Teach Us to Pray

Lectionary Reflections for Pentecost 8

By Susan Russell

Readings for Pentecost 8, Proper 13, July 25, 2004

Hosea 11:1-11 or Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23

Psalm 107:1-9, 43 or 49:1-11

Colossians 3:1-11

Luke 12:13-21

One of his disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” – and he answered with words that are arguably among the most familiar in all Christianity – words that have become for us The Lord's Prayer. “Your kingdom come.” “Our daily bread.” “Forgive us our sins.” “Lead us not into temptation.” For those of us who can rattle them off without even thinking about them, the greatest temptation of all might well be precisely that: to rattle them off without even thinking about them, to lose our awe at what we ask – what Jesus tells us to expect – when we pray to the one he knew as heavenly Father.

I wonder if that isn't precisely the point of the verses that follow the “teaching us how to pray” part of Luke's gospel – Jesus' stories of sleeping neighbors and persistent friends; of children and fish, eggs, snakes and scorpions; of seeking and finding, knocking and opening. “How many ways do I have to say it until you get it?” Jesus seems to be asking as he wracks his brain for one more metaphor – parable – analogy – that will finally drive home the bottom line of this Good News he is giving his life to bring to us: the abundant love of God is ours for the asking – and all God asks us in return is that we give in turn to our neighbors that which has been given to us.

[A]s we begin the 21st century, the kingdom of heaven seems as far from coming – the reign of God seems as far from being realized as it was when Jesus first taught the disciples how to pray. As my teenage son would ask it, “What's up with that?”

Can it possibly be that simple? Imagine the countless millions of times these “words our Lord taught us to pray” have been prayed by the faithful down through the ages. And yet, as we begin the 21st century, the kingdom of heaven seems as far from coming – the reign of God seems as far from being realized as it was when Jesus first taught the disciples how to pray. As my teenage son would ask it, “What's up with that?”

It wasn't phrased quite like that, but “what's up with that” was really the question being asked when a group of us recently mulled this text in the context of a Wednesday night celebration of the Holy Eucharist. It is a group that got started during Lent and kept going: we're not sure where the Holy Spirit is leading us, but sure that we are being fed by gathering together to read scripture, break bread and pray for each other and for the world. And so we meet once a week in one of our living rooms. Someone provides a simple meal, someone brings a meditation on the gospel, someone arranges for a priest to preside at the Eucharistic table – and everyone brings their questions.

The kind of questions that were asked around this gospel passage from Luke were: what does it mean to pray? What is it OK to pray for? What does it mean to be aligned with God's will – how do we know if we are? Would we recognize the kingdom if we saw it?

And in the end, our questions sounded a lot like the one the disciples asked to begin with, “Lord, will you teach us to pray?” Teach us to pray for what really matters instead of what we think we need. Teach us to listen for your voice among all the “chatter” that we hear – internally and externally. Teach us to ignore those voices that say, “It can't be that simple” and to listen instead to the voice that calls us to love you with our heart, soul, and mind – and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Teach us to walk in love, not live in fear; to widen the tent, not batten the hatches; to be the change we want to see in the world.

The Rev. Susan Russell is executive director of the Claiming the Blessing coalition, and president of Integrity . She also serves as the online community manager of EveryVoice.net , and is a long-time board member of the Episcopal Women's Caucus . Susan may be reached by email at revsusanrussell@earthlink.net .