Shamelessly wrestling with God . . .

      I shared last week that we would be talking about prayer this week.  I was not sure how things would go, but I was certain we needed to do some discipling along the lines of prayer.  Imagine my surprise, though, when I showed up at Wrestling with Faith and we ended up in 30-40 minute discussion about prayer.  Btw—consider this your commercial and invitation regarding Wrestling with Faith.  Jim and Robert ostensibly are in charge of herding the cats that come to that group and deciding the topics.  Usually, there is wine and snacks.  This week we shared Cheez-its!  You can tell, it’s a very typical high-brow gathering.

     One of the participants started us off on a discussion about prayer.  That led to other participants discussing what they thought about prayer.  There are those in the world around us who view prayer as a vending machine of sort.  We pray to God to fix or provide or do something and hope He does what we ask.  Others make it a bit more in line with the prosperity gospel and believe the formula and posture and our faith are what is responsible for God answering our prayers the way we want.  This has crept into some of our understandings regarding prayer.  The week and a half before I left for vacation, I had a number of conversations with Adventers over the failed intercessions for Penelope.  Some Adventers truly believed they or we prayed wrong, that our collective or their individual faith was wanting, or that we or they had somehow done something wrong to cause God not to save her.

     Heck, to outsiders, pray is often worthless.  You want to enrage non-believers in your life?  Next time something happens to them, tell them your thoughts and prayers are with them.  In some circles, the “thoughts and prayers” are now perceived the Christian version of FU, because so many Christians are perceived not to care about the human suffering around them or, worse, think God wants bad things to happen to us to teach us lessons.

     If I asked you to define prayer this morning, my guess is that everyone would start off quickly and strong.  But after a few minutes, we might start to become less confident.  Some of us would confidently describe intercessory prayer, but then remember there are prayers of thanksgiving and prayers of confession, to name a few others.  If I asked if prayer could change God’s mind, we would likely have different answers, depending on our familiarity with some of the Bible stories like Abraham interceding on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah today or like Moses interceding on behalf of Israel or the response to Jonah’s preaching in Nineveh.  If I asked you who prayer was really for, many would say us.  We recognize that prayer often changes us in ways we least expect.

     Some of us, emboldened by Abraham’s example today, might declare that prayer is a conversation with God.  I see some nods.  In truth, I am not sure that today is as much a conversation as it is an intercession and wrestling with God.  That brings me to another commercial for Jim’s and Robert’s effort on those Thursday nights.  I am asked a lot why I tolerate a group that wrestles with faith and God and the Church.  Hopefully, Jim and Robert would both tell you that I do not tolerate it.  I encouraged them when they first started talking about launching this group.  It is in our spiritual DNA, we might say, to wrestle with God or to contend with God.  The name Israel was originally thought to mean wrestling with and contending with God.  Much of Sarah’s and Abraham’s walk with God is a contention.  How can we have a child when we are so old?  How can God fulfill His promises to us given our age?  By the time of Jacob’s generation, things are still unclear.  The family is grossly outnumbered by the Canaanites in the Land.  Jacob literally wrestles with God until God pops Jacob’s hip out of socket.  Our list of those who wrestle with God could go on and on all the way down to us, which is why I think that group is worth having around Advent.  Of course, it’s better than just tolerating the group.  The questions asked in the group have been asked throughout human history and the life of the Church.  My big purpose when I go to the meetings is to remind people the questions are not new and how God has answered them, kind of like a sermon or a Bible Study!

     All of which brings us to this question of prayer.  Hopefully we all see in Luke that this desire to pray and the human worry about prayer is nothing new.  Jesus’ disciples ask Him how to pray, after He has been praying in a certain place.  The question makes sense.  Their Master does it.  They should also be doing it.  And in the Jewish culture, rabbis and other important figures taught their students or disciples how to pray.  You see this in their question today.  “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  In fact, there is a great “rule of life” called the Eighteen Benedictions, which faithful Jews were expected to pray daily around the time of Jesus’ Incarnation.

     What Jesus answers them with has been passed down through the Church as the Lord’s Prayer.  It should be the Disciple’s Prayer, as we are all supposed to pray it, but we name it after the One who taught all His disciples to pray it.  We are all very familiar with it.  In some contexts, it is known as the Our Father prayer, but we Episcopalians know the prayer well.  We pray it during the Daily Office, and we pray it when we celebrate the Eucharist.  The version that Luke records, though, is not the version you and I use in our daily and weekly prayer life. 

     Before I talk about Luke’s version, I need to do some vaccinating so you don’t fall victim to sophists or wolves in sheep’s clothing.  As Anglicans/Episcopalians, we believe that each of the books that are contained in the Bible are God-breathed.  Yes, they are written by human beings, but at the urging and inspiration of God.  Then, the Holy Spirit caused the Church to collect those writings She perceived as God-breathed.  It sounds very loose, but the Church did not fight much about which books to keep and which books to reject.  There was very little fighting over the Gospels, in particular, even though we have more than 400 writings claiming to be Gospel.

     For our part, the Tradition has always taught and maintained that Luke, a Gentile physician and secretary for Paul, interviewed those in the early Church about Jesus and the events in the early Church before he penned his letters to Theophilus, one who loves God!  Though the other Gospels contain lots of healing miracles, Luke has a particular focus on them, which we all understand given his day job!  But, we can all well imagine Luke’s interviews and what stuck with him as being important to share.  His version of the Lord’s Prayer is no less authoritative or Gospel than the versions with which all of us are familiar.  Does Luke speak in more economic than theological terms?  Absolutely.  Does it seem to capture the teaching of Jesus?  Yes!

     The biggest difference in the prayers is the focus on trespasses/sins in the prayers of the other Gospel writers.  You and I inherit a nearly 2000 year old tradition which links trespasses and sins.  We know Jesus is teaching us to ask God to forgive us as we forgive others.  It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, though.  If we are not forgiving to others, how do we want God to treat us?  That’s right, squirm a bit.  Some of us in our heads are no doubt saying But that person REALLY hurt me.  As if our sins don’t REALLY hurt God or REALLY hurt others.

     Luke, though, in recording this prayer, focuses on an economic issue.  Forgive us our sins as we forgive the debts of others.  In Luke’s version, which he heard from disciples and apostles, there is a link between sins and debts.  Why?  Part of the reason is the illustration.  Sin often seems abstract, right?  If you found yourself arguing with me or God in your head or heart because the sins against you really hurt but your sins were not so bad, you understand the need for more concrete examples.  What is more concrete than debt?

     I do not spend too much time talking about the poverty of the ancient world.  I did when we took part in the CARES work, but I need to do it more.  Oh, I hint at it: people only ate meat once or twice a year, an oxen cost as year’s wages, most people never saw a gold talent, and things like that.  But I do not spend much time focusing your attention on the abject poverty and struggle to survive.  I should.  Maybe if I did a better job of teaching about the poverty of the ANE, we would be more attuned to the poverty and struggle in our midst?  I get it.  It’s hard to understand.  We live in a blessed part of a blessed nation.  There was a study about the time I moved to Advent which pointed out that 97% of the world lived on less than $25000 a year.  Can you imagine?  How about this: Can you imagine living in Brentwood on less than $25000 a year?  Already, all of us gathered here are in the top 3% of the world.  We live among the most millionaires per capita in this blessed country.  It makes it tough for us to understand poverty and debt.

     The problem with debt, as Jesus teaches us, is that it enslaves us.  Too many people try to live above their means.  This neighborhood is full of people who bought houses they cannot afford, especially with rising interest rates.  Too many people bought fancier cars they cannot afford.  I have had discussion after discussion with those who were taught to “fake it til you make it.”  Some were taught by bosses and coworkers; others were taught by family.  And they live a life that, to them, is one paycheck away from ruin.  The pressure and anxiety are intense.  In the 7 ½ years I have been here, the neighborhood has transitioned from marijuana to opioids to fentanyl.  When I arrived, the numbing agent of choice was dope.  Now, it is a drug so powerful that one grain will leave me high for 8 hours and three grains will likely kill me!  People work to pay the bankers, not for any quality of life.  But they have not figured that out.  Why?  Why are people turning to stronger and stronger drugs?  Why do some come and talk to me about their choices, their pressure, their overwhelming sense of anxiety?  They bought the American Dream and discovered it is really a nightmare, especially when held up against the kingdom of God!

     And let’s talk credit cards.  Anybody have children or grandchildren who were offered credit cards with high limits while in college?  I see the nods.  Some of us are of an age that we experienced that “bonus” of education.  Credit card debt is so normalized now that most households carry more than $30,000 in debt monthly.  Y’all are smart, but you likely know people carrying ridiculous amounts of credit card debt, and those wonderfully low interest rates.  And we think nothing of it.  It’s just the cost of living.

     Know anybody with medical debt?  How about student loans?  Are you getting the picture why Jesus focused on economic issues, when He taught His disciples how to pray?  The economic issues easily translate into theological issues, but they also remind us that God cares about our daily life and work and play.

     Though it is not in the version that Luke gives us, one of the prayers in the Lord’s Prayer that has survived 2000 years is the “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Those teaching Luke about the Lord’s Prayer would likely have pointed out how our treatment of debt points to how we want God to treat our sins.  Imagine, if you will, someone whose medical bills are retired, or whose utilities are paid, or whose credit card debt is wiped out.  We see those stories from time to time.  Churches buy debt and forgive it.  It’s always good for a news cycle locally.  But then cynicism sets in.  What good does it do for them to forgive the debt?  They are just going to accumulate more!

     Of course they are.  Our society is based on debt enslavement.  Every moment of every day they, and we, are bombarded with advertisements to buy things.  And if you do not have enough money, some of those advertisements point out that financing is available.  Better financing is available for those with better credit scores, but the business world will bend over backwards to get us all paying them each month.  And make NO mistake, it is slavery.  We are dehumanized and just profit centers for them.  We are known by our account numbers and not our circumstances.  Each of those in our neighborhood who are over-extended have done well by absolute measures.  Nearly all make a great income; most feel they are important to their company’s success; and most have a marketable skill or expertise.  But they know!  They know what happens if they miss a payment.  The clock starts ticking on repossession and foreclosure the moment they miss a payment.  If credit scores measured skills and desire and success, there would be no issue.  Successful people usually find good jobs.  They pay their bills.  But we treat even them as a commodity.  Pretend now you have no skills, no value in your own eyes.

     But imagine a world where Christians took Jesus’ teaching seriously.  What if we forgave debts as readily as we asked God to forgive us our sins?  What would the world begin to understand about us?  About God?  And about true freedom?  Some of you gather with me two or three times in corporate worship where we ask God to forgive us our sins.  Some of you do the Daily Offices where we ask God individually to forgive our sins.  Do we really sin that much?  Yes.  We sin about as often as people live in debt, which is to say nearly all the time.

     And, lest you think I am wrong defending Luke for his version of the Lord’s Prayer that he recorded, what is the example right after the prayer that Jesus uses to drive the point home?  We live in a world that is walled off now.  We live in mcmansions with garages and privacy fences.  The days of sitting on porch swings with our neighbors sipping tea or Arnold Palmers is long passed.  But in that culture at that time, hospitality and neighborly behavior were esteemed.  Valued.  Honored.

     The man goes to his neighbor because a traveller has dropped in unexpectedly.  The man needs some food to care for the unexpected visitor.  So he goes to his FRIEND for help.  He goes to his FRIEND to help him fulfill his obligations, just as his FRIEND has come to him for assistance at times in their relationship.  We understand the friend’s reticence to get out of bed, some of us more than others, right?  None of us like to be bothered once we have all turned in for the night.  But we know emergencies happen.  How should we respond to emergencies?  How should we respond to emergencies involving our friends?  How should we respond to emergencies belonging to our friends who have responded to our own emergencies?  See the relationship described by Jesus.  See why FRIEND is an important description?

     Jesus says that because of his anaideia, the FRIEND will eventually get up and help the man.  Our translators rendered the word as “persistence” today, but that entirely misses the point.  Anaideia was the companion of Hybris, for those of us who studied Greek mythology.  Both were close companions in Greek mythology.  Anaideia has the sense of shamelessness.  My books are still boxed, but I cannot think of a time in Antiquity when the word is used in the sense of nagging or persistence.  It has a quality of not accepting shame or humiliation.  Why does Jesus use that word?  Why did that word stick in the minds of so many who heard Him teach?  Because the man knows the relationship with his FRIEND.  The man knows how many times he has bailed his friend out.  He knows their relationship.  Heck, he knows the behaviors of his friend.  And his friend knows him as well.  They have a history together.  They are really friends living in the same culture, so they both know how this will end.  The FRIEND knows the man will take his obligations of hospitality seriously.  The FRIEND knows the man knows they are friends.  There will be only one way to end the beating on the door and allow everyone to sleep.  The friendship means there is no shame in the behavior; there is no reason for the FRIEND really not to fulfill the request of the man.

     You and I are encouraged by Jesus to approach God shamelessly.  We are supposed to know we are loved by God, redeemed by God, treasured by God.  We are supposed to understand that we are in a relationship with Him and He with us.  What should we not share with Him?  From Jesus’ perspective, absolutely nothing!  If He knows the secret sins and hairs on our heads and our hearts and desires, if He formed us in the wombs of our mothers, He knows everything already.  And, yet, He is willing to listen to us; He is willing to engage in conversation with us; He is willing to let us contend or wrestle with Him.  Better still, we can depend on His answers.  Jesus goes on to remind us that we, who are evil—who sin all the time, do not give snakes or scorpions to our children.  If we, who are evil, can figure that out, how much more so will our Father in heaven?  But, in the end, it all comes back to time and understanding our relationship with Him.

     Make no mistake, my friends, Jesus knew what He was doing when He taught His disciples this way.  We might balk at knowing our Father, when society and some men teach us over and over that fathers are unnecessary.  We might listen to Satan’s whispers that our Father does not really have time for us or want to listen to us.  We might even be persuaded that we should always feel shame.  But it is God’s Son, the One who died and rose again and ascended into heaven, who teaches us these truths, even one so easy as how to pray.  And reminded of those truths, fortified by the encouragement of this Sacrament, encouraged by our brothers and sisters in this community, we are sent back out to do the work He has given us to do.  But we are not like those who grope in darkness or choose evil over God.  We are reminded we are His children, encouraged to engage in that relationship to which He calls us, and we wonderfully freed and prepared for any work He has given us to do in our lives because He is with each one of us, no matter what the world wants us to believe!  Reminded and fortified, you and I are sent back out there, into the darkness and the wilderness, to incarnate His love for all humanity in our lives, inviting them each to experience for themselves the love He has for them, the desire He has for them, to enter into relationship with Him! 

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†