“PRAY WITHOUT CEASING”

EPHESIANS 6:13-18

13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

14Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

16In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of⁽ the evil one;

17and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

18praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…

I Thessalonians 5:15 – 25

15Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.

16Always be joyful

17and never stop praying.

18Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.

 19Don't turn away God's Spirit

20or ignore prophecies.

21Put everything to the test. Accept what is good

22and don't have anything to do with evil.

23I pray that God, who gives peace, will make you completely holy. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept healthy and faultless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

24The one who chose you can be trusted, and he will do this.

25Friends, please pray for us.

Today on the first Sunday of Lent how appropriate that we  think about prayer.  This is a big subject, so I decided to limit it to ‘praying at all times.’

As my first sermon as a seminarian, I of course submitted my first draft to Rick, my friend from California and my husband to ask for feedback.  My husband graded it and gave it a B.  That is a good grade, but I was still disappointed until I saw that he had also graded Paul in his letter to the Ephesians and had given Paul an A-.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘prayer’? Do you think of  bowing your head, maybe in a quiet spot, often in church, and often with memorized words or words spoken for us in prayer?

Now let’s expand our view a moment to include new places and some different words.    Paul is asking us to ‘Pray at all times.’  We cannot follow Paul’s directive unless we  expand our conception. 

I am going to suggest that we can ‘pray at all times’ by making our lives a living, working, playing, talking, reflecting, active prayer.  Make our lives a prayer.

WHO is Paul asking to pray at all times?  Not just hermits or pilgrims.  Not just the monks at the St. John the Evangelist monastery on Memorial Drive in Cambridge.   No, all of us.   We can answer Paul’s charge here in North Reading and the Boston area in our daily lives. 

WHAT prayer is Paul talking about?  There are many types of prayer.  But they all have this in common:   Prayer is drawing closer to God.  Prayer is living in thankful awareness of God’s constant presence in our lives. 

Prayer is connecting with how God has addressed us in our relationships, our work, our play, our volunteer work, our commutes, our thoughts, and feelings..   That is a much broader definition of prayer than the  Traditional forms of prayer would be prayer in worship, set prayer times like grace at meals or bedtime prayersor simply a meditative, silent waiting type of prayer.  These are all wonderful.  But today lets talk about what Paul is asking of us when he writes:  “to pray at all times in the Spirit.  This is what God wants us to do.”

How can we do that?

(Story:  Our Prayer group here at the Union congregational Church met for over six years.  We prayed for our church’s and the world’s prayer concerns, but we also left our meetings better able to make our lives a prayer simply because of our time praying together.    But I can’t tell you the number of times our Prayer Group heard of things happening long after our prayers that had ripple effects and revealed God’s will to us.   That is  the comforting effect of prayer: 

The prayer shawl ministry and other ministries here at the church have shared that comfort beautifully.   Many people have been literally and figuratively wrapped in prayer when their shawls are worn. Anyone who has ever felt the warm comfort of these shawls can appreciate how a shawl saturated in prayer could bless without words and be a constant reminder of God’s loving presence in time of distress and pain.  Those in our church community were making their lives a prayer when they knit and crocheted those shawls and put the moving message each one. 

In case you think I am being a Pollyanna and saying this is all very easy to do, of course there are many ways in which we can be pulled away from the connection with God in our daily lives, when we close the pores of our minds and souls: loss of community, sickness, irritability, depression, consumerism, worry, loneliness, discouragement to name just a few.   These are  opportunities to turn to Christ in prayer and ask for  His grace.

            Giving something up for lent is a way of symbolically taking something away for the 40 days that pulls us away from our connection with God.  It builds discipline and helps us to relate to Christ’s suffering and deprivation.  This tradition of giving something up for Lent was not part of my faith tradition.  I was raised Presbyterian and we were always depriving ourselves of something.  But this year I am giving up coffee.   It seems like a small thing, unless you realized how much I used to build my day around going to Dunkin.  This reminds me to build my day around God, not coffee; a reminder to make my life a prayer and not drain excessive attentions on silly things like a delicious…..hot……cup …..I.  especially receive a reminder  when I go by exit 40 on 128 on my commute.  You know the billboard next to Home Depot with the beautiful big picture of  a whipped cream topped coffee?  This serves as a reminder to me now that my relationship to God is much sweeter than any cup of coffee!

            One of the members of our church we prayed for underwent a much graver deprivation; she was gravely ill and was under hospice care in her home.  It turned out that her hospice nurse dropped her which necessitated her being admitted temporarily to a nursing home.  Talk about piling on the adversity.   There, because of a roommate who enriched her life, our church member had a revitalizing experience— an experience of God’s grace, where both of these women turned of  their adversity into a connection to God’s love.  These two women made their lives a prayer. 

Sully Sullenberger’s life has been a prayer to God.  He was the pilot who landed  flight 1549 in an emergency landing on the Hudson River after  birds had disabled the engines….. and he saved 155 lives.   And then when subjected to the media glare, this same man responded with humility. Almost more than the heroics of his landing, I was impressed with his humility, as well as thanksgiving.    This life-saving action AND his humility were his prayers to God.   He described a sense of peace that he had knowing his studies and practice had prepared him.  He said, “Everything I had done in my life had prepared me for that moment.” Sully Sullenberger used his life as a tribute to his God given -gifts and preparation.  This is also a prayer of thanksgiving to God.

But wait a minute, you might be saying ‘Well, I will never have an opportunity to do something on that grand a scale.’   I believe that each of us lives our own prayers every day. 

By showing love to our neighbor at home or at work, even when they might confuse or annoy us–we are giving this prayer to God.

When we are folding laundry to give our families fresh, clean clothes, I assure you that that act of love is heroic and God hears that prayer.  We make our lives a prayer. 

When we are using our gifts at work or school  or at home, God hears that prayer.

By caring for our families, we make our lives a prayer.

When we prepare nourishing meals and have some peaceful…. or spirited…. conversations around the meal table, we are making our lives a prayer. 

When we seek to resolve a conflict with a colleague or a friend – we are open to an awareness of God’s presence in our lives—a  prayer to God.

If we treat others with respect, even if they are unable or unwilling to show us the same respect, this  a connection with God.  

When we hold a door for someone, and their smile of gratitude is exchanged, we connect with God at that moment. 

When someone is merging onto the interstate next to us, and we blink our lights to allow them in the line, this is a prayer to God. 

When we show appreciation for the acts of service and kindness in our lives, God hears our prayer.

So in closing,  here is some homework for Lent that you might enjoy: a  prayer life that  can be realized anywhere and always – cleaning the house, in the line at the supermarket, studying at school,  commuting, and at work.

Talking with God, feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit  is for everybody, whereever we are.

Mahatma Gandhi said:  “It is better to allow our lives to speak for us than our words.  Show God as he lives today through you.”

 God is waiting to connect with you right now.

 MAKE OUR LIVES A PRAYER.

Amen