Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors

In today’s scripture, Luke has collected a number of Jesus’ teachings on prayer. We are not to assume that Jesus said all these things on one occasion, but that these sayings are Jesus’ answers to the disciples request that He teach them how to pray. Today’s scripture forms a sort of “how-to” list: It tells us a lot about the prayer life of a disciple:

1) Prayer is a direct connection to God. The cell phone commercial reminds us of that.

2) Prayer is powerful. To pray that we might be able to forgive the gravest of sins committed against us is powerful; to believe that God will forgive us our gravest sins is powerful; to pray and to believe that God will give us the ability to forgive and accept forgiveness is powerful.

3) Prayer is an experience one learns, not simply a release of the heart’s natural longings. That is why the disciples requested that Jesus teach them how to pray. That is why Jesus teaches them what we call the Lord’s Prayer. That is why we teach our children to pray The Lord’s Prayer. We have been taught. We have learned the magnitude of its meaning.

4) Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed in the wilderness to resist all of the temptations that Satan put before Him. Jesus sought respite in between his travels and healings so that He would have time to be in prayer with God. Jesus prayed in the Garden before His death – may this cup pass, but if it is not to be, not my will but yours, Lord.

5) The Lord’s Prayer is communal – it is said in community. One of our members pointed out to me one time that there is no such thing as a service that runs so late that we would skip saying The Lord’s Prayer together. Last summer in Seoul, South Korea, at the World Methodist Conference, we were all invited to recite the Lord’s Prayer together, in our own language. The sounds of more than 75 languages pouring in from the four corners of the earth gave me much to think about - the ability of the Holy Spirit to break through the barriers of language and experience! At FUMC, The Colony, we have a community prayer list, as most churches do. People, however diverse, are lifted up by the prayers of the community, however diverse that community is, however individually those prayers offered are.

6) Prayer must be persistent. Sometimes there is a lot of asking, a great deal of seeking and some very loud and persistent knocking before that door is opened.

7) God answers prayer.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; all who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.”

Our worship centers on the idea of prayer. If we believe this, we had better be mindful of the young child or teen who is sitting there praying, “Please, God, I just pray that my parents get back together.” “Please, God, don’t send my dad to Iraq.” “Please, God, let the hitting stop.” “Please, God, don’t let me be pregnant. I’ll be good.” The answers to these prayers aren’t so simple as seeking and finding. The answers to these prayers come in the form of a community that is willing to stake its Christian tenets on the belief that prayers are answered and that God does respond to human need and suffering – so often through the community.

If those parents do not get back together, are we willing to be there for the single parent who bears the burden of raising the children? Are we willing to be there for those children in their times of confusion and hurt? If the father does get sent to Iraq, will we be there for his family – through it all? If the hitting does not stop, are we willing to risk stepping in with help? If the young teen is pregnant, will we treat her just as we always have? That is how prayers get answered through community. That is why we have Sunday School – not just to teach right from wrong, but to teach our children how to have Jesus in their hearts, how to have Jesus in their souls as they sang at Vacation Bible School, to teach our children that God does answer prayer – sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

This year at Vacation Bible School, we went into the week celebrating the pre-registration of 157 children, only to discover that we had 240! They kept knocking; they kept coming. We were busting at the seams, but we kept opening the door.

Many of you have kept knocking at the door of sobriety – whether it be alcohol, drugs, or food - sometimes successfully, sometimes not – yet you have persisted. I hope that you have found an open door here, sober or not, a place to call sanctuary.

From Liberia, they keep knocking on heaven’s door, sometimes at 2 in the morning, sometimes at 4 in the morning. Honestly, I sometimes find that frustrating, and then I am reminded that they are following Jesus’ instructions: “Ask and you shall receive; knock and the door shall be opened.”

For two years now, our 9:45 service has been asking, seeking, and knocking, believing that that door has been opened, and you have persisted.

Over the years, many of us have looked forward to becoming parents. We have certainly prayed about it. When we learned that we were going to be parents, we prayed – more than once – that the child – boy or girl – would be healthy. It was exciting. When you are going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You have your bags packed. You are looking forward to the Coliseum, to Michelangelo’s David, to the gondolas in Venice. And then the day finally arrives and the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” You say, “Holland? What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. I asked to go to Italy. All my life I’ve prayed to go to Italy.” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. You have landed in Holland and there you must stay. Holland is not a horrible place. It’s just a different place. And you need new guide books. You must learn a whole new language.

Your prayers change. “Lord, give me energy. Give me and others understanding, patience, appreciation.”

How can we here at FUMC be instruments of prayer? How can we participate in the prayer life of our community?

“Ask and you will be given, seek and you will find, knock and they door will be open.” When a Christian asks, when a teen seeks, when the poor knock, the answer is YOU! That is why we will have a group called Overeaters’ Anonymous here in September. That is why next year we are planning for infinity for all our programs. That is why Crossroads is planning to travel to Liberia this time next year. That is why we now have a worship team especially for the contemporary service, so that we might be there whenever someone who is seeking knocks on our doors. That is why we have The Angels’ Place, starting here in October. The Angels’ Place is a place for children with special needs – and their siblings – to come each month – on the first Saturday night of the month from 5:30 to 9:30 pm. Of course, we still need MANY volunteers. In the foyer, there is an Angel Tree and a sign up list near that tree for anyone feeling that God is calling you to this ministry. There is a volunteer meeting on Sept. 16. On the tree there are angels that represent items needed to start up this ministry. Please take an Angel and bring your item back and place it under the tree within the next three weeks.

“Ask and you will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will open.” If you find when you keep asking, seeking, knocking, that you keep putting on hold, keep being sent to voice mail, isn’t it nice to know that you can call direct? It’s called prayer. Amen.