Sunday 29th July 2007TRINITY VIII
Fr Julian Browning
Genesis 18 : 20 – 31 ; Colossians 2 : 6 – 15 ; Luke 11 : 1 – 13
One of his disciples said to Jesus, Lord, teach us how to pray. Luke 11.1
We do not need to look for a magic formula, because we are already in this new world, a world of grace. Thy kingdom come.
There is a new life awaiting all of us. It is called a prayer life.
It is a life far removed from the distracted, exhausted, noise
polluted, frenzied life which is our usual habitat. The disciples
turned to Jesus for advice on how to pray, because how to pray is not
part of conventional human wisdom. It is divine wisdom. We and all
Christian disciples find prayer difficult, not because it is difficult,
but because we are in thrall to human wisdom, what St.Paul warns about
in today's epistle. See to it that no one takes you captive through
philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to
the elemental spirits of the universe and not according to Christ. It's
not prayer that's difficult. We're just being difficult about it.
And what often happens is that prayer becomes like those exercises
which the physiotherapist told you to do, and you never did. Just a few
minutes a day, he said, and your back will be fine. And they might be
doing us a power of good, but those exercises are a chore and a bore,
and we are easily persuaded that the time is better spent with a
newspaper and a cup of coffee. That's not a prayer life, sitting there
resentfully, wondering what to do, fighting a sudden desire to check
your email. There must be a better way. The disciples turned to Christ
for the answer. So he gave them his prayer, the Lord's Prayer. When we
pray, whatever we pray, we are praying his prayer. We say, we keep
saying, that we are the Body of Christ. What on earth does that mean?
Not in theological language, not as part of a clever argument, but in
words of one syllable which we can all understand. It means that Christ
has found us, and that we have found Christ. There is nothing more to
look for, except for the deepening of this life we already possess. The
lines are open. It's a broadband connection, always on. We do not need
to look for a magic formula, because we are already in this new world,
a world of grace. Thy kingdom come. We are the ones not keeping our
appointment with mystery, not turning up at dawn and dusk to join in
the chorus of praise to our Creator and Redeemer. It's a pity, because
prayer, opening our hearts and minds to God, is the one thing really
worth doing. We should only have time for eternity.
But if we don't get started, it's not going to happen. There are two
things we need to get started in a prayer life. The first is silence.
Not total absence of noise, but a quietening of ourselves, so that we
can hear God. This means getting away, stepping aside from the rumble
of ordinary daily life, which is what Jesus did. Do you remember the
old days when people were quiet when they came into church? If they had
to speak, it was in a whisper, because God is here, we know he's here,
and others are trying to talk to Him, saying their prayers. That's all
gone, in many churches. There is much more to be heard in the silence,
than in the noise of constant chatter. It's a strange feature of prayer
that when you are apart from others, and sitting in silence for just a
few minutes, you can feel closer to others and to those in need than
when you are with them. But it isn't so odd, because if we are the Body
of Christ, then we would expect to be united with others in their joys
and their suffering. The second thing we need is routine. Morning
prayer, evening prayer, that's what prayer is. From the earliest days
the Church said the psalms morning and evening, and this grew into the
Divine Office, the Benedictine vision of the great work of ceaseless
prayer, a structure to sustain our contemplation of God. Now it's our
turn to join in, to keep the appointment. We might have no deep
thoughts at all. The meaning of life will escape you completely. Prayer
time is not for study or for learning new things. That is human wisdom.
And in the eyes of the world, there's always something better to do,
the post to be opened, the news to be watched. Our task is to praise
God out of an inner centre of silence, gratitude and awareness. A
routine, however simple, however brief, makes prayer part of our life,
not something special to do, not exercises we have to do to get better.
But when do we know we're on the right track? Maybe when we start to
look forward to prayer, as much as we look forward to breakfast or to a
drink before dinner. A prisoner looks forward to freedom. We can look
forward to a few minutes free from self-preoccupation and neurotic
concern and vexation, a few minutes joining in Christ's prayer.
We shall close with a prayer by Thomas Merton:
...with the eyes of the soul wide open I am present,
Without knowing it at all, in this unspeakable Paradise, and I behold this secret,
this wide open secret which is there for everyone, free, and no one pays any attention.
O paradise of simplicity, self-awareness- and self-forgetfulness – liberty, peace. Amen