My memory can't quite recall it but some
years ago there used to be an ad on TV
about phoning a relative to keep in touch.
None of us, or let's say most of us, don't say
we have a close relationship with someone,
and then go weeks without having a proper
conversation with them, For talking is a
sign of a relationship that is strong and loving.
When talking stops relationships falter, and
can, perhaps unintentionally, literally wither away.
 
This passage cannot be the first time the
disciples had seen Jesus at prayer, but it
obviously was making an impact on them, and
they wanted to know how to pray - from looking
at Jesus they could see that as he prayed he was
truly communicating with God, they could sense
the depth of Jesus' love for his father. This
was what they needed to be able to do, and
what we all need to be able to do, to truly
communicate.
 
In the passage Jesus is continuing his teaching
on what it means to be his disciple and now the
disciples want him to teach them something
else - to teach them to pray.
 
The Gospel reading shows us two things, it shows
us the words to pray, and the need to persevere in
prayer, not to give up if at first our prayers do
not seem to be being answered. We all know
the frustration, perhaps anger if we have prayed
for someone or something and we do not seem to
have received an answer. The answer may not
be what we hoped for but in time I think we can
often look back and see the answer was there, we
just didn't see it.
 
Prayer is a gift from God, which bring us
individually into a closer relationship with him,
and that I believe is the point of prayer.
 
Jane Williams writing on this passage says -
that 'Jesus does not teach the disciples about
the importance of stillness, correct posture or
focusing the mind which may surprise us',
but she goes on to say 'He teaches them to talk
to God, to bring the whole muddle of their lives,
the sublime and the mundane to God.' She goes
on to say that 'prayer is not something carefully
sanitized, so that we bring to God only what we
know he will like'.
 
Bishop Peter Price in The Undersong of Prayer
writes 'in order for people to respond to God,
to become what they are, they need some
confidence in who God is for them. The
Scriptures constantly affirm God as loving
and his children as beloved, though it has to
be said that at times his Church has been
more concerned with conveying a God who is
angry, full of judgement and at best ambivalent
about loving'.
 
 And this is I think important, how can we
 encourage everyone to remember God's
 love for us, each and every one of us, if we
 condemn them in the name of God. I’m
 not saying that I don't think God can get
 angry with our actions, but as with any loving
 parent his love never wanes.
 
I believe that part of that sharing of love is sharing
the power of prayer, helping those who do not pray
to perhaps understand what prayer is. That as Jane
Williams says, it is not a sanitized list of thank you’s
and requests. It is a sharing, a development of a
relationship, so that it flourishes and grows.
When young children pray they pray for what
matters to them and, I believe, it should be the same
for us, our prayers should be truly us speaking. I
know you are all sitting there thinking 'when I
was a child I spoke as a child, now I am an adult I
have put away childish things. But I don't think
that means we shouldn't pray with that childish
openness to God, but we obviously don't pray for
the equivalent of a better bike than anyone else has!
But as we mature spiritually we learn that we pray
for the world and its problems not just ourselves.
 
And we are all called to be a part of prayer. As
part of the Christian family then we need to
accept that we may well be the ones who are
asked, in fact we ought to be the ones who are
sought out by the needy, and the ones who must
open door to faith for others. What would the
world be like if we really loved God enough to
always open our hearts and our doors not only
to those we know and love but to all those people
in need outside the church. Sharing truly that
love God shows to us.
 
We believe that God knows our needs, our fears
better than we do, so what must He think if we
do not share them with him. And I believe we
must learn to share not just the things we want
but our sadness and anger with God. God
is big, he can cope with us how ever we feel,
and if we can't share our anger if things
go wrong, even if our anger is directed at God
we are sanitizing our relationship with him.
 
Like any other relationship involving love, if
we cannot trust God enough to be our real
selves, we will slowly understand God less and
less, we will stop recognising him as he really
is. God will not stop loving us, but we may
stop truly loving him. And one thing - we don't
need a phone to speak to God, when we are away
we don't have to worry about how much the
mobile call is costing; the line to God never
engaged and it is always free. Amen