer, Jesus said (Luke 11:10) that we should ask for what we need. He also said:“….if two or three of you on earth agree about anything that you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” (Matt. 18:19)So in order to do these things we need to be specific …. and to pray corporately. Then we will recognise the answers and can give thanks.Reading Luke 11:10-13 from Eugene Petersen’s paraphrase of the Bible ‘The Message’:“Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing – you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”The Holy Spirit seems to be key to our prayers being answered and often the way God answers our prayers is through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.The answers to our prayers may not be what we expect. In the OT reading for example, what Abraham actually wanted was to save the righteous. But he was not specific about his need. He tried to tell God how to achieve it. Abraham was probably surprised by the answer to his prayer -

q       It is important to persist in prayer…and to be specific in what we ask for q       Practice makes perfectq       The answer may well differ from our expectations…but will always result in a better solution!The Parish Prayer ProgrammeToday we are launching the Parish Prayer Programme and you will be handed PPP Launch Leaflets and Prayer Diaries when you leave the church this morning. Please study the Launch Leaflet. The aims of the PPP are clearly laid out. It contains a varied menu of corporate prayer and we hope that everyone can find at least one new aspect of corporate prayer that suits them.The PPP Working Group comprised members of both P&J and All Saints congregations and those involved in the PCC as well as those not involved. This was deliberate in order to give a fair spread of experience and views. We ran a pilot scheme for the Prayer Diary for three months and also for the Prayer Hub.I must say that I am in as much need of this Prayer Programme as anyone. I need to fit prayer into a busy life; I need opportunities to learn new ways to converse with God; I need to start to give Him his correct position in my life. I hope that you will also share that need and find that the PPP helps you.

By the time you read this, the launch of the new Parish Prayer Programme (PPP) will have begun. The first sermon and distribution of the PPP Launch Leaflet and September Prayer Diary is at P&J on Sunday 2^nd September, to be repeated at All Saints the following week. We ran successful pilot schemes in July and August for two aspects of the PPP - the Prayer Diary and Prayer Hub – and have used the experience gained to refine them both. I know that many of you are keen to know more about the PPP but, apart from these pilots, we have waited until now to provide you with full details in order to ensure that we distribute coherent and correct information. I hope that by reading the magazine articles in July and August, and when you have read the PPP Launch Leaflet distributed in September, most of your questions will have been answered.

A key objective of the Parish Prayer Programme is to involve as many people as possible in focused prayer aimed at underpinning God’s work in our parish. We are all different in the ways we like to pray, and have varying amounts of time available, so the PPP deliberately offers a varied menu of prayer activities. In this way we hope that everyone will find at least one aspect of the PPP that fits his or her requirements, and may also choose to try out something new. For example, those who like to pray with someone else may be attracted to the Prayer Partner or Prayer Triplet schemes. Others may prefer to use the information in the Prayer Diary to allow their private prayers to be more specific and focused and this is particularly useful for those with very little time to pray each day. The Prayer Diaries fold up to go in your pocket or handbag so you can even make good use of time on the train! If you would rather commit half an hour a week and are interested in a more ecumenical flavour, Churches Together In Fleet runs a Prayer Wall which would be ideal for you. Some people may want to invest more time and be involved to a greater extent by praying for the parish ministry at the weekly Prayer Hub, or through intercessory prayer for one another through the Prayer Telegraph or by attending the Tuesday Morning Prayer Group. Finally, if you prefer to pray in church, Morning Prayer is said four times a week in P&J, and there are regular Taizé Prayer and Celtic Worship services that are prayer based.

We also want to provide additional routes for people to request prayers, for people, initiatives or events, and the Prayer Telegraph is intended to allow rapid dissemination of prayer needs, whether urgent or requiring persistent prayer over a long period. We encourage the inclusion of thanksgiving prayers so we can all rejoice in the answers to our prayers. To this end, the Prayer Boards, at the back of each church, will be extended to become Prayer and Thanksgiving Boards. You can jot down your prayer request or thanksgiving prayer and pin it to the board. These prayers will then be circulated via the Prayer Telegraph and also prayed, as before, by the Tuesday Morning Prayer Group. No request is too small – we want to share in bringing the needs of our church and our membership to God.

The parish website has a list  of relevant points of contact, times and venues. Further details are in the PPP Launch Leaflet that will be issued at the services through September with the Prayer sermons and  also available for download on the website. 

Robert Smith

Chairman of the Parish Prayer Programme Working Group

This article appeared in the September Parish magazine.

The proposals for the Parish Prayer Programme (PPP) by the PPP Working Group were received enthusiastically by the PCC at their meeting on 18^th June, and we are now moving ahead with the scheduled launch in September. It was clear at the meeting that Roy, Ros and the rest of the ministry team are particularly excited about the prospects that this initiative offers for developing our spiritual lives and supporting the many activities in the parish with prayer. The purpose of this article is to give you some more information in advance of next month’s PPP Launch, at which stage you will receive a detailed ‘PPP Launch Leaflet’ explaining the different elements of the ‘menu’ of prayer offerings available to you, and how to sign up.

The PPP Launch will be spread over several weeks in September and early October. A series of three sermons focusing on aspects of prayer will be preached in both churches. In order to schedule this most efficiently, and work around All Age Worship, Harvest (23 Sept) and Back-to-Church Sunday (30 Sept), the sermons and dates will be as follows, and I suggest you make a note so you don’t accidentally hear the same sermon twice!
q       Sermon 1: ‘Persistent prayer’ (Luke 18:1-18) at P&J 2 Sept, All Saints 9 Sept
q       Sermon 2: ‘Praying with faith’  (James 1 & 5) at P&J 9 Sept, All Saints 16 Sept 
q       Sermon 3: ‘When two or three agree’ (Matt 18:15-20 and Hebrews 10:19-25) at P&J 7 Oct, All Saints 14 Ocober

PPP Launch Leaflets and Parish Prayer Diaries will be handed out at each of these services. We are also hoping to involve young people in a ‘prayer’ theme at the All Age Worship services that fall in this period.

Finally, I hope that you will understand our enthusiasm if I finish with a summary of the objectives of the PPP initiative, which are as follows:

q       To underpin in prayer:

o       the establishment of a shared vision

o       the decisions that we make

o       every event that we organise

o       our mission to those outside the church

q       To support in prayer:

o       our ministry team

o       one another

o       new Christians

q       To provide support for the prayer lives of our congregations:

o       through learning experiences (courses, literature etc)

o       by providing information on prayer needs

q       To develop, grow and evolve:

o       more ‘specific’ prayer lives

o       deeper prayer experiences

o       our relationship with God.

Robert Smith

Chair of the PPP Working Group

A 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

You may remember that, at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, Roy referred to the need to refocus our parish on the importance and power of prayer, and that there would be a new initiative on prayer this year. Well, that new initiative is going to be called the Parish Prayer Programme (already shortened to PPP in much of the documentation surrounding it).

The Mission and Discipleship Committee formed a ‘PPP Working Group’ in April, which will be presenting its proposals to the PCC meeting on 18^th June. During our deliberations we have aimed to ensure that this initiative is relevant and accessible to all, and is sustainable in the future, but most of all that it meets its main objectives of tapping into the power of corporate prayer and building our relationships with God. 

The PPP Working Group is proposing a varied ‘menu’ of prayer styles and support in which we hope everyone will find something to their taste. A pilot scheme of the key aspects will be run within the PCC over the next three months, prior to launching the PPP to the whole parish. Several of these offerings, such as the Tuesday morning Prayer Group, Taizé services, and the Prayer Boards already exist within the parish and have supported God’s work in this place for a long time, so they will primarily benefit from an organised circulation of prayer needs. Other offerings have happened on an ad hoc basis, such as small prayer groups, and these will be included in a new coordinated approach. And finally there will be some new types of corporate prayer established that will form the backbone of this prayer initiative. 

Further information will appear in future issues of the Parish Magazine and, don’t worry, you certainly won’t miss the launch of this exciting programme!

Robert Smith

Chair of the PPP Working Group