Lord, teach us to pray
How do you prayer?
How often do you pray?
Do you pray?
And, what would you say if a friend said "Teach me to pray".
The passage for this week's gospel comes from Luke and follows on from the story we had last Sunday: Martha (polish those tables ... for those who were with us last Sunday morning) and Mary (put your hand to your ear). Martha begs Jesus to tell Mary to help out with the household chores, but Jesus replies by telling Martha that Mary has made a good choice and that that shouldn't be taken away from her. Then in the very next verse we are in "a certain place", Jesus is praying and one of his disciples says to him: "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
I've always been slightly struck by this request as the gospel stories seem to be populated by people who know - or who should know - how to pray. Yet, in the light of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, any prayer life that they did have, any spiritual discipline that there were following, appears to fall short of the ideal that they find in him.
And what do we get from Jesus? What does he say in reply? Again, this has always struck me by its sheer simplicity:
- name the God to whom you pray
- honour the God to whom you pray
- yearn for that which God wishes for all creation
- accept that you provide for you own needs
- acknowledge the harm you have done
- agree to live forged by forgiveness
- plead for strength to withstand temptation
It's about God and our relationship with God
It's about our history and our impact on others
It's about our future and our intentions towards others
As I said, this episode in Luke's gospel follows on from the supper Jesus had with Mary and Martha. And just before that, we hear Jesus' interaction with the lawyer wishing to inherit eternal life. That questions prompts Jesus to tell the Parable of Good Samaritan which ends with 'Go and do likewise'.
We complicate our faith too often too much. I am not saying the being a person with an active and demonstrable Christian faith is easy, but I am saying that it isn't complicated. How we get those pictures from the James Webb telescope is complicated. How we manage to get our new facilities built or new window panels into the north transept window is complicated. But being a practicing Christian isn't complicated.
And maybe the word to focus on there is 'practicing'. If we want to learn a new skill, be it needlecraft or orienteering or keyhole surgery, we need to learn the basics and then practice, practice, practice. Some people call their prayer lives a spiritual discipline: a word which reminds us, through its root of 'disciple', that we have a teacher and we are engaged on a learning process. Others talk of their spiritual exercises, which bring to mind those patterns of behaviour which we adopt to keep our bodies healthy by running, swimming or going to the gym.
It's not complicated to do physical exercise but neither is it easy to get into the habit. It is, simply, a matter of making a decision and sticking to it, learning the basics and then practice, practice, practice.
Prayer is not complicated: it's not necessarily easy, but it is really isn't complicated. If you find it too complicated, then wind back to the words of Jesus in Luke 11. If you don't find it easy, join the club!
Dan Tyndall
July 2022
