Lenten Series
Prayer 

JOHN
Grace to you and peace from God our Father...  

ED
And our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,  

BOTH
Amen.  

JOHN
We are continuing our series on the Sermon on the mount and the title of the sermon for tonight for all the 5th through 9th graders is   "Talk the Talk.”    Write that in the space on your sheet.  “Talk the Talk.” The text is Matthew 6:7-15.  

ED
Tonight we are going to talk about prayer and Jesus’ teachings about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount. But John, how are we going to condense Jesus’ teachings about prayer into a fifteen minute sermon? There is so much material. There is tons of material. Where do we begin?  

JOHN
Like always, we did our research. In our research we found that one thing is sure: that prayer is not dead!  Prayer is very much alive in America today and not just among the religious flakes and fanatics.  It is a part of the spiritual life of thousands of people including contemporary Christians like you and me.

ED
Prayer has to be popular if it made the front page of Newsweek magazine. The title of the front page article was: “Talking to God. An Intimate Look at the Way We Pray.” This article in Newsweek magazine reported on the sociological studies about prayer life of us Americans.   

JOHN
The article indicated that public worship was not enough for Christians. People want more than once a week, public worship in church. People want and need a personal, daily worship life as well.  That is, most American people want a deeper intimacy with God.   

ED
We discovered through this article that lots of people in America are praying. For example, this article says that 78% of Americans are praying weekly. It also said that 57% of Americans praying daily. But the statistic that I thought was most interesting was that 13% of Americans are unchurched and are hostile or apathetic to the church. They identify themselves as atheists or agnostics. In this group who are apathetic or hostile to the church, one out of five of this group, 20%, was praying daily. 20% of unchurched people are praying daily. This article also discovered that in terms of books sold here in the USA, there are 2000 titles on prayer and only 700 titles on sex.  

JOHN
Does that mean that prayer is more important than sex?  

ED
No. What is means is that prayer is more popular than sex. People are really interested in prayer throughout all of America. Americans are interested in this spiritual intimacy with God.  But I have to ask the question, John. Why? Why is that so?  Why does there seem to be a craving for spiritual intimacy here in a technological society called the United States of America? Why is there this craving for prayer among us?  

JOHN
You used the word, “craving.” I think there is a craving going on.  The world has become crazy  - some would say out of control. The world has become too fast, too busy, too plastic, too artificial, too material.  Our spiritual life has been on hold too long. There in a craving for intimacy and conversation with God.  I remember when I went fishing in Alaska and we couldn't have whole milk  --  we had to drink powered milk because whole milk would spoil.  We drank that powered milk all summer long. At the end of the season we really craved a nice glass of whole, fresh milk.  Similarly, there is that kind of craving for prayer in our fast paced society today.

ED
Another thing that this article taught about prayer is that prayer is healthy for you. Yes, according to this article in Newsweek, prayer makes you healthy. It reported studies of people with cardiovascular problems. This article demonstrated scientifically that prayer helps people with cardiac problems. Prayer helps people reduce tension and stress in their lives. It is true that prayer helps you become healthier physically.  

JOHN
Something, Ed, both you and I have said to every couple we work with who are planning to get married is that prayer together will help their marriage. We tell young couples: “You need to be involved in prayer together. You need to be praying together as husband and wife.”  Greely, the sociologist and author of this Newsweek article, said and I quote: “Spouses who pray together report the greatest level of marital satisfaction.” That is what we try to teach our young couples who are to be married: it is important to pray together.  

ED
Another thing that I liked about this fine article in prayer was the concept of stages of maturation in prayer.  That is, all of our relationships go through stages e.g. our friendship John. We have been friends for years and the more we have talked to each other year after year, our relationship gradually deepened. Likewise with prayer, the more time we spend with God through in the years in prayers, the deeper our relationship with God gets.

JOHN
It is interesting to note that when Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain for the Sermon on the Mount, his disciples did not ask him to teach them about anger. His disciples didn’t ask him to teach about lust or revenge or giving alms. But those first disciples specifically asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.  

ED
Why prayer?  

JOHN
I believe that the first disciples knew that prayer was very important to Jesus. Those first disciples also knew that prayer was the key to Jesus’ own spirituality. They knew that prayer was the key to unlock the power of the Christian life. Those disciples want to know how to pray because they knew it unlocked power for their own Christian lives.  

ED
If there is no prayer, there is no power. If there is no prayer to your life and if there is no prayer to your Christianity, there is no power to it. The power of the Christian life finds its resource in prayer. That is why we need to pray often and regularly: to give power to our daily Christian lives.  

JOHN
And so Jesus taught his disciples this model prayer, the very finest prayer he could teach. This prayer that Jesus taught is also the pattern or outline for prayer. What we would like to do in the sermon for tonight is to walk through the outline or pattern that Jesus taught. We are going to teach you the seven point outline of the Lord’s Prayer.

ED
Point number one. Our Father. Write that down, kids. Underline the word, “our.” Jesus teaches us to begin our prayers with immense personal intimacy such as with a father and a closest friend. This personal intimacy is an enormous change from the Old Testament. John, how did they pray in the Old Testament?  

JOHN
All of the Old Testament prayers all started like this: Baruch ata Adoni Elohanu Melick ha ohlam.  That means, “Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe!  

ED
And Jesus simply said "Abba"  Father , Dad, Papa. Very close like the closest of friends. When Jesus teaches us how to pray, he teaches us to begin our prayers with immense simplistic intimacy.  

JOHN
There was no more need for a high priest. There was no more need for a go-between. Jesus wanted us to come directly to God in a very intimate way such as Abba.  

ED
The Sermon on the Mount is the oldest layer of the New Testament. In that oldest layer of the New Testament, there is one word that is repeated seventeen times in Matthew, chapters five, six and seven. What is the key, important word that occurs seventeen times? It is the simple word, Abba. Pappa. Father.  

JOHN
Now, the issue is not whether it is Abba or Imma, father or mother. That is not the issue for God is neither male nor female. That is not the issue. Rather, this word, Abba or Imma, introduces us into this immense intimacy, this closeness that a young child has with a parent.

ED
Jesus was teaching us that we need private, personal prayer. Public worship is not enough. We need daily intimacy with God. When you think of it, this isn’t any different from any other intimate relationship that we have. The more you talk the closer you become.  The more conversation, the deeper the friendship.  The disciples realized that this intimacy with God was where the power of Jesus own spiritual life came from.   

JOHN
So the first point of Jesus’ outline of prayer is this intimate Abba. Point two: prayer and thanksgiving. Write that down, kids.  Jesus teaches us to continue our prayers with  praise and thanksgiving.  He taught: “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.” Jesus invites us to begin our prayers by expressing thanksgiving to God such as “thank you Lord for the mountains, for Puget Sound, for food and family and nation. Lord, we thank you and praise your name you’re your goodness.  

ED
We move to point three. The next part is "Your will be done."  Write that down, kids. The heart of prayer is not getting God to do the things that we want to be done. At the heart of prayer is transforming our hearts and wills so we want to do what God wants us to do. The purpose of prayer is not getting God to do my will but rather to transform my heart so that I submit my will to God’s will.  

JOHN
Point number four: “daily bread.” Write that down, kids.  What is that?  The word “daily” is a very rare word in the New Testament.  It only occurs twice. It means, "just for today."  Just what I need for this day.  Not for the future.  Not for tomorrow or next year but only for today.  Just what I need to get by for today.  That is what “daily” means. Bread is understood as anything we need to survive such as food clothing, housing, job.  And God wants us to pray for the things we need.  God wants us to ask for the things we need.

ED
So if I was a farmer living in Kansas and there hasn't been any rain, I would pray for rain.

JOHN
If I had cancer, I would pray to God for healing.  

ED
If my family and village were starving in Somalia, I would pray of food.  

JOHN
If my marriage was having trouble or I was having trouble with my children I would pray for God's help.  

ED
If I was living in Iraq and my father and brothers were being shot up in war, I would pray for peace. In other words, God wants us to pray for our deepest needs. At the very heart of prayer is bringing these deepest needs to our heavenly Father in prayer.  

JOHN
God wants us to pray for our needs but the we need to be a little careful that our prayers don't get too heavily weighted on the “daily bread” side and we forget about the other important parts of prayer.  

ED
The fifth part of the Lord’s Prayer is forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Write that down, kids. Pray for forgiveness. During our prayers, we are to specifically name our sins daily. Jesus is asking us to be honest with ourselves and honest with God for the ways that we have sinned. We are to confess our sins. This is healthy for us to do.

JOHN
The sixth point is: “Lead us not into temptation.”  This is a little confusing here. We assume that God is not going to lead us into temptation. When the Green LBW came out, some people had a difficult time with new version of the Lord's Prayer.  This new translation is actually much more accurate.  It says, “Save us from the time of trial.” Write that down kids, “save us from the time of trials.” We all go through trials and difficulties in life. What we are asking from God is for God to be with us and strengthen us in our times of trial, so that we don’t fall away from God during these difficult times of life but remain close with God.  

ED
We come to the seventh point in the outline of the Lord’s Prayer: For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” Write that down, kids. For yours is the kingdom, power and glory, forever and ever. Amen.” That means, “You are awesome, God.” Write that down kids. “You are awesome, God.” Jesus teaches us to end our prayers with praise and thanksgiving to God. Then conclude the word, “amen,” which means, “This is true” or “Let it happen.”  

JOHN
If your prayer life has fallen by the wayside in this crazy and hectic world, perhaps now is time for you to begin to pray more consistently and regularly to God.  

ED
Yes, it is important for Christians to “walk the walk” …but….  

JOHN
But … it is also important to talk the talk.  

BOTH
Amen  


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