Spiritual Alignment
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
July 25, 2010
She was my favorite cousin. Lisa was only a few years younger than me and since we were lived only about 15 minutes apart our families spent lots of time together. There were holidays, trips to the beach and time spent at that neighborhood pool. Lisa was one of those persons who seemed to have her act together. Tall, athletic, blond, cheerful and very, very committed to her faith she did well in school and was surrounded by friends. She married her college sweetheart…they met as collegiate swimmers…they moved to Colorado where she became the mother of three fabulous children and was a pillar in her Presbyterian church there. The only issue was a nagging cough. It just never seemed to go away. Her doctor tried a variety of remedies but none worked. Finally she mentioned it to her father, an internist himself. Alarmed he had her see another doctor in her area. The new physician took an x-ray and there it was….cancer…in both lungs. At that moment two things began to happen. The medical community began to formulate a plan and thousands of people around the world began to pray for Lisa. Prayer chains across the nation and even overseas began to pray for her healing. At first there seemed to be hope…but soon that hope faded as the cancer spread. Then one day she gathered her children in her arms, blessed them and took her final breath.
So what then do we do with prayer? If the prayers of thousands of people could not defeat the cancer in the life of a faithful and loving person then what do we do with this whole prayer thing. On the one hand we know that we are to pray. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. James tells us that when someone is ill we are to call the elders to pray for them. Jesus spent a great deal of time in prayer throughout his ministry…and in fact prayer is one of the great themes of the Gospel of Luke. In the book of Acts prayer leads to miraculous healings and transformed lives. Every church I have ever been a part of has had a prayer chain where we pray for healing, help and peace. In this church we pray for one another every Sunday and every day in-between. Yet what do we do with it when the results are so mixed? What do we do with it when many of the most faithful for whom we have prayed do not get well? How do we understand this vital and yet mysterious thing called prayer?
We are fortunate this morning in that we have before us a story in which the disciples query Jesus about prayer and he responds with a short but poignant answer…which we call the Lord’s Prayer. Now to be honest the disciples do not ask Jesus about prayer because they want to know more about it or get some in-depth prayer training. They ask because they are jealous. John the Baptist, like many First Century rabbis, had taught his followers an insiders’ prayer which they alone knew. So Jesus disciples want them same. Can’t you just hear them whining, “Jesus, John’s followers have a prayer…can we have one too?” Well Jesus responds and gives them a short prayer that was intended to guide them in their prayer lives. Now as I am sure you have notice, Luke’s version of this prayer is shorter than Matthew’s and leaves several things out. Maybe this is Luke’s Reader’s Digest version…but it is what is before us so we ask our question a bit differently…what can this prayer teach us about this mysterious thing called prayer?
The answer, simply put, is that prayer appears to be a discipline focused on life alignment. In other words, just as one goes to a chiropractor for a spinal alignment prayer is that time when we go to God to have our lives aligned for our mission in the world. Let me explain. To fully understand Jesus’ teaching on prayer we have to consider the context in which it takes place. Remember if you will that Jesus has set his face to Jerusalem. He is on a mission from God which he believes will unleash the Kingdom of God on the world. This unleashing will set into motion a redeeming, reconciling love and forgiveness which the world has never before seen. Jesus understands that ultimately he will not be able to complete this mission by himself. He will need men and women who will be willing to follow him into the amazing yet difficult task of building the Kingdom; of releasing, renewing and restoring God’s creation. In order that those followers be capable of the mission they need to have their lives aligned to God in such a way that they remain faithful and focused. Prayer…as Jesus teaches it…is the discipline that makes such following possible.
If we return to the prayer as Jesus taught it we will see that every part of the prayer aligns a part of our lives to God and to the mission to which we are called. We begin with “Father, hallowed be your name.” This opening phrase aligns our heads with God the liberator. It makes us focus on God and not on our selves. It turns our heads toward the Father…a term meant not to be patriarchal…but reminiscent of the words of God to Moses that Israel is God’s child and God as their father demands that Pharaoh let them go. Next is “Your kingdom come.” This phrase aligns our hands by reminding us of our mission, the mission in which we are to be working, that of the unfolding of the Kingdom of God. Again, this is not about us, it is about the task to which God has called us to work. Next is “Give us each day our daily bread.” These words align our stomachs to God…yes our stomachs. It is a reminder that as people on the road…on the road of mission we, like the 70 who had been sent out…we have to be dependent on God for everything including our food. This is followed by, “And forgive our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” The alignment continues as we ask God to reorient our guts so we can be connected to God. That’s right our guts…in scripture the gut was the place of emotions, feelings and relationship. By asking God to forgive us it allows us to enter into a life giving relationship with God, just as aligning our guts by forgiving others allows us to be connected with our neighbors as well. Finally we have, “And do not bring us into the time of trial.” In other words we are seeking to have God align our feet away from testing and toward faithful living.
I realize that this understanding of prayer leaves out the one piece with which we began our conversation this morning…and that is prayer for others, especially for healing. So here goes, and I know what I am about to say may be difficult for some of you this morning. When we pray for others and ask God for comfort, healing and help we are asking God to align God’s self to the needs of others. Now this does not mean that God does not know what we need or others need, scripture makes it clear that God does. But what it says is that we are in a relationship with a living God. And as with any relationship there is give and take as we read with God’s interaction with King Hezekiah. Somehow, mysteriously our prayers impact God just as God impacts us. So it means that we are, as scripture tells us, to pray for both our friends and our enemies. It means we are to pray for healing for ourselves and for others. But ultimately prayer is about alignment. It is about aligning ourselves for the witness and work of building God’s kingdom within ourselves and without in the world.
I believe that Lisa understood this. I say that because as her cancer worsened she did not despair and did not cease to pray for herself or others. In fact she organized at least two bible study and prayer groups composed of her friends and members of her church. The women in those groups found encouragement, support and hope. Lisa continued living out her mission to the very end of her life and changed the lives of others through her work. In essence she lived the Lord ’s Prayer, aligning herself with God and God’s mission in order to impact the lives of others. So here is my challenge for each of you this morning, that each of you begin and end your prayer time with the Lord’s Prayer. Begin your time with the prayer in order to align your life in prayer with God and then end with the prayer in order to align your life as you head out into your day.
