In All Things, Pray

We come this morning to the last verses of James. Typical letters concluded with personal greetings, “Tell Joe ‘Hi!’ for me. And be sure and let Edward know you heard from me and I’m ok.” James doesn’t include any greetings. Ancient letters typically concluded with sharing personal plans, “I’m preparing to travel from Galilee to Jerusalem and then to Egypt. I’m hoping to sail then to Rome and return by way of Ephesus and Corinth. I hope to catch up with you on my way.” James doesn’t include any plans. Typical letters also took the opportunity at the end to sum up. That’s what James is doing. As I said a couple of weeks ago, some scholars believe James was originally a sermon rather than a letter, and in the early church, they weren’t a lot different. When a letter arrived from a church leader, the whole church gathered and sat to hear the message. It is possible that James was a letter that was a circular, meaning that it was written to be passed among churches in a region. Perhaps the writer did not know the church members personally. What the writer definitely knew was that the center of practical advice for followers of Christ is relationship with God and with each other, and that relationship is nurtured by prayer.

Henri Nouwen, priest, professor, and prolific author, shared in his writing his experiences in prayer as a guide and example for the reader. “The only way to pray is to pray,” he taught, “and the way to pray well is to pray much.” Learning to pray is like learning to play an instrument. My first piano book started with middle C and whole notes. First the right hand – one, two, three, four. Then the left hand – one, two, three, four. Then the right. Then the left. Then the right. Then the left. Done. It took some time to get past that piece. I looked at that page a long time. In the top right corner of the page was a princess in a tower. I was learning more than the note. I needed to learn the proper position: My wrists had to stay lifted by my arms like a bridge from my body to the keyboard, my fingers arched, strike the key – hard enough, not too hard. Back straight, chin up, don’t watch your fingers. When we learn to pray, we begin with rote prayers, prayers we memorize and repeat. “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.” When I practiced my middle C piano piece, I was supposed to practice it once 3 times a day, and I could practice it really fast (demonstrate), but in my rush I wasn’t practicing what I was supposed to learn. I looked at that princess in the tower and imagined she was trapped and would never get out. The point of the piece was getting comfortable in proper position, learning to quickly (almost automatically) get comfortable in front of the piano. When we pray before a meal, the purpose is the same, and these prayers can seem similarly unfulfilling. I knew playing middle C with one thumb and then the other was NOT making music.

Finally, I was able to turn the page in the piano book. Down to just one hand. Middle C, fifth finger G. Still with whole notes. Learning to strike with my pinkie finger and not move my wrist was like learning to pray not just rote prayers, but to talk to God with my own words. It was harder. Like my pinkie finger, my words sounded less strong. But, they would only get stronger if I practiced. It was like learning to pray with an acronym. My favorite acronym for prayer is PATH. Praise, Apologize, Thanks, Help. I’m going to invite you to practice, because my teacher could have played the piano for me, and I never would have learned for myself.

Praise. What is one thing you praise God for? My youngest niece and nephew’s birthdays are this week. I praise God for a year of growing, for their health, for their curiosity, for the gift they are to our family. I planted flowers in the patio pots last weekend. I praise God for the variety of flowering plants and for their resilience because even though they seemed fragile as I planted them, and tried (sometimes unsuccessfully) not to damage the stems and flowers, they got a bit bedraggled looking in the process. But with a little rain and sun, they are now perked up, successfully transferred to their new pots. What is one thing you praise God for?

Apology. I am sorry. I am sorry that I don’t spend more time with you, God, settled and quiet. I am sorry that I haven’t stopped to meet the man at the corner of Ridgeway and Poplar; I saw him twice this week. I am sorry I…

Thanks. Thank you for the abundance in my life, for the laughter and joy of this week as we celebrated 50 children finishing their time in preschool and heading to Kindergarten, for good friends, for exams and tests and homework being over for the year…what are you thankful for?

And help. Help me. Help others. What do you need? What and who are you concerned about? Who is on your prayer list? Did you know that just reading the prayer list in Happenings and thinking about each person is prayer?

Brian decided to join a prayer group at his church. They met weekly to read Scripture and have a devotion and to pray for the people on the prayer list. He really had not known what to expect. He really had not progressed in prayer, he didn’t feel, beyond C-C-C-C-C-C memorize and repeat prayers…and he wanted to. Then, the church had a retreat on prayer, and he decided to go. And at the retreat, the leader asked about the prayer group and what the members had learned from it. Brian shared how his “personal prayer life had deepened through these experiences in community and how grateful he was to his praying congregation.” And then the leader asked him how his life had changed since he became more involved in prayer. ‘Oh, my life has gotten much worse,’ he said. ‘I lost my job and my health insurance. My wife is not well, and my daughter’s marriage is breaking up.’ He paused, and then he smiled, ‘But,’ he said, ‘I have the courage to face these difficulties, because I know, without a doubt, that God is with me. God does not make our lives easy or good. God gives us the strength to live our lives faithfully.’ You could hear a pin drop.

James writes, “Is any among you sick?” In Greek, the word means sick, but it also means weak. Is any among you not able to pray for themselves, weighed down, doubting, mourning, or sick? Step in and pray for them. Call together the community. Have the leaders of the church pray over that person, anointing him or her with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the person, the Lord will raise him or her up. If the person has committed sins, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, be honest, be real with each other. Church isn’t about getting dressed up and pretending everything is good in your life. Church is not the place where “all women are strong, all men are good-looking and all children are above-average.” Someone said to me one time, I don’t like calling a congregation family because all families are dysfunctional. Perhaps that is exactly why we should call church family. We are here for each other even in the midst of our struggles, to bring out into the light our shadows, our dysfunctions, our temptations, our pain, our regrets, our sins.

An aside here: James couples sin and sickness here in a way that can be misunderstood. Jesus is clear in the Gospels that God does not punish our sins by making us sick. The man born blind was not blind because his parents sinned or because he sinned. BUT, our sins can make us sick. They can harm us, they can fill us with guilt and eat away at our insides, they can keep us from getting good sleep…so our body isn’t able to repair itself or defend itself…and we end up sick.

It is in those times that we are weak, that we are not able to pray for ourselves, that we need someone else to pray for us. I took piano lessons for years. I practiced, not as much as I might have. I can play a hymn for myself at home, if no one else is there, slowly, haltingly. When Jim or Tom play, there are times I am moved. It is like the drawbridge of my heart is let down and God is welcomed across the moat of regrets and concerns and business and sins, and I am healed.

A second aside: James says to anoint with oil. Oils in the 1st Century were the best medicine of the day. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says that the Samaritan treats the wounded man by pouring wine, to sanitize, and oil, to medicate on the sores and then bandaging them up. When someone is sick, we are to bring to them the best medicines available, our best ways of knowing how to make them well. At the same time, oil was used for anointing those set apart for God’s special attention or use.

It is not that the oil is magical, any more than the water of baptism is or the bread and juice of Communion. As we complete a church year and begin the next, every year during the first week of Advent, we have a Service of Wholeness and Healing for those who are sick or feeling drained or weak. The Directory for Worship for our denomination reminds us that these type services are essentially a time of waiting in faith upon God….Healing is to be understood not as the result of the holiness, earnestness, or skill of those enacting the prayers, or of the faith of the ones seeking healing, but as the gift of God through the power of the Holy Spirit” (W-3.5400).

When I pray with people in the hospital, or on their deathbed, or here in the Sanctuary, sometimes surrounded by friends and family, sometimes just the two of us, I pray for God’s hand of healing to be upon them. Sometimes that healing will mean that they get well from the sickness in their body. Sometimes that healing will mean that they let down the drawbridge of their heart so that God is able to dwell with them more deeply. What makes the difference in a medicine or a prayer meaning that someone gets well and no longer has a disease and that not happening? It isn’t about how faithful we are. It isn’t about how much we want it to happen. It isn’t about how good we are, or not. There are some things we just don’t understand.

Final aside: The goal in prayer is not to live forever. There is a time for everything. A time to be born, and a time to die. In between, we practice, and learn, and develop a relationship with God. Slowly at first, haltingly at times, and sometimes there are so many notes on the page we need someone else to play it for us. We don’t pray like a princess in a tower trying to attract a prince. Our song doesn’t draw God to us; God is as close as our next breath. Our song doesn’t make God love us; God loves us more than we can imagine. We do not have to become concert pianists for our song to please God. When I play hymns at home, I don’t worry when I miss notes or it takes me a second to get my fingers situated to play the notes all together in a chord, I play loud and boldly. Prayer is boldly sharing your heart and mind with God, opening the drawbridge of your heart and allowing God inside your life. In all things, pray.