Matthew 24:36-44
“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Throughout Advent we prepare for the Christmas good news that God has been born among us in flesh and blood in order to show us the way. Today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew emphasizes the need to “be ready” and to “keep awake” as we wait for the Kingdom of God to arrive in its fullness.
The Kingdom of God has been revealed, in part, through Jesus’ ministry and will one day be revealed to us in its entirety. This is not some ethereal thought-experiment; rather, the eventual coming of the Kingdom of God in its entirety is the core hope of Christianity. Christ-followers place our hope in the promise that existence is not just headed somewhere, but headed somewhere good. And given that existence is headed somewhere good, it is our calling to live in a state of awareness and expectancy that God is at work here and now.
Living in a state of awareness and expectancy is a perfect way to think about prayer, which is our next topic in the Marks of Discipleship sermon series. The idea that prayer would get its own 10-minute sermon and be sufficiently explained or grasped is, of course, preposterous. Entire books can and have been written on the subject, typically only after the authors have lived a lifetime of direct and formative experience with prayer. I can only hope in my time today to paint a big picture of the power and necessity of prayer.
If you need a brief summary of prayer, I recommend this one to you:
Prayer is “a way of co-laboring with God to accomplish good things and advance God’s Kingdom purposes.” *
Understanding prayer in this light leads me to three conclusions: 1) God is at work in the world; 2) we can bring our thoughts and actions in line with God’s; 3) prayer changes us and the world.
God is at work in the world.
Scripture tells us God is a loving relationship of three persons -- the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Trinitarian relationship of love extended to the creation and sustaining of the universe. You and I, along with all who came before and all who will come after, are expressions of God’s love. Love is the beginning of all things, the root of all things, and the destination of all things. God is at work in the world, or in other terms: the source of all love is constantly expressing love among all that is loved.
Prayer, therefore is an exercise of love.
I recently read a book on the subject of prayer and suddenly realized how far I was from truly believing that God is at work in the world. The author writes, “[W]hen [Jesus] prayed for others he never concluded by saying ‘If thy will be done’....there was evidently no room for indecisive, tentative, half-hoping, ‘If thy will be done” prayers.” **
I realized that I have been a “if thy will be done” pray-er. I have sat next to make hospital beds, held the hand of someone who was suffering, and offered prayers for healing punctuated by the phrase “if thy will be done.” I suddenly realized how that must feel for someone in pain or fear to have a pastor utter a prayer in which he hedges his bets. Prayer in that way revealed my core conviction that God, though present in the world, generally defaults to a hands-off approach to it. This does not count as good news and I have since endeavored, through scripture and prayer, to come to a more accurate understanding of God’s ongoing presence and activity in the world.
The daily events that unfold in our lives are not pre-determined, as though we are acting out a script. Things can be changed because God is present and at work. Scripture is full of accounts of faithful people who “prayed as if their prayers could and would make an objective difference.” **
We can bring our thoughts and actions in line with God’s.
God is actively loving the world right now. Prayer makes it possible for us to actively love ourselves and others. As Juliana of Norwich states, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.”
God’s love gets distorted, abused, neglected, and tossed aside. The presence of suffering or evil in our world does not negate the truth that we were created by love, to love, and destined for love. Martin Luther calls for Christ-followers to daily remember our baptism -- the event of dying to our self and rising to the new life in Christ. Prayer is one exercise that God uses to bring us back online where we can recognize and respond to God’s unconditional love.
It is possible to be in communion with God’s will and God’s love. Just as importantly, this communion changes us and the world.
Prayer changes us and the world.
We pray so that we may be changed. In this sense, change is good news, even for those who typically chafe at the very word.
The Biblical call to repentance is a call to literally turn one’s self around and go in a different direction. We are not perfected people. Daily we need to change in order to be more in sync with the Kingdom of God. Author Anne Lamott put it best when she wrote, “God loves us exactly the way we are...and God loves us too much to let us stay like this.” God wants us to change. God wants us to change the world.
I have been deeply immersed in the spiritual teaching of Richard Foster, and he writes this in his classic work on spiritual practices:
“To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ….In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills.” **
I hope what I have presented today whets your appetite to engage in the essential spiritual practice of prayer. I hope that you would desire to partner with God to accomplish good things and advance God’s Kingdom purposes.” I realize I have not presented you with any concrete steps, tips, or techniques regarding the practice of prayer. If you would be interested in learning more about how to pray I would welcome the opportunity to talk with you.
In the meantime, know that I am praying for you. I am praying that you would be drawn continually deeper into union with the force of love that created and sustains the universe so that you may go out into the world bearing and being good news for the world.
Amen.
* Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (pg. 184)
** Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (pgs. 37, 35, 33)
