Prayer
Sermon
Despite the fact that the Millennium celebrated 2000 years of Christianity, the cross, the central Christian symbol, didn't feature in the ill-fated Millennium Dome. But at least it was good to know that there was a "Spirit Zone", even though the exhibition didn't focus exclusively on Christianity. It displayed human rites of passage, religious rituals and images of great devotional art from many religions.
The "Spirit Zone" was partly a response to pressure by the churches, but perhaps in this materialistic millennium there was also an acknowledgement that human beings do possess a spiritual side. This spiritual side was particularly in evidence over the death of Princess Diana, a couple of years before the turn of the millennium. The extent of people's grief, and the symbolic way that grief was manifest through flowers and the signing of Memorial Books, seemed to take those in positions of power by surprise. There was a great deal of reflection over it by writers and journalists, politicians and theologians and church leaders. Much of the reflection seemed to suggest that the churches should be "tapping into" this unexpected spirituality - as though this would be entirely novel! The millennium "Spirit Zone" was partly a reaction to this.
Rites of passage, religious rituals and great religious art are important and deserved to be recognised somewhere in the Millennium celebrations. But they didn't tap very deeply into human spirituality, because that was starting from the wrong end. Human spirituality is unlikely to be nourished for very long simply by looking at exhibitions of rites of passage and religious rituals and great religious art.
The disciples expressed the heart of human spiritual yearning when they said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us how to pray." This is at the centre of human longing in all religions and none, although it may not very often be articulated in quite this way. There is a need within human beings to respond to the divine, to connect to God, to communicate with him in some way.
People have found different ways of satisfying, or partially satisfying this longing. Some people feel a deep contentment when they work in the garden. It's as though, by sharing in God's work of creation in this way, they commune with him at a deep level, so that gardening somehow nourishes their inner being.
For others it may be music or poetry or art or cooking which satisfies their inner need. And still others tramp the hills or sail the ocean or play sport or climb mountains. As human beings allow themselves to become absorbed in activities such as these, so they experience some sort of tug in the centre of their being. This may be a feeling of peace and contentment. But it can also herald challenge or frustration or endeavour.
Like all these other activities which in some way link to the divine, prayer is an activity which has to be learned. Many people learn to pray as tiny children, in the traditional "Christopher Robin" way:
Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy - I quite forgot.
If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door.
It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.
Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed,
And pull the hood right over my head,
And I shut my eyes and I curl up small,
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.
Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said 'Bless Daddy,' so what can it be?
Oh! Now I remember it. God bless me.
Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
('Vespers' by A.A. Milne, written around 1923)
It's a delightful poem, and gives a delightful picture of a child at prayer. Parents who teach their children to pray are starting them on a good path, the path of communication with God.
But for many people, prayer seems to remain at that childhood level forever. Many people seem to be stuck in the nursery with their prayers, and then give up on prayer because it doesn't satisfy their needs.
They're stuck with "cupboard" prayers, prayers which simply ask God to provide. The prayer may be for rain or for sun, for a parking spot in the city, or for a certain football team to win. Or more seriously, the prayer may be for someone with a terminal illness to get better.
There's nothing wrong with "cupboard" prayer, for Jesus included it in the Lord's prayer - give us this day our daily bread - and in today's reading taught his disciples to ask God for their needs. But "cupboard" prayer needs to be prayed realistically, against a background of other, deeper prayer, and with some understanding of what prayer is all about.
For "cupboard" prayer certainly wasn't the only sort of prayer Jesus himself used, and even when he used it, he didn't necessarily seem to expect an answer in the affirmative. When he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me," he added the rider, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Lord's prayer, Jesus' response when his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, is its brevity. The Lord's prayer is very economical with language, with words. Compared with the psalms, that other great example of prayers in the Bible, the Lord's prayer is exceptionally brief.
Apart from the long "high-priestly" prayer of Jesus recorded only in St John's gospel (chapter 17), the gospels tell us very little about Jesus' actual prayer(s). What they do tell us, is that Jesus frequently withdrew to a quiet place for prayer. (Matthew 14:13; 26:44; Mark 3:7; Luke 5:16; 9:10; 22:41 etc.)
As prayer becomes deeper, as it becomes part of the rhythm of the soul, so words become less necessary. Perhaps the deepest prayer of all is simply to be in the presence of God with heart and mind fully open to him, receiving what he has to give. And perhaps this was how Jesus received his strength and his endurance and his wisdom and his healing power.
But for prayer to be like that, God's holy presence needs to be acknowledged - hallowed be thy name. In his presence, petitions and intercessions can be put to him, but always with the rider, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Petitions can be summed up in: give us this day our daily bread. But then to go deeper into prayer, human blocks to prayer must first be removed by: forgive us our trespasses, and the reminder that we must treat other people as God treats us: as we forgive those who trespass against us. And as the silence descends and we go deeply into the realms of the spirit, realms which may be dark and uncomfortable at times: lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Perhaps we should say the Lord's prayer not as a continuous paragraph, but as a silent, meditative prayer, punctuated by one phrase at a time. Allowing that phrase to sink deep into the unconscious and speak to us there, encouraging thoughts and feelings to come out from the hidden depths to the surface of our minds. Allowing the Holy Spirit to pray within us.
That's the sort of prayer which has to be learned and practised. And it's as far away from Christopher Robin, as Shakespeare is from nursery rhymes.
The Millennium Dome provided a temporary Spirit Zone for visitors, where they could look and wonder. But God provides a constant and permanent Spirit Zone for all his children, where, with a bit of practice and patience, they can meet with him whenever they wish, communicate with him, enjoy him, and come away refreshed and energised.
The "Spirit Zone" was partly a response to pressure by the churches, but perhaps in this materialistic millennium there was also an acknowledgement that human beings do possess a spiritual side. This spiritual side was particularly in evidence over the death of Princess Diana, a couple of years before the turn of the millennium. The extent of people's grief, and the symbolic way that grief was manifest through flowers and the signing of Memorial Books, seemed to take those in positions of power by surprise. There was a great deal of reflection over it by writers and journalists, politicians and theologians and church leaders. Much of the reflection seemed to suggest that the churches should be "tapping into" this unexpected spirituality - as though this would be entirely novel! The millennium "Spirit Zone" was partly a reaction to this.
Rites of passage, religious rituals and great religious art are important and deserved to be recognised somewhere in the Millennium celebrations. But they didn't tap very deeply into human spirituality, because that was starting from the wrong end. Human spirituality is unlikely to be nourished for very long simply by looking at exhibitions of rites of passage and religious rituals and great religious art.
The disciples expressed the heart of human spiritual yearning when they said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us how to pray." This is at the centre of human longing in all religions and none, although it may not very often be articulated in quite this way. There is a need within human beings to respond to the divine, to connect to God, to communicate with him in some way.
People have found different ways of satisfying, or partially satisfying this longing. Some people feel a deep contentment when they work in the garden. It's as though, by sharing in God's work of creation in this way, they commune with him at a deep level, so that gardening somehow nourishes their inner being.
For others it may be music or poetry or art or cooking which satisfies their inner need. And still others tramp the hills or sail the ocean or play sport or climb mountains. As human beings allow themselves to become absorbed in activities such as these, so they experience some sort of tug in the centre of their being. This may be a feeling of peace and contentment. But it can also herald challenge or frustration or endeavour.
Like all these other activities which in some way link to the divine, prayer is an activity which has to be learned. Many people learn to pray as tiny children, in the traditional "Christopher Robin" way:
Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy - I quite forgot.
If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door.
It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.
Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed,
And pull the hood right over my head,
And I shut my eyes and I curl up small,
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.
Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said 'Bless Daddy,' so what can it be?
Oh! Now I remember it. God bless me.
Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
('Vespers' by A.A. Milne, written around 1923)
It's a delightful poem, and gives a delightful picture of a child at prayer. Parents who teach their children to pray are starting them on a good path, the path of communication with God.
But for many people, prayer seems to remain at that childhood level forever. Many people seem to be stuck in the nursery with their prayers, and then give up on prayer because it doesn't satisfy their needs.
They're stuck with "cupboard" prayers, prayers which simply ask God to provide. The prayer may be for rain or for sun, for a parking spot in the city, or for a certain football team to win. Or more seriously, the prayer may be for someone with a terminal illness to get better.
There's nothing wrong with "cupboard" prayer, for Jesus included it in the Lord's prayer - give us this day our daily bread - and in today's reading taught his disciples to ask God for their needs. But "cupboard" prayer needs to be prayed realistically, against a background of other, deeper prayer, and with some understanding of what prayer is all about.
For "cupboard" prayer certainly wasn't the only sort of prayer Jesus himself used, and even when he used it, he didn't necessarily seem to expect an answer in the affirmative. When he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me," he added the rider, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Lord's prayer, Jesus' response when his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, is its brevity. The Lord's prayer is very economical with language, with words. Compared with the psalms, that other great example of prayers in the Bible, the Lord's prayer is exceptionally brief.
Apart from the long "high-priestly" prayer of Jesus recorded only in St John's gospel (chapter 17), the gospels tell us very little about Jesus' actual prayer(s). What they do tell us, is that Jesus frequently withdrew to a quiet place for prayer. (Matthew 14:13; 26:44; Mark 3:7; Luke 5:16; 9:10; 22:41 etc.)
As prayer becomes deeper, as it becomes part of the rhythm of the soul, so words become less necessary. Perhaps the deepest prayer of all is simply to be in the presence of God with heart and mind fully open to him, receiving what he has to give. And perhaps this was how Jesus received his strength and his endurance and his wisdom and his healing power.
But for prayer to be like that, God's holy presence needs to be acknowledged - hallowed be thy name. In his presence, petitions and intercessions can be put to him, but always with the rider, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Petitions can be summed up in: give us this day our daily bread. But then to go deeper into prayer, human blocks to prayer must first be removed by: forgive us our trespasses, and the reminder that we must treat other people as God treats us: as we forgive those who trespass against us. And as the silence descends and we go deeply into the realms of the spirit, realms which may be dark and uncomfortable at times: lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Perhaps we should say the Lord's prayer not as a continuous paragraph, but as a silent, meditative prayer, punctuated by one phrase at a time. Allowing that phrase to sink deep into the unconscious and speak to us there, encouraging thoughts and feelings to come out from the hidden depths to the surface of our minds. Allowing the Holy Spirit to pray within us.
That's the sort of prayer which has to be learned and practised. And it's as far away from Christopher Robin, as Shakespeare is from nursery rhymes.
The Millennium Dome provided a temporary Spirit Zone for visitors, where they could look and wonder. But God provides a constant and permanent Spirit Zone for all his children, where, with a bit of practice and patience, they can meet with him whenever they wish, communicate with him, enjoy him, and come away refreshed and energised.
