Dear Faith Lutheran Church and School,
This coming Sunday the Gospel readings point us prayer. In Luke 18, we read about the persistent widow who begs for justice. Her story is then followed by the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Taken together these parables point us toward humble, persistent prayer.
Prayer is both a command and a gift from God. Prayer has a way of properly orienting us toward God. In prayer we recognize our sinfulness, our needs, and our powerlessness to meet those needs. In prayer we submit to the power and will of our kind and loving God and ask Him for mercy and provision for all our needs of body and soul.
Luther writes about this in the Small Catechism, concerning the Introduction of the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven. What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
We are children of God. We rely on Him for all things. And He is tender and loving toward us and provides for our needs according to His good and gracious will.
Just like a good understanding of the Divine Service rightly orients us toward receiving of God’s gifts in worship, so also the practice of prayer rightly orients us toward seeking God’s help and mercy in all things. The needs of the body and soul do not ultimately come as a result of our wisdom, work or diligent spiritual practices. Rather these things come from the hand of God who is full of grace and mercy, abounding in steadfast love.
The saints of old understood this. We receive their testimony as to the importance of prayer in their lives. For example, when Martin Luther was asked what his plans were for the day, he once responded, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
Here we see a simple recognition that the real work of the day belongs to God. We rely on His blessings, His gifts, not just in worship, but every day in all things.
This is worth pondering. In our fast-paced culture the idea of giving so much time to prayer seems impossible or absurd. But when we recognize the basic truth of our life with God, it becomes clear that what we need is not tasks, activities, and amusements to busy us. What we need is what Mary craved from Jesus when he visited her home. She sat at the Lord’s feet. (Luke 10:39) She sat and she listened. And Jesus says that rather than worry and busyness chosen by her sister Martha, Mary chose the one thing that is needed.
Of course! Jesus is the one thing that is needed. We need forgiveness, life, salvation. We need peace with God. We need wisdom that comes from heaven. We can’t earn these things, accomplish these things, obtain these things by our power. Rather we receive them from Christ who gladly and freely gives them to all who trust in His mercy.
And so, may we also sit at the Lord’s feet, in humble and persistent prayer and in meditation on His Word, as we acknowledge that everything we have, everything we are, and even our future is in His good and gracious hands. Lord have mercy on us and grant us peace! Amen.
Pastor Shaun