Based on Luke 9: 12-17
Many years ago, before I became a minister, I was asked to preach in an Anglican Church, I processed down the aisle with the vicar and the dignitaries of the Church and went very confidently to the seat I had been allocated, facing the congregation. Without thinking, I sat, in perfect timing as the congregation stood, I tried to make it look as though I knew exactly what I was doing and bluffed my way through it, placing my books down and stood up and as I did, they all sat down. To my horror, it suddenly dawned on me, that I didn’t know the rules of how things worked here, which I could possibly have got away with if I had been sitting in the body of the congregation, quite anonymous, but on my throne like chair in full view of everybody I felt quite conspicuous. As the service went on, I became quite adept at moving a split second after everybody else, and rather that this being the positive experience of worship I had been hoping for, I found the whole thing quite stressful.
That day taught me an important lesson, whether in Church or anywhere else we might venture, we can feel excluded if we don’t understand the rules. I was leading a youth service a few years ago and thought that the young folk might find it helpful during the prayers if I left a few moments of silence for them to fill. One girl came up to me afterwards and asked me what she was meant to do, during that time of silence and I suddenly understood that the regular worshippers got the idea, but this girl wasn’t part of the in crowd and had been excluded.
These two experiences have taught me that we have a habit in Church of feeling comfortable with the familiar. When I was a lad, we were taught the Lord’s Prayer off by heart and could recite it, without even thinking about it. Leading worship, I always read it, because if for some reason my mind plays tricks on me and I either freeze, miss a few lines, as I have on occasions, I cause utter confusion. Today, when I am conducting Christenings, Weddings, or funerals, I always have the words printed, because people who don’t share in regular worship can’t always remember all the words and there are generations of people who were never taught it, they could so easily feel uncomfortable.
The Bible reading above, shows Jesus teaching his disciples to pray, the translation you read might not contain all the words that we would normally recite verbatim in worship, but don’t worry about that.
- Whether you read the Bible reading, or know the familiar words, can I suggest that for a moment you stop and think what we are saying when we recite this prayer. Have you ever thought about the words, or are they so familiar that you can just recite them and you have become almost oblivious to their true meaning?
- In the reading, the disciples want to be taught to pray. Do you pray? When do you pray? When you need something? When your back is against the wall, and you don’t know where to turn? There is nothing wrong with that in my opinion, if you find it helpful.
- Can I challenge you to think for a moment about five things you would like to thank God for and five thing that you would like to ask for God’s help with, maybe something for yourself, maybe for others. When you have your list, simply say “thank you” for your fist five, and “please” with the second five, no flowery language is needed.