"Prophets, Prayers, and People"
Jeremiah 8:18-91; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13
A sermon preached by Pastor Coqui Conkey
September 23, 2007
Added 10/04/07
“Pray every way you know how for everyone you know.” This is the way that Eugene Thompson in the Message begins his translation and paraphrase of the text from I Timothy. Whether it was Paul who wrote this text or one of his followers writing later, it is clear that the instructions are exactly this…pray. This sounds simple enough, but often the mere act of being in prayer is a challenge, let alone being able to freely and fully pray for those in power and for those with whom we disagree.
As a community, we spend some time in prayer whenever we gather in worship. We offer prayers of praise and of confession, and we try, as we are able, to enter into a time of prayer for everyone. Since we share this much practice together, I am willing to assume that we all have an experience of and some understanding of what prayer is. Our individual prayer lives probably are quite different from one another’s. I am sure that there are those who are disciplined, with time set aside each day for concentrated prayer and meditation during which concerns for all sorts of people and problems are brought to God’s attentions. Some may simply sit in quietness, ready to hear and feel God’s movement. Some of us may be restless pray-ers, needing to move or write or draw in order to feel connected with the Holy One. And some of us, at least some of the time, are the ones who toss off a quick word in God’s direction as we go leap-frogging from one thing to another. “Green lights, please, God. I’m running really late.” I’ve even known people who have created a code of sorts with God…just the thought of someone is a prayer and just the thought of an individual who is connected with a community or family becomes a prayer for the whole.
A definition of prayer seems pretty simple — it is communicating with God. Often, in this communication, we mostly ask God to pay attention to what we have to say, and still prayer is an act of connecting to and with God. The editors of the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible define prayer as “the interactive communication with God about what we and God are thinking and doing together.” Marjorie Thompson in Soul Feast suggests that, “Perhaps our real task in prayer is to attune ourselves to the conversation already going on deep in our hearts. Then we may align our conscious intentions with the desire of God being expressed in our core.” Both of these sources suggest that prayer is more than the simple communication of speaking and listening. Prayer becomes a means of aligning ourselves with God, of getting to the place of where we are willing God’s will. Prayer fosters some sort of shift, some kind of movement.
The author of this morning’s epistle reading lists some particular types of prayer: supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving. I hope that we are all familiar with prayers of thanksgiving…with fervent words of gratitude. Prayers of supplication and intercession may become a bit more challenging for us. For whom is it okay to pray and for what? How are we supposed to understand and explain things when our prayer isn’t answered in the way that we ask? Flip Wilson is quoted as saying, I’m gonna pray now, anyone want anything?” Intercessory prayer sometimes seems to get like that, just a laundry list of what we want and what we want on behalf of others.
A friend recently told a story about an encounter he had with a stranger. A man had recently been released from prison with $10 in his pocket. He came into my friend’s office because he needed someone to help him. He had an appointment the next morning for a meeting with his parole officer about 35 miles north. And he’d just gotten out of prison…for parole violation. There isn’t any public transportation that will get there and a cab would cost much more than $10. My friend spent some time talking with this man, listening to his story, and sharing some of his own. They commiserated about how difficult it is to get work. My friend’s son had recently returned to the Twin cities and was anxious to get a job. Finally, sensing there really wasn’t any danger from this stranger, even if he had just been released from prison, my friend offered to drive the man to his destination. After they had climbed into the car, the stranger pulled his Bible out of his backpack and offered to read as they drove. He asked my friend what he would like to hear and he suggested a chapter of Isaiah. The stranger found his own favorite passage and read that. So the time passed quickly. As the stranger got out of the car, he offered to pay my friend for the gas he had used and, of course, my friend declined that offer. “I’ll pray for you,” the stranger said, “for you and your son who needs a job.” Sure, okay, thanks. Fifteen minutes after my friend began his trip home, his cell phone rang and he picked it up to hear his son say, “Dad, I just got a job. I walked in and did the interview and they offered me this fantastic position.” Wow, sure, okay, thanks!
Prayers of intercession are “a concrete expression of the social dimension of prayer. It includes our concerns for other persons, communities, nations, the earth, and our fellow creatures.” (Marjorie Thompson) Intercessory prayer is a recognition of the inclusivity of God’s concern and love for the world. “Pray for everyone you know,” Timothy was reminded, “including those in the government, those in power, even if they do not share your beliefs.” There is only one God and God is the God of all. It is easier to say that we are praying for those in high places than, perhaps, to really do so. Edward Everett Hale, who was U.S. Senate chaplain from 1903-1909, was asked one day, “Do you pray for the Senators, Dr. Hale?”
“No,” Chaplain Hale responded, “I look at the Senators and I pray for the country.” (quoted in Awaken)
And what are we to pray for as an intercession when we pray for those in our government, particularly when we are dismayed by their actions or find ourselves in complete opposition to their vision and direction? Prayer doesn’t require permission and there aren’t “shoulds” when it comes to what to include in our prayers. “Pray every way you can for everyone you know.”
Prayer though, isn’t just an exercise in coming into the presence of the Holy. Margaret Silf wrote, “Prayer that works is prayer that makes a difference, contemplation that turns into action, on behalf of peace and justice in a troubled and unjust world system. Prayer is energy, the energy of love and transformative power. It is given to us to use for the good of all creation. In prayer God gives us the fuel of life, and asks us to live it,” Prayer is not passive and it is not a last resort.
The gospel reading today includes this parable about a shrewd, lazy, dishonest manager who seems to gain the approval of the rich man for whom he works and from whom he steals. This man was energized in a very self-serving way. But we can learn from him anyway. Jesus uses parables to instruct those around him, the disciples, the Pharisees, the crowds, the wealthy, anyone who is wiling to pay attention. As Jesus tells the story, he also comments that “the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” How do the children of light behave? We tend to be prudent and play it safe. “We are careful, cautious, deliberate, and conscientious.” (William Willimon) We are the ones who want to have a plan before we act and want to be sure that we have the resources at hand in order for the plan to succeed before we begin to act on our plan. In contrast, the children of the age, like the manager whose job is on the line, are willing to act brashly, cunningly, quickly. Sure the manager quickly made a plan, one in which he chose people over money, but he didn’t stop to calculate his resources or even the real likelihood of success before he started rushing around reducing bills. He was resourceful and bold and assertive. He was totally committed to action… for his own survival.
Our prayers reflect who we are. Are we simply children of the light whose prayers are safe and prudent and careful? Or do our prayers reflect our commitment not to a particular source of action but to God? Do our prayers express our willingness to abandon ourselves to uncertainty in order to answer God’s call? Can our prayers be bold and brash and assertive in order that we might step out on a limp as we actually move into action and do something for God and God’s people? Our prayers can align us with the will and way of God.
We are called to be prophetic people whose voice is attuned to the voice of God calling for justice and for compassionate care for all the people of our world. Like the prophet Jeremiah, we, too, can pray lament. Although we may wonder exactly who is speaking in these verses from Jeremiah, the grief and pain and confusion and hurt clearly spill out.
“My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick…O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!”
Lament is a powerful form of prayer. It pulls from the deepest recesses of our soul when the only words we have left are, “Why, God, why?” Within these few verses we even hear God’s bewilderment as God asks why the people have turned away and sought the comfort of idols. Although lament is the prayer of a broken heart—even in this prayer that seems to come from a vacuum—we can attune ourselves to the will and the way of God. It is possible that Jeremiah, as prophet, is speaking on God’s behalf. It may be that the voice of God comes directly in these desolate words. And, it is just as possible that the prophet and God speak with the same voice and cry the same tears.
Although we can find much in our lives and in our world for which to offer thanks and praise, we are still called to be a voice of prophecy, speaking on God’s behalf in the face of unrighteous acts, injustice, and callousness. We are called to prophet action.
I was surprised and disheartened to open the paper this week and read that Jim Ramstad is going to leave Congress at the end of this term. He is not my representative, nor do I believe he is any of yours. But I find in his reasons for stepping down a prophetic voice. His reason for choosing to leave is because he can no longer function in a climate of polarization in which he, a moderate, friends-across-the-aisle-making, for the good-of-the-whole type person is politically isolated.
As I skimmed through the headlines of the Star Tribune, I found many things that would call forth cries of lament. We continue to deal with the results of a generous lending practice, especially with mortgages which now lead to many foreclosures and a slowed housing market. While we are all impacted, I would argue that the poor are disproportionately so. And the fallout of our natural disasters continues to haunt us. Perhaps what struck me most yesterday was a picture back on page 5 of women and children in Uganda seeking a way to a food station following devastating floods in 17 African countries. The caption reported that the U.S. government had promised $100,000 in aid. The European Commission and the Netherlands each announced more than $15 million in aid. Why, O God? And on the first page the news of the possible closing of the drive-in theater in Cottage Grove alongside the report of a shady manager. “Wind-energy leader accused of inflating bills.” Oh, there is much lament to be cried for the people of this world. There is lament to be prayed for our ways.
We are called to be prophetic people who are willing to cry the lament. To raise to God the question Why? Where are you? And we pray lament until we find our way to that holiness already crying right beside us. We cry out our lament in prayer until we have found our way back to the heart of the One who aches for us. We lament until, having reconnected to God, we can offer praise.
So pray, people of God, every way you know for everyone you know…with supplication, intercession, thanksgiving, and even lament. Pray so that God can come close enough to direct us to bold and quick actions of wisdom, commitment, justice, peace, compassion, mercy, and humility.
Amen.
