"Do We Believe in Prayer?" - Psalm 34:1-18; Ephesians 1:15-19
A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, March 6, 2022
“Do We Believe in Prayer?
Texts: Psalm 34:1-18; Ephesians 1:15-19
A guy named Larry goes to a revival and listens to the preacher. After a while the preacher invites all those who request specific prayers to come down to the front. Larry gets in line, and when it's his turn, the preacher asks: "Larry, what do you want me to pray about for you?"
Larry replies: "Preacher, I need you to pray for my hearing."
The preacher puts one finger in Larry's ear, and he places the other hand on top of Larry's head and prays and prays and prays. After a few minutes, the preacher removes his hands, stands back and asks Larry: "Larry, how is your hearing now?"
Larry says, "I don't know, Reverend, my hearing is with the judge . . . and it’s coming up this Wednesday.”
Two people are talking during a break in the workday. One worker says to the other: “does your family say a prayer before meals?” The other one looks a bit amazed and says: “Non; we are French, and we know how to cook.”
Clearly, the subject of prayer can bring lots of misunderstandings.
What is faithful prayer? Do we believe in prayer? Do more prayers - the more we pray and the more people praying - make a difference? These questions about prayer, and many more, deserve our attention.
I must say - the last few weeks have included so many sincere prayers from my heart, longing for connections to God and God’s ways. I have been with some of you in some very critical moments - moments that call forth our prayers: in the hospital where we pray for successful surgery and for God’s helping hand around doctors and medical professionals; . . . . in the funeral home, or with hospice, when we close the casket, or bid farewell to a loved one; . . . beside a bed when we are longing for release from the pain, or looking for God’s comfort; . . . . or with someone making a big decision that will bring significant challenges and changes to self and others.
I suspect you have had your own moments of sincere prayer too. I hope so.
Perhaps all of us have also been - after watching the news of Ukraine, praying fervently: with people in bunkers, women and children living in subway tunnels, and thousands running for their lives. We pray for soldiers and citizens, refugees and relief workers, and all those dealing with the loss and sirens, the flashes and fears, the bombs and crises of war in Ukraine. We pray for peace - for wisdom and strength, for courage and calm for all involved, and for a better way to relate to one another in the world.
All of these - personal situations and global crises - are appropriate moments for prayer: we look for, ask for, long for God’s help and presence. We plead for God’s protection and healing. We open our hearts to God’s comfort and care around us. These are all crucial times when we need to be reminded - we are not on our own, nor are we left alone. Indeed, God is with us; God goes beside us, guides us, in all the moments of life. This is what we trust. This is what we believe - so we pray!
So, what is prayer?
Prayer is a gift from God - Who desires dialogue and relationship with each of us. Prayer is the reminder that God - the Creator of all things - seeks close ties with us, each one of us. Prayer is a posture for our days - a way of living in the world. We belong to God and prayer is one of the main ways that we link our lives to God. We convey what is on our hearts - gratitude, worries, wants, needs, hopes and longings. Prayer is a primary means by which we experience God’s life and light. From the depths of our hearts, through our verbalization of our deepest gratitude and most urgent needs, we connect to God - trusting that God hears, God knows, God loves us, God is at work in and through all things, and God goes alongside us. So we pray.
I hope that you paid close attention to the words of the first lesson today. We wanted the words printed in the bulletin - so that they would be not only heard but read, visualized, and even absorbed - so that we might be encouraged. Psalm 34 shows us a life rooted in God’s life - through prayer. There is no denying the psalmist’s focus and emphasis: the exclamations, the exhortations, the verbs, the images all depict a life deeply connected to God. “I will bless the Lord, . . .my soul boasts in God, . . . Look to him and be radiant, . . . the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him.” And the several references to fear here are not about being afraid of God - but being in reverent relationship with God. “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in God.” “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” - this is a common theme through this psalm. The Lord is near to those who keep their lives connected, rooted, close to God.
Prayer, then, is a gracious gift from God - not a task or obligation. Prayer is a way to connect - every moment - to God’s presence and promises, God’s love and purposes. The practice of prayer allows us to draw inspiration and strength from our relationship to God - and even experience the reign of God.
More than that - when we pray - we link our lives not only to God, but to all the people and situations in our prayers. When we pray for others and situations, we deepen our connection to those people, deepen our affection for them, and it creates a growing circle of love between us, between them and God. When we pray for the people of Ukraine - or Guatemala - or loved ones and church members - we get closer to them - and to God - and to our connectedness to God and to them. If you have sincerely felt prayed for - you know how buoying this can be, how uplifting it feels. Prayers link us together - and link us to God.
A really helpful illustration of how prayer can work to strengthen and uphold us, and connect us to God, can be found in the great sequoia trees that grow along the west coast. These are some of the tallest trees in the world. They grow straight and tall to catch the cool mist from the sea. They grow tall also, not because they have deep roots, but because they grow tall in groups - called “stands” - and they link their roots to one another. The roots of all these hugely tall trees are all intertwined underground with each other. All the roots of sequoia trees in a stand can hardly be distinguished - so connected, so wrapped and grown together. It is like how prayer strengthens us - we link to one another - and to God - and grow tall in faith and life.
Prayer is the opportunity and privilege of connecting our hearts and lives to one another, and to God’s heart. To pray is to re-affirm the gospel: we are not alone, nor are we on our own. We belong to God. Our lives are better and stronger when linked together in prayer - a great gift of God.
So, do we believe in prayer?
That is a bit of a trick question - and the answer is really important. The answer - we do NOT believe in prayer - we believe in God - and so we pray! Prayer is how we relate to God - prayer is an avenue on which we connect to God - Who is our help and strength, a present help in times of trouble. Prayer is how we stay intertwined with God - our rock and our salvation. We do not believe in prayer - we believe in God - and we practice our belief in God by praying, conveying all that is on our hearts, relating all that is happening in our lives, sharing everything about us honestly with God. God is our light and our hope - therefore we pray. God is the One in Whom we believe. Prayer is what we do, what we practice, because we believe in God.
Our second lesson today really shows us the essence of what we are talking about concerning prayer - and what prayer is. This is what Paul says in Ephesians:
15I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Life is full of blessings and joys. But life also comes with challenges and difficulties. We have much to celebrate, but we also know setbacks and situations that create heartache and worry, grief and loss. Take note of what Paul says in this letter - “I have heard of your faith,” and I “do not cease to give thanks as I remember you in my prayers.” And then he urges them in what might help them more than anything else as life unfolds: that God would “give a spirit of wisdom;” that the “eyes of our hearts might be enlightened;” that we might “know the hope to which we have been called;” the “inheritance” that is ours through Christ; that we might live into the “greatness of power” for those who believe.
Paul knows that life can never be just smooth and easy. Paul is praying that our lives might be strengthened and shaped by prayer - which is fundamentally life rooted in God’s life. Paul is praying for us as God’s people to have a spirit of wisdom, eyes of our hearts enlightened, full of hope, confident of God’s abiding care forever, that we might live into the greatness of God. Life is not about wealth or possessions; it is not about numbers of children, or even length of life. It is all about a powerful sense of relatedness to God - which comes when our eyes are enlightened, our hearts are engaged with God - which comes through, among other things, prayer. We believe in God - who is always with us, never leaves us, and remains at work through all things - and so we pray. We believe in God - who created us, knows us, calls us, loves us, holds us forever - and so we pray - seeking to link our lives to the God of the universe - the glorious inheritance among the saints. We trust in God’s abiding presence and purposes - and so we pray - finding wisdom, hearts enlightened, and the great hope that comes from God.
Here is another way to think about how we believe in God - and so we pray. We pray for healing – not because we will always see healing, because we know we may not – but so that we can connect with the mysterious and wonderful love of God that promises never to let us go. We pray for God’s comfort and care for us and our loved ones, not because God will make everything perfectly comfortable, but so that our lives are enfolded in God, who holds us all forever. We pray for an end to the drought; we pray for leaders to act in the best interest of all; we pray for peace in the Ukraine; we pray for the frightened families fleeing Russian aggression; we pray for the deepest concerns of our hearts; we pray for all this – not because we believe in PRAYER but because we believe in God - and we seek to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened, so we know hope, and participate in the goodness of God, Who rules and reigns forever. And certainly, when we pray - we also keep our lives acting, loving, serving, working for the large and important purposes of God - joy and justice across the earth.
Friends, God’s light prevails over darkness. God wins over despair and death. God reigns over dictators and destruction. As I have said before – with God, the worst thing is never the last thing. God’s reign is emerging – goodness, hope, redemption, peace. We want to be connected to God and God’s emerging reign. PRAYER is a primary means to connect to it. PRAYER enfolds us in God. PRAYER also connects us more closely to those people and situations that we pray about.
May God, indeed, give us a spirit of wisdom, and may the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, and may we know God’s love and peace that holds us, and holds the world forever. We keep praying and serving. Amen.
Prayer of Commitment: O Lord, you bless us so abundantly. Make us a blessing. We seek to follow Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Alex Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during morning worship in the sanctuary on Sunday, March 6, 2022. This is a rough manuscript.