prayer and parentage

Good evening friends,
Today's reading is Jesus teaching his disciples about prayer. There's lots to chew on here. The piece that grabs me most is thinking about how much we love our children (or parents or spouse) and then imagining from there how much God loves us.

Blessings on your day,
Sam

Luke 11:1-13

He 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.” 

⁵And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Learning to pray

Good evening friends,

Today's reading has Jesus teaching his disciples using the Lord's prayer and two examples of persistence and generosity. Sometimes we feel like we don't know enough to pray, but truly we do. With practice and some learning we will grow closer to God. God wants to hear our prayers; it doesn't matter if we have the right words or not.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 11:1-13

He 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.”

⁵And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 

⁹“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

praying like Jesus

Good morning brothers and sisters,
After telling the crowd who came out to hear him that they should not give or pray in a way that attracts human praise Jesus gives them another suggestion about prayer. He tells them not to simply pile up pretty phrases in their prayer; God doesn't grade based on length. Then he teaches them a prayer, which is in some ways a crucial model for prayer today. My partner and I were talking about this prayer in the ambulance on Monday. He was making the point that Jesus taught this prayer as a model, but not with the idea of having people just pray these words.

He was right too in his observation that some churches use the Lord's prayer so often that it is drained of meaning and actual prayer. A couple of years ago we did a study on this prayer during Lent as part of Supper and Scripture. The deeper examination helped many of us reclaim the meaning of Jesus teaching. The interesting irony is that when Jesus taught this prayer his point was simple, intimate prayer with God, and that is exactly what we lose if we simply mimic Jesus words. We need to pray about what's on our hearts. We don't need to be careful composers of prayer; we just need to thank God, to tell God what we need, to rest in God's presence. The door for prayer is always open, so keep on praying.

Blessings on your Friday,
Sam

Matthew 6:7-15
7“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 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. 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.