Corey Linforth, our Director of Music, along with our choirs, instrumentalists and guest musicians have been busy preparing for Sunday's Service. Please join us at 10:00 am.
A Joyful Christmas, December 16th
The children were nestled
Hespeler, 9 December, 2018 © Scott McAndless
Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 10:12-18
Note: this was a dialogue with children, not a preached message. The following only approximates the conversation.
| T |
was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap...
But wait a minute; I’m having trouble sleeping, aren’t you? I’m tossing and I’m turning. Do you ever have trouble sleeping? What can sometimes cause that? When you’re worried about something, or when something is wrong and it is really bothering you, or sometimes when you are sick or uncomfortable in some way.
Well, let me describe a situation that might give you trouble sleeping at night. Have any of you ever known somebody who was different in some way? Now there is nothing wrong with being different, is there? Sometimes people come from a different background or they look different. Sometimes people are affected by certain medical conditions or they have certain limitations in what they can or cannot do. In fact, there are all kinds of ways in which people can be different and that is fine. In fact, I would even say that that is just how God has created us sometimes and it is all good.
But not everybody sees it that way. And sometimes they are not very nice to people who are different. And what do they do? They tease them, maybe laugh at them or bully them. It’s not right. I’m sure it is against the rules at your school to do that, isn’t it, but that doesn’t mean that it never happens.
So let’s say that you are facing a situation like that. There is somebody you know who is being teased or laughed at or bullied and you just really feel bad about it because you know that it isn’t right. Is that something that maybe might make it hard to go to sleep at night?
I mean, when you see something like that, you might want to get up and tell those other people to stop it, that they shouldn’t do things like that, but it’s not always so easy to do that, is it? You might want to go and tell someone – like maybe a teacher – that all of this is going on so that the teacher will make it stop, but, I don’t know about you, but I don’t always find that to be the easy thing to do. So, can you imagine that dealing with a situation like that might be something that would keep you awake at night?
But let’s say that it’s even worse than that. Let’s say that it’s not just everybody else who is teasing or bullying someone because of something that is out of their control, let’s say that they are expecting you to do the same. In fact, they’re not just expecting it, they are demanding it. They let you know, in no uncertain terms, that, if you don’t pile on that person with them, they are going to make your life miserable too.
I mean, people may not exactly say that in so many words. They may not say, “if you don’t insult her, we’re never going to play with you again.” But they can usually find some way to make it clear to you that they are expecting you to be just as mean to this person as they are. Have you ever been in a situation like that?
You see, when people do that – when they are mean to someone just because they are not fitting in – they always know (somewhere deep down inside) that they are wrong. They know that they shouldn’t do that. They also know, though they hate to admit it, that, under other circumstances, if things were different, it might be somebody else who is making fun of them. So actually when people do that, when they are mean to someone like that, they’re actually afraid that someone is going to see through what they are doing. So if they can persuade anybody else to join them in the bad behavior, well then that makes them feel good and much less afraid. So, by joining in with them, you are actually encouraging the bad behavior.
But when people are doing that to you, when they are encouraging you to join in the bad behavior, it is hard to resist. Everyone wants to fit in. Everyone wants to belong. So yeah, if you’re dealing with something like that it can be hard to sleep.
With that in mind, Mr. Paddock going to start reading our Bible passage for this morning.
This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately. While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
So I want to imagine you’re Joseph for a moment. Everybody is being mean to Mary. They’re being mean to her because something has happened to her that everyone in that society thought wasn’t allowed. She was going to have a baby, even though she wasn’t married. And, what’s more, the story tells us that this wasn’t even something she had chosen to do. It had just happened to her. Somehow it was God’s doing. People didn’t care about that though, and they were being terrible to Mary.
But it was worse than that. They have let Joseph know that if he doesn’t join in, if he isn’t even meaner to Mary, they will be mean to him too. So, do you think that Joseph’s having trouble sleeping? You bet he is.
Now we let’s read the next part of the story.
While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus—because he will save his people from their sins.”
Now all this happened in order to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, “A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel” (which means, “God is with us”).
So when Joseph woke up, he married Mary, as the angel of the Lord had told him to.
Now, what happened here? Joseph, with the help of a message that came in a dream from an angel, did the right thing. He didn’t let Mary down. He didn’t treat her the way that everyone else wanted him to treat her. It probably cost him, it cost him a lot. He lost friends. He lost the respect of the mean people, but he did the right thing.
And do you want to know what the best part of this is? The best part of it is that, because Joseph was brave, because he did the right thing no matter what it cost him, we got Christmas. Because of Joseph’s bravery, when Jesus came into the world he came into a safe place, into a family that loved him.
I wanted to tell you this story, I guess it’s a bedtime story, because you know what, there are times when we all have to do the right thing and when we have to stand up for someone who’s been mistreated because it’s the right thing to do. It’s always hard. I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t. But I’m going to promise you that just like God was able to bring incredible good out of the brave thing that Joseph did, God will do the same thing when you stand up for what is right and you do it with trust in God like Joseph did.
Forty Weeks: First Trimester
Hespeler, 2 December, 2018 © Scott McAndless – Advent 1
Galatians 4:1-7, Luke 1:26-38, Psalm 25
I |
’m going to start off this morning with a little quiz, just a little bit of Bible trivia. Let’s see if you can answer these questions:
During Noah’s flood, how many days and nights did it rain?
How many years did the people of Israel wander in the wilderness?
How many days was Moses up on Mount Sinai receiving the law from God?
For how many days was Jesus tempted in the wilderness?
When Jonah wa
According to the Book of Acts, how many days did Jesus hang around with the disciples after the resurrection?
Why does the number 40 come up so often in the Bible? Part of it, undoubtedly, has to do with ancient Hebrew habits of speaking. The ancient Hebrews likely used that number, forty, as a way of saying a really long time. But the number itself also had meaning beyond being a significant amount of time, the number was also used symbolically to represent a probationary period of time.
You know what a probation is, I’m not just talking about the probation that people sometimes have when they get out of jail, I’m talking about any period of time when you’re not quite sure how someone is going to be in a new job or a task or a position and you just want to try them out for a while to see how it goes. That’s what a probation is and for the Hebrews, forty was considered to be a good amount of time for a probation.
And that is likely another reason why that number comes up so often in the Bible. It’s not just a long period of time, it is specifically a time of testing and preparation before God begins to do something very new with his people. After all, isn’t that what Noah’s flood represents, and the giving of the Commandments on Mount Sinai, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus in the wilderness and on and on. It is about preparing the people for something exciting and new that God is about to do.
Okay, I’ve got one more quiz question for you. Can you answer this one? How many weeks was Mary pregnant with her child, Jesus? How many weeks? The answer is forty because, whatever else Jesus was, he came into this world, we are told, as a fully human being and fully human beings take about forty weeks to gestate.
Forty weeks! Think about that. Is it, too, not just a really long period of time? (And, yes, I am quite sure that every woman who goes through it finds it to be a very long period of time.) Is it also a time of probation? Probation for whom? For us? For humanity? For Mary? For God about to enter some new phase in relationship with humanity? Perhaps that is something that we can ponder with Mary.
M |
ary had been struggling with the nausea of late. It was particularly bad in the morning. She would barely be up and out of bed and she would be running to the privy outback. The nausea made it hard to eat often and there were mornings when she could eat little more then a few scraps of bread and a little bit of dried fish.
But the physical struggles that she was going through were nothing in comparison to the tumult in her spirit. She found herself going over and over again the strange words spoken to her by that amazing visitor. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” he had said, “and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.
What did such words mean to a woman such as Mary? You need to understand, for one thing, that people didn’t really think of such matters back then as they do today. All of the things that you learned about the human reproductive system in your biology classes and in health, Mary didn’t know any of that. Back in the first century, they didn’t think of conception in terms of fertilized eggs or implanted fetuses. In fact, the metaphor that they used to talk about the creation of new human beings came from agriculture. For them, making a baby was like planting a seed in a farm field. In that analogy, the mother was the field. She was considered to be little more than a passive carrier of the life that was entrusted to her by the father of her baby.
That is what the official understanding was at that time but, of course, the official understanding was what had been maintained and written down. But here’s the thing: there was one particular group that was doing the maintaining and writing down: men. And let’s just say that there is a long-standing tradition among men in thinking that they are the most important part of any process and of dismissing the importance of women in general. So it is actually quite possible that women didn’t really think of it in the same way that was officially taught by first century philosophers and teachers.
So how did Mary think of that little child who was growing in her womb? I think she clearly understood that it was her child. I really have no clue what she understood about how that child came to be there. Honestly that is something that the author of the Gospel of Luke is not really interested in commenting on. The angel’s words simply refer to the power of God overshadowing Mary. It’s a way of saying that it doesn’t matter how it came to be biologically speaking because God is powerful enough to do anything. “For nothing will be impossible with God,” are Gabriel’s departing words.
So, yes, this child would be the son of God in a very unique and special way. But he would also be the son of Mary. That is how he is actually referred to in the oldest written gospel, the Gospel of Mark.
And what did Jesus take from Mary? As a woman, and undoubtedly as a very young woman, living in her time, Mary would have been someone who had meekness and humility drilled into her day after day. She would have been told that she was there to be seen but not heard. And, on the surface, that seems to be the way that Mary behaves in this story of her encounter with Gabriel. After all, what are her final words? “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” They are words that seem to speak of humility and service, and indeed they do. But they are also words that have a touch of defiance in them.
You see, for Mary to say “I am the servant of the Lord,” was actually a rather dangerous and subversive act. Mary lived in the world where she was meant to serve everybody else. She existed, it was assumed, to serve her father and, when she was married, to serve her husband, Joseph. She was there to serve her local village leadership and she was there to serve King Herod and whatever he might demand of her and ultimately she lived in service to the Roman Empire and its desires.
Because that was the reality of Mary’s life, for her to declare herself a servant of the Lord was actually a subversive act and she knew it. Essentially what Mary is doing here is she is taking the meekness and the humility that has been drilled into her for her entire life and turning it into a tool against her oppressors. “Oh, I’m supposed to serve am I, that is my role in life? Well then I shall serve, but I will not serve who you tell me I ought to serve. I will serve the Lord and to him only will I submit.” That is Mary’s defiant response to the angel’s shocking news.
That is what I mean when I say that whatever else Jesus was, he was also the son of Mary. He clearly inherited from her that same defiance and resolve. Jesus would grow up and turn obedience and servitude into something extremely powerful and subversive. He would teach his followers and say, if you want to be the kind of ruler who changes the world, what you need to do is submit to and serve others. He would teach them that when they were attacked and oppressed, that they could actually turn the tables on their oppressors by turning the other cheek when struck and by going a second mile with the one who forced them to go a first.
Above all, he would take obedience and service to a new level by being willing to go even to the cross. That one act would deliver a death blow to the powers that rule in this world – the power of death, the power of sin and the power of hate.
At Christmas we celebrate a great mystery, the mystery of the incarnation. Somehow, we believe, in a man named Jesus from Nazareth, God entered into the human experience. He wasn’t just God taking a tourist trip to this world. He wasn’t just pretending to be human while holding onto all of the perks of divinity. No, he entered fully and completely into everything that it means to be human. He experienced the limitations of knowledge and understanding. He experienced temptations like we experienced them.
If that were not so, then Jesus couldn’t really do anything for us. If Jesus had not become completely human, he could not have related to us in any meaningful way.
I don’t pretend to be able to understand how such a thing could be possible – how the infinite nature of God could somehow be contained within the finite flesh of one human being. I don’t understand the mechanism of such a conception or gestation. But that is okay, we don’t need to understand it or explain it.
Mary just knew it, as she felt that life grow within her. It was a miracle; it is always a miracle. And by putting herself wholly into that process, she made it possible. She chose to serve God and God alone.
The story of the incarnation changes something. Because, you see, if Mary could do it, why can’t we. Mary, simply by being willing to serve and by defiantly choosing to serve God and none of the others who demanded her service, opened the door to the incarnation. We can do the same. God is still seeking to break through into the world and we, by choosing to serve can make that happen.
Mary waited patiently for forty weeks to see true change enter the world. That probationary period was necessary. And God may be putting you through some probationary period as well. Be patient and willing to serve. God is still bringing wonders into this world.
The Advent Newsletter is out!
To read the Advent Newsletter
go to our home page and click on the photo!
Or cut and paste the link below:
https://www.standrewshespeler.ca/PDFs/2018AdventNewsletter.pdf
The real story of two copper coins
Hespeler, 25 November, 2018 © Scott McAndless
Mark 12:41-13:2, 2 Corinthians 9:6-9, Psalm 24:1-10
A |
s you have already heard, this coming Tuesday is Giving Tuesday – a day to celebrate generosity and a day to consider giving generously and in perhaps unusual ways. So I thought a lot about what I should preach on such a day. What does the Bible have to say about giving and giving in extraordinary and even generous ways ?
My thoughts were drawn, like so many other preachers before me, to the famous story in the Gospel of Mark. The people are in the temple making their contributions to the temple treasury and Jesus sits down to watch. All of the wealthy people put in enormous amounts of money, but Jesus doesn’t much notice that because they are merely putting in a relatively small portion of their total wealth. But then this widow comes along and she contributes such a small amount, just two copper coins, and at this Jesus sits up and notices. “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury,” he says. “For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
The message seems clear enough: Jesus notices when we give, especially when we give generously and sacrificially. So let’s all be like that widow when we support the church. Here endeth the sermon.
But what if I were to tell you that that is not what that story in the gospel is really about. Oh, Jesus was clearly speaking up in favour of that widow; there’s no mistake about that. And Jesus was also clearly in favour of the practice of extreme generosity. He said it often. But that is not quite what this particular story is about. You see, there is one key thing that people miss in the story and that is what Jesus’ mood was.
Jesus was from Galilee and we just happen to know a fair bit about what the mood towards the temple was in Galilee in his time. The Galileans, you see, were being bled dry in Jesus’ day. There were three main culprits. First, there were the rents and fees that the people had to pay to their landlords and masters. Second were the exorbitant taxes imposed by the Romans and by King Herod. But a close third was definitely the Jerusalem temple complex. Jewish Galileans were taxed mercilessly (and some have suggested even more heavily than the Judeans) to support the temple, the lavish lifestyle of the powerful high priests and the ongoing major building projects that continued throughout the lifetime of Jesus. And this taxing (or tithing) was anything but voluntary.
So what do you suppose that Jesus’ mood was as he watched the people place their money in the temple treasury – as he watched a poor old widow put in her very last two coins? I’ll tell you what his mood was, he was mad. So you need to understand that Jesus didn’t say (all sweetly), “Aw, look at that. Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.” No, he said, (angrily) “Would you look at that! Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury!”
How mad was he? Well, there is another thing that we usually miss in this story. This story comes at the very end of a chapter so we tend to stop reading and put our Bibles down as soon as it is over. But here is a secret that I don’t know if anyone has ever told you before: the verse and chapter divisions were never part of the original text. They weren’t added until centuries later. So the Gospel writer never intended you to stop reading there. The story continues from there.
And what happens next in the story? If you continue into the next chapter, you find Jesus turning around and walking out of the temple. He leaves. This is significant. Jesus is so mad here that he has actually just turned his back on the whole thing. What’s more his disciples all know it because look at how they react. They run after him even as he is leaving and try to stop him. They are worried about his anger. “Look, Teacher,” they say, “what large stones and what large buildings!”
“Come back,” they’re saying, “don’t walk out on the temple, can’t you see how beautiful it is, how big the stones are? I mean, yeah, maybe the cost of running this temple is bleeding the people dry – it’s bleeding that poor widow dry – but isn’t it worth it because… stones?” and what does Jesus say in response to that? “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Not one stone!
How devastating is that? Not only is Jesus saying that the temple institution has taken every last penny from this poor woman to prop up the institution of the temple, he is also announcing that it is a doomed institution. This woman’s contribution has actually been wasted. And, of course, Jesus was absolutely right. About forty years after Jesus said this, in the year 70 AD, and only a few years after all the work on the temple complex had finally been completed, the temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed.
So, I would suggest to you, that the way we have traditionally read this story of the widow in the temple is actually wrong. And I realize that this might seem like an inconvenient time for me to explain this long-standing error in interpretation – on a day when we are about to launch Giving Tuesday and at a time of the year when, frankly, there is a great need to shore up the financing of this congregation through our giving. It would certainly be easier if today I were able to come out and just encourage us to be that poor widow giving our last two pennies and leave it at that. But, I’m sorry, I am someone who takes the Bible and what it says very seriously. I cannot ignore Jesus’ intended meaning and mood.
But, do you know what? I think we actually have a great need to pay attention to Jesus’ mood in this passage today, because it shows us why it is that we sometimes struggle with money in the church. I would suggest to you that the stewardship message in the church is often exactly the same message that Jesus is reacting to in this passage in the gospel.
How do we often encourage financial stewardship in the church? Well, honestly, our message is often this: the institution is in trouble. I mean look at this beautiful institution, look at these beautiful stones piled up one on top of the other. What about the stones!? And when I say stones, I’m not just talking about this beautiful building, though that is part of it. I’m talking about the entire structure of our church – physical, institutional, and organizational. And our pitch is this: friends, these stones are crumbling. They are in danger of coming down but, with your generous gift of two copper coins or whatever you got, we can shore these stones up for a little while at least. And, friends I don’t think that message is working like it once did.
I don’t say that because I’m trying to repeat Jesus’ dire prophecy, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” I am not predicting the end of the institutional church; I don’t pretend to have that kind of prophetic insight. Yes, these are times of great change for the church as we have known it, but I do have faith that God will show us the way through and that the Christian gospel and the church that embodies it will continue to go out into the world.
But what I think we are realizing these days in the church is that that was what the mission of the church always was: to embody the gospel. And we have often gotten confused down through the centuries and thought that it was something else – that it was about building institutions (setting beautiful stones one on top of the other). This gospel story has been given to us today to remind us of that.
My prayer and my desire for you today is that you participate in Giving Tuesday. I think it is important that you do so, according to your ability and according to how God has blessed you, because we all need it. The annual orgy of materialism has now begun. The people flocked in their thousands to the malls and stores on Black Friday, often fighting with each other to get what they see as the best deals. Tomorrow, on Cyber Monday, that orgy will continue with online purchases. And that is all good for the retailers and the manufacturers. But how good is it for our society? I suggest that, come Tuesday, it is time for something different – something that is truly good for society: a practice of generosity.
Now, I may hope that you choose to exercise that generosity in the support of this church, but that is not the point of what I’m saying here. Honestly, if God has laid another need on your heart and is directing you to give your generosity in that direction, I rejoice in that and I hope that we can all respond to it by saying, praise the Lord. Of course, I also rejoice if you do give to the church but I also want to say that I don’t want you to give for the reasons we usually offer. I don’t want you to give because we’re behind on our budget. I don’t want you to give because if we don’t get the money to do this or to do that we won’t be able to continue on. I don’t want you to give in order to keep big beautiful stones one on top of the other. All that stuff may be true. We are behind and we always do have needs to fulfil if we are going to keep going, but that is not why I want you to engage in some extra, beyond your regular commitments, giving on this Tuesday or in the weeks to come.
I want you to do it because there is a wonderful opportunity here. You can be a part of something amazing. It may be one of our best kept secrets, but did you know that God is actually present and doing amazing things among all these people here? Here, on a regular basis, they happen. The hungry are fed and parents who have few resources are given food that they can take home to their children. Here, on a regular basis, people who have no decent or warm clothes, are given something to wear and to take to other members of their families. Here troubled people are counselled and encouraged, sometimes by me and sometimes by Sasha who comes in on Tuesdays and works with the Cambridge and North Dumfries counseling service (which charges according to what people can afford to pay). Here people who are lost or discouraged come to hear a word of hope or wisdom or direction and have their spirit lifted through music or through word. Here, on a regular basis, wonderful and even miraculous things do happen. I have people who can tell you stories.
And, yes, I understand that we wouldn’t be able to do all of that and more without maintaining a building and other organizational structures and programs. I understand that we can’t do that without money, I’m just saying that I hope your attitude in giving is that you want to be part of what God is doing and that we not be focussed just on maintaining those structures.
Because you have a remarkable opportunity: you can be part of all that. You can be part of it when you give of your time and talent and your treasure. That’s what Giving Tuesday’s about. It is about being part of something much bigger than yourself – something that God is doing. Don’t give for the sake of stones – whatever those stones may be – give because God is alive and at work. That is what can change the world.
Our latest Bake Sale
Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with our most recent Bake Sale. Special thanks to the Holy Sherlocks class for all of your hard work to make the Bake Sale so successful.
(thank you from your Christian Education Committee)
Senior’s Tea – a great time!
Many Thanks ...
... to everyone who came out this afternoon (Saturday, November 24th) to St. Luke's Place for our annual Senior's Christmas Tea. Thank you to everyone who baked, to our Sunday School and youth servers and everyone else who helped out in any way.
Thank you to Joyful Sound! for bringing your gift of music to us today.
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| Two good helpers! |
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| More wonderful helpers. |
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| Enjoying the music by Joyful Sound! |
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| Joyful Sound! |
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| Enjoying coffee, tea and Christmas goodies. |
Great Christmas Gifts!
Warm, brightly coloured or dragon mittens make great Christmas presents.
We have a nice selection of hand knit mittens, by Carol. The mittens are $15.00 per pair and all money goes towards Hope Clothing. There are adult and children sizes. Don't see something you like, you could ask and see if Carol could knit you something specific.
The mittens are hanging on Joni's office door, with envelopes there to pay.
Please help yourselves!
St Andrews Annual General Meeting details
The St Andrews' Annual General Meeting date is February 24th, 2019. You are cordially invited to join the celebration after worship on this day.
In acknowledgement of this date you should be aware that:
- The financial meeting will be held prior to the AGM - on Wednesday February 20th.
- The Annual Report will be released by January 20th.
- All Committee reports, group reports or inclusions to the Annual Report need to be in the Church Office by January 10th in order to be included
- The financial report will be available at the AGM. Depending on completion dates it may or may not be available in the Annual Report. Printed financial details of 2018 will be made available to everyone at the AGM.
The narrative budget format will be used again this year. We will have a potluck luncheon while discussing the opportunities and challenges of 2018. This celebration will also allow us to decide a few motions that are mandated by the Book of Forms.
This important day needs your help to support St. Andrews' missions into the future. Help us move confidently by sharing your point of view.
Why pray?
Hespeler, 18 November, 2018 © Scott McAndless
Matthew 6:5-8, James 2:14-17, Psalm 138
W |
Political leaders, celebrities and religious officials send out their Facebook messages and tweets: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.” And people have caught on. They have recognized that “thoughts and prayers” has become a kind of a code – a code that seems to mean, “Let’s not do anything and, for God’s sake let’s not change anything just because some tragedy has occurred. Instead let us say something that makes it seem like we care.” It is amazing to see, but we are to be living in a time when praying for something, for many people, has become a synonym for doing nothing. And so, yes, people are asking, “Well then, why pray?”
Even good, practicing Christians, for whom prayer is an essential part of their spiritual life, can’t help but ask the question from time to time. I mean, look at what Jesus says this morning in our reading from the gospel: “When you are praying,” he says “do not heap up empty phrases… for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” How can you read that and not ask the question, “Why should I bother praying if God already knows what I need, what I’m going to say and has probably already decided what he’s going to do about it anyway? Why pray?”
These are just a couple of the reasons why the practice of prayer seems to have fallen into some disfavour in our times. But the problem, I suspect, is not with the practice itself but with our misunderstanding of the true nature of prayer. We live in a capitalist and consumer society. For that reason, I think that we have a strong tendency to understand just about everything in those terms. That is why we tend to think of prayer as a transaction – as something that we give in order to get something in return. And so we come to God and try to butter God up with our praise and worship, we may even make some vows and promises, and then, in return, we think we can at least hope that we have made God happy enough that he will give us what we ask for. But is that what prayer is?
Prayer, in our thinking, is like a vending machine. You put in your money (or these days you tap your credit card), push a few buttons and you hope that you get what you asked for. Of course, some of us may experience prayer as a broken vending machine – one that doesn’t always seem to get what we want right – but it is a vending machine nonetheless.
But I don’t think that is right. I think that Jesus is telling us that that is not what prayer is because, even while he tells us that God already knows what we need before we ask it, Jesus doesn’t suggest, even for a moment, that there is no point in asking. He sees value in the activity itself and it is a value that goes beyond the transaction that we tend to think of.
But what is there beyond that transaction? There is, I think, conversation. When I pray and bring to my God the things that are on my heart or that are on the hearts of the people I pray for, I absolutely agree with what Jesus says – that I hardly need to tell God about those things in order for God to know them. God already knows them. But I also recognize a great value in speaking these things aloud – of saying them to God even if I do not dare to say them to anyone else. I need to vocalize them, I need to put those longings into words because I honestly sometimes don’t even realize what it is that I desire before I say it.
I mean, who among us hasn’t done that? You go to a trusted friend who you want to help you with a problem that has been bothering you and the first thing you have to do is put that problem into words and as soon as you do so, you can actually see for yourself what the solution is. For example, I once had someone come to me with an ethical problem at work. A co-worker was doing something that was actually endangering the lives of some people and he wanted to know whether he should report it – what he should do. But here is the thing, by the time he had finished describing the dilemma, it was pretty clear he knew what he needed to do. He didn’t really need to be told. He maybe needed some encouragement but the answer was clear and all he really needed to do was put it all in words for someone. I just happened to be that safe someone. Prayer sometimes works exactly like that and God is only too happy to play that role in the conversation.
But beyond conversation is something even more essential to the practice of prayer: there is participation. Prayer is not like the vending machine. It is not a transaction. When you ask God for something in prayer, God doesn’t just give it, God is more likely to say, “Wow, what an amazing and good thing to ask for, how can we make that happen together? That is the point that James is trying to get across when he says, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
I know that he is talking specifically about faith there, but what is prayer if it not a spoken expression of faith? God doesn’t merely grant the requests of our prayers, God enters into the journey towards the answer to that prayer. That is why the politician who sends out “thoughts and prayers” after a tragedy without having any intention of doing anything to change anything is not actually praying at all and may, in fact, have done nothing at all. It is also why prayer is a dangerous act because, when you truly pray and ask God for something good, God is only too likely to ask you to be a part of the fulfillment of that prayer.
Why pray? There are many good reasons to pray. It is not fancy language or delivery that makes a prayer acceptable and effective. It is not length or frequency. But if we can make our prayers a conversation with God where we bring our whole selves to that conversation, if we can make our prayers a participation in what God is already doing and wants to do in the world, prayer actually can change the world. And that is why we pray.