Scripture Lessons: (Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50)
What was your prayer life like this past week?
Let’s take a moment to think back over the past week. What kind of things did you talk about with Jesus in your prayers last week? How aware of God were you throughout each day?
Since interactive prayer involves both speaking and listening, what did you hear the Holy Spirit say to you this last week?.
I know these are very personal questions. We don’t usually talk with each other about what goes on in our intimate relationship with God in prayer.
But Jesus wants to get very personal with each of us this morning. Jesus knows and loves each of us and is eager to have a deeper more intimate relationship with us through our daily prayer connection with him.
I raise these questions about prayer because James focuses our attention on prayer in today’s epistle. The James who wrote this letter was probably the brother of our Lord, the leader and first bishop of the church in Jerusalem. He is writing to his congregations, reminding them that true wisdom is not just knowing true information about God. True wisdom puts the word of God into action in our lives.
What we heard this morning was the concluding section of his letter. James ends by saying that prayer is the essential practice through which God helps us translate his wisdom into practical action in our daily lives.
It is especially important for us to listen to what James says about prayer, because tradition tells us that he was highly respected by both Jews and Christians in his day because of his life of prayer. His nickname was “camel knees”. James spent so much time on his knees in prayer that he got calluses on his knees, just like camels did from kneeling on the desert sand. This is a man who knows from years of experience how important prayer is and he wanted his Christian sisters and brothers to experience the extraordinary power and intimacy with God that comes through prayer.
First, he says, “Are any among you suffering? They should pray.” This word for suffering does not mean just physical pain. It includes anyone who is on the receiving end of something unpleasant. We might say…is anyone among you hurting? They should pray.
When someone says something that hurts me, I may either retreat within to nurse my wounds and keep thinking about the painful words…or I might lash out in response. James says there is a better response:…whenever you get hurt…immediately invite Jesus to be with you in the situation and to help you respond to the pain in appropriate ways.
Then James goes to the opposite situation. “Are any cheerful? Do you feel great? Then sing songs of praise to God.” Music is a form of prayer and praise. When we live intimately with Jesus, we can’t help but share our joy and gratitude with God in our prayer.
James continues, “Are you sick? Then call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” You have a wonderful parish nurse in Katheryn…and she would be the first to say, when you’re sick, begin with prayer and call your doctor. Continue praying for your doctors and nurses to be used by God in your healing. God works through the combination of prayer and health care.
In this time when our health care system is in such turmoil… followers of Jesus have been given a complementary medicine called prayer that is crucial to the healing process. All across this diocese, all across the Christian church in this country and around the world, congregations offer healing services, prayer chains and prayer groups, laying on of hands and anointing for healing during the Eucharist …asking God to heal those who are sick.
Almost every week I hear stories of God’s healing power in the lives of people in our congregations. I’m sure that during coffee hour you can tell me some of the stories of how people have experienced healing through the prayers of this congregation.
Just this past week a woman from St. Luke’s in Worcester received a liver transplant from a man who had died. Doctors told her that she is literally setting records by the speed of her recovery from the transplant. Her immediate response was to tell the doctors that her recovery was the result of so many people who had been praying for her. Through prayer, we can be part of the mysterious flow of God’s healing energy into the lives of people and situations for which we pray.
As you read or listen to the news, I hope you pray for the concerns that are in the headlines. This week, I hope you prayed for God to work for good through the United Nations, through the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, through the national debate on health care, with the victims of the fires in California. I hope you are all praying every day for God’s wisdom and guidance about your handicapped access project.
James says, the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. That’s why we have the Prayers of the People in our Eucharist every week. None of us can begin to imagine the transformational impact God makes on the whole world through the prayers of the Global Christian community each Sunday, each day.
James adds another important element of prayer when he says, “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” James knows that God’s healing power is often released when we tell another Christian about our sins, our failures, our need for God’s help and power.
We Americans like to pretend that everything is great in our lives. Sometimes we don’t tell others about our deep inner struggles and the most difficult challenges we face in our lives. James knows that when we can talk to another Christian about our sins, our struggles and failures, about the ways we fall short of the glory for which God created us…when we confess our needs and ask for prayer…God’s grace flows into our places of need. Can you name the Christian friends you have, with whom you can confess your sins and failures, your fears and needs …knowing they will pray with you and be channels of God grace flowing into your life?
Well, James has invited us to pray. How might God be inviting us to put these insights from James into practice in the way we pray this coming week?
Let me offer some suggestions. The way we begin the day is crucial. How do you begin your morning? How do you start centering your day in relationship with God? Some people kneel down by their bed and offer the day to God. Others get a cup of coffee and go to a special chair to talk with God at the start of the day. Some pray Morning Prayer and reflect on the Scripture. Some have a list of people for whom they pray every morning. How do you start your day with God?
Then, how do you connect with God during the day? Do you pray as you drive your car? Do you pray as you exercise or do chores? Do you pray as you watch or listen to news? Do you have little symbols in your workplace or home that remind you to pray throughout the day? Do you take time for reflective grace before meals? Is there someone at your work place with whom you pray?
And how do you end your day with God? I usually take a few moments to be still in the loving presence of God. Then I ask God to help me think back over the day that is past. First, I ask: what am I most thankful for in the past day? I offer my thanks to God for the sense of God’s presence and guidance I’ve experienced, for the beauty I’ve seen, for all that has been good and uplifting.
Then I remember the things I’m least thankful for in the past day, the pain I carry from interactions, the places I need healing… and the places others may need healing as a result of my words and actions. By asking God for healing and forgiveness for the past day, I can go to sleep in peace and begin fresh the next morning.
Rebecca and I share a little prayer practice. Most mornings we ask each other, what do you need prayers for today? Our prayers may include a confession of our anxieties, our failures and fears. We ask prayers for whatever we need in the coming day. This is not a time for discussion…we just listen and pray for whatever our spouse asks. Then, when we come back together at the end of the day, we ask how the day went, so we can offer continuing prayers and thanksgivings.
What changes might Jesus be inviting you to make in the way you pray this week, so that your relationship with him is more open and life-giving?
I invite you to close your eyes for a moment. Be aware that we are sitting here in the presence of God who loves us and wants to be even more intimately involved in our lives through prayer. With the genuine openness of a little child, ask Jesus…what changes do you want me to make in the way I pray with you this week?
O Jesus…teach us to pray. Please pray within us every day this week and for the rest of our lives…through the power of your Holy Spirit. AMEN.