Nothing to Boast Of

This message was first delivered at Main Street United Methodist Church in Bedford, Virginia on June 18, 2017. It is based on the lectionary text Romans 5:1-8.

Nothing to Boast Of

“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. My Dad has always been quite the story and joke teller...with many of his jokes lasting much longer than really necessary...he tells one about a helicopter that goes on and on. He can make it last for five minutes with all his details and misdirection – but the joke could be told in three sentences: There was a new helicopter pilot who was showing off his skills to his superiors, going higher and higher as they became more impressed. They were stunned when he suddenly crashed and with a last breath before he fell unconscious, he explained what happened. “It got so cold up there, I turned the fan off.” Dad jokes. I'm glad we are celebrating Dads and all their unique charms today!

As a youth leader when I was just a kid...I could be mesmerized when he was teaching Bible study and would illustrate a point with a great story. One of my favorites was about Charles Blondin, a famous French tightrope walker.

Blondin's greatest fame came on September 14, 1860, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile across the mighty Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat. He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times... each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope!

A large crowd gathered and the buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oohed and Aahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across - one dangerous step after another - pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes.

Then a one point, he asked for the participation of a volunteer. Upon reaching the other side, the crowd's applause was louder than the roar of the falls! Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?" The crowd enthusiastically yelled, "Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!" "Okay," said Blondin, "Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow?"

You see, they all believed he could do it...but it takes a different level of faith to get in the wheelbarrow.

Today's scripture is about faith. Paul is exploring the impact of Justification. That's not necessarily a term we use enough in modern times to immediately connect to a meaning. So I went to dictionary.com and found this meaning “the act of God whereby humankind is accounted just.” In personal terms – it is to be made right with God. We are justified by faith – made right with God by faith. And Paul thinks that is very important for people to understand. Paul uses the concept of justification more frequently than do the other writers of the New Testament. For Paul, justification was a central truth of the gospel.

Verse 1 in Romans 5 begins with the word “therefore.” Meaning that we look backward to see what comes before the therefore – to find the reason why the next thing happens. In chapter 4 Paul explains how Abraham was reckoned as righteous through faith, not anything that he, Abraham, could boast about. He says that the scripture is clear “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. The God-story is about a free gift … an Abraham-story or an Us-story is about how we earned something. Romans 4:4-5 from The Message spells out the difference, “If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.”

Righteous. To declare that a person is aligned with the heart and purpose of God. But how is it possible for sinful people to be justified before a holy God? That was the question then...it is a question that many ask now! And Paul gives us the answer in verse 1 – we are justified by faith. SINCE we are justified by faith, we have peace with God THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ. All we have to do is to believe, there's not an initiation ritual or joining fee.

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted for us – to set us right with him – we have it all together because of Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door for us! Can you fathom how much God loves you?

Let's think about love for a minute...close your eyes and think back to the beginning of your first love. Some of us may have to think back longer than others! Remember when your heart would beat a little faster when the phone rang because you knew it was your love on the other end? Remember times that you spent on the front porch because kisses were like potato chips, you couldn't stop until you ate the whole bag. Maybe older ones can remember waking up and seeing your love asleep next to you and feeling the love so intensely that your breath caught in your throat and a tear came to your eye? Maybe it isn't a romantic love that you remember. Maybe it is the love for a child. Or a child for a parent. Just think right at this moment about an intense, heart-stopping love. Guess who loves you more than that?

A man named Bill was taking care of his father as he died of cancer. His father had become frail and depended on Bill to do everything for him. Although he was physically not what he had been, his mind remained alert and lively. In the role reversal common to adult children who care for their dying parents, Bill would put his father to bed and read him to sleep, exactly as his father had done for him in childhood. Bill would read from some novel and his father would lie there, staring at his son, smiling. Bill was exhausted from the day's care and work and would plead with his Dad, “look, here's the idea. I read to you, you fall asleep.” Bill's father would impishly apologize and dutifully close his eyes. But this wouldn't last long. Soon Bill's father would pop one eye open and smile at his son. Bill would catch him and whine, “now come on.” The father would again, oblige, until he couldn't anymore, and the other eye would open to catch a glimpse of his son. Bill knew that this evening ritual was really a story of a father who just couldn't take his eyes off his kid. How much more so God?

That justification – that making right with God...brings us into a relationship with the one who loves us. “We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.” to quote Paul as phrased in Eugene Peterson's The Message. To be “sharing the glory of God.” Verses 6-8 reinforce the good news of God's love, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” While we were still sinners.

While we are still a mess...God loves us. If we can't accept this love then how can we possibly spread the news to others? It's a message the world needs to hear. It's a message I never tire of spreading. I'm going to admit something to you...I'm pretty imperfect. One imperfection that I'll tell you about is I'm lousy with sermon titles. Especially if I have to give the sermon a title before I've written the message. Which is why you can ignore the one in the bulletin.

I really thought when I read the lectionary scriptures as I started preparing for coming to speak to you today that I knew what the message was going to be...I was pretty sure I was going to focus on that part of the scripture about boasting in our sufferings and suffering producing endurance and endurance...character...etc. So when Rick asked me for hymns and scriptures...I confidently gave him what is in the bulletin today.

Then I sat down to write...and wrote 8 pages! And then the Holy Spirit said...nope. And I knew I was off track. And I had to stop and listen to what the spirit was leading me to say. And once I started over...I kept coming back to love. Unfathomable. Unexplainable. Incredible. And I remembered what I had heard about John.

Jerome, in his commentary on Galatians, tells that St. John continued preaching in Ephesus even when he was in his 90s. Even when he was so enfeebled that he had to be carried in on a stretcher, he would lean up on one elbow and deliver his message, “Little children, love one another.” Then he would lie back down and be carried out. One day, the story goes, someone asked him why he said the same thing week after week. John replied, “Because it is enough.” It is Christianity in a nutshell.

Love is the key.

When I first read the passage I got focused on the sufferings and endurance and character and hope stuff – because I was back in the human experience. It's easy to relate to sufferings. And to go back to the advice of my Dad who would probably tell me how suffering built character as I was doing yard work or trying to hold the flashlight steady on whatever car part he was trying to fix. And I can certainly agree that we can learn a lot from the hardships and obstacles that life throws our way. And maybe that is another sermon for another Sunday. Because this passage is more about a free gift from a loving father.

Paul is adamant that we understand this isn't anything that we earn or can boast about obtaining by our own skills. It is a matter of faith – believing that Jesus has wiped our slate clean and opened the door to a full relationship with God. We just have to believe in God's love.

And then watch out – it's going to overflow! Verse 5 from the Message: “we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”

Now what? We've got to let it flow onto others.

We are called to love one another. To share love with everyone we encounter – in every aspect of our lives. Because, as the old hymn goes “They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” Who are they? They are the people on the outside who are just waiting to be invited in. Invited into the embrace of God's love. I've been reading the most incredible book, I hope that you will all take them time to pick it up...Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit who began Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. The book is a collection of stories from the gang-intervention program that was started in the poorest parish in LA, center of the gang capital of the world. You don't get much more “they” than that.

In this book, Pastor G (as the homies call him) tells about the instance in scripture where Jesus is in a house so packed that no one can come through the door anymore. So the people open the roof and lower this paralytic down through it so Jesus can heal him. Although the focus of the story is, understandably, the healing of the paralytic...there is something more significant happening. They're ripping the roof off the place, and those outside are being let in.

We need to rip some roofs off. We need to go outside and see the people who are hurting and need Jesus. We need to find every way possible to get them connected to the one who loves them – and let them know that he does.

First you grasp how much God loves you...If we can grasp that concept – then the rest is just making sure that light shines through you. Everyone needs to hear about Unfathomable. Unconditional. Love. We need to hear this too. We need to come to the place of accepting this for ourselves. We need to know – we are wholly acceptable to God. And he loves us. Right here. Right now.

Not when we do better.

Not when we get our checklist done: read bible daily, fast weekly, tithe, stop speeding, never lose our temper...

No, we are wholly acceptable. No conditions. Could not be one bit better.

When we dive into the depths of that unfathomable love, then we start to see the people around us differently. And this love thing starts to spread. And this just might catch on.

Dancing in a Hurricane

This message was first delivered at Court Street United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia on June 20, 2015. It is based on the lectionary text of Mark 4:35-41.

Today is Father's Day and looking around this sanctuary, I can see that there are a lot of good dads in the room. But what makes a good dad? The old joke is that fathers have photos in their wallet where money used to be! Paul Harvey wrote the following about fathers:

What Are Fathers Made Of?
by Paul Harvey

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good -- and laughs very loud when it's scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be -- and this worries him, sometimes.

So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son though he knows it's the teacher's fault.

Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's.

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who'll live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. And one day they lose.

I don't know where fathers go when they die. But I've an idea that after a good rest, wherever it is, he won't be happy unless there's work to do.

He won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore.

He'll be busy there, too, repairing the stairs, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way.

Thank you Paul Harvey – that is a good description of fathers in general. Although my Dad isn't here today – he's over at Centenary, sitting in his usual place in the balcony – there isn't a day that I don't thank God for giving me the gift of a wonderful earthly father. Don't get me wrong, I know he isn't perfect...I would describe him as “quirky.”

Dad is easily frustrated by refrigerators. He is convinced that the contents of the refrigerator have rearranged themselves (surely he doesn't blame us!) in order to hide things. The pickles hide the jelly, the mustard hides the relish and the good Lord only knows where the mayo is hiding! I'll admit that he has a point sometimes - if I were to count the contents of the fridge we would have at least 5 different mustards, 7 different pickles and an even dozen or more jars of jelly. You know...yellow mustard isn't enough, got to have dijon and stone ground and honey mustard and spicy brown and something called dijonaise which is a blend of mustard and mayo... And certainly Dad would be perfectly happy with cherry preserves and grape jelly - but sometimes when wandering through the market we are tempted to add things like fuzzy navel, raspberry cognac, apricot/kiwi and blackberry preserves...till we have quite the collection of little pint jars.

As much as Dad hates refrigerator mysteries...that is how much he LOVES rope. Anytime you need to tie something down or keep a float from escaping - you can always count on my Dad to have a rope, string, shoelace, bungee cord or strap to fit the bill. You will almost certainly need to untangle it from its brothers - but that is part of the charm. (much like finding the correct washer in his collection of jars and loaf pans of random hardware) And he can never turn down a free piece of rope. I think one of my bonding experiences with Dad was one afternoon when we were driving out into the country to mow a yard for someone. We were on a back road and as we passed around a bend I saw a short length of rope lying in the road. I knew that he had also seen it - but I guess since I was driving, he figured it was not meant to be his. Without even asking, at the next cross road, I turned around and drove back. It was about 15 or 20 feet long but (I can't believe I'm saying this) it was a nice piece of rope. And it made him happy.

Some of my mental images include hiking with him along the Blue Ridge Parkway - if it had rained he would hurry a little ahead of us, hide behind a tree and shake it just as we went under...yelling "hey, it's raining!!" Or when we would go swimming and he would get everyone to start "rocking the pool" - everyone cannonballing as fast as we could until there were 2 foot waves on the surface! (I was always kind of proud of the fact that he was the only adult that the lifeguards made sit out)

There are quiet memories too...like watching him wrap his arm around my Mom's shoulder at a funeral, or teaching Bible study to a dozen youth sprawled around on a basement floor, or especially when I was feeling so desperately low after losing a job...how he shared how he felt when the company he had worked at for over 25 years closed its doors.

I've often said that I can completely understand the concept of a loving Heavenly Father - because I have experienced the most incredible earthly one. He's an anchor, a foundation and steadfast. Everyone deserves a father like mine.

In the Gospel of Mark we read a story about Jesus and a storm:

Mark 4:35-41 The Message (MSG)

The Wind Ran Out of Breath

Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

Jesus told the storm to settle down and it did.

A good father is that sort of anchor. In the midst of life's storms he can be the calm. A good father walks the walk, doesn't just talk the talk through the storm. But not every child has a good earthly father.

David Blankenhorne writes in his book, Fatherless America, that "tonight, about 40 percent of American children will go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live". "Fatherlessness," argues Blankenhorn, "is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation.” “Fatherlessness is a defining feature of American childhood.” 40% don't have that anchor of a good father. 40% don't have the joy of finding a gift of rope in the road. Don't have the arm wrapped around their shoulder when life's storms threaten to swamp the boat.

I work with Centenary's Thursday after school program called JIFF (Juniors in Fun and Fellowship). It has been a few years back that I found my mom wiping away tears at the end of the evening. She told me that one of the girls had been chatting with her and asked how many kids she had. Mom replied that she had 5 kids, 4 girls and one boy. She wasn't prepared for the next question. Usually when someone finds out that she has 5 kids, the next questions are about how you feed that many or how you find the money for vacation or how the kids get along. Not this time. The next question was, “do any of them have the same father?”

Do any of them have the same father? Fatherlessness – absent fathers, unknown fathers, too busy fathers and disconnected fathers have been so commonplace today that it was unfathomable to this young lady that you could have 5 kids with the same father. It's so far outside my perspective that it could be any other way.

Mom was able to share that not only do all 5 kids have the same father – he is still around and was actually there leading the 6,7,8 grade boys group.

Is it any wonder that society seems to be in the midst of a hurricane? Without the anchor of good fathers in the world, it must be very difficult to wrap your head around the concept of a loving heavenly Father.

The storm that the Gospel of Mark relates is sudden and violent – like the violent life storms that we all face: the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, the unexpected diagnosis. How do we deal with those storms?

The geography of the Sea of Galilee makes it especially susceptible to sudden violent storms. This is part of the reason that the gospels generally describe Jesus and the disciples sailing more or less along the shoreline rather than directly across the open body of the sea. If you were closer in, you could make a tack for the shore and ride out a sudden storm with minimal damage.

But in this story, Jesus says, “Let’s set out for the opposite shore.” That meant sailing directly across the sea. And worse, it was getting dark, which meant the temperatures were more unstable. That a storm would suddenly arise on this sea under these conditions is unremarkable. What is remarkable is that Jesus would lead his ship and the others with them to cross this sea at this hour. He had to know he was likely leading them into serious danger. Meanwhile, he went to sleep on a pillow, leaving the disciples to face the violent storm on the open sea.

This kind of experience is the heart of many initiation rites and survival training programs across many cultures and times. When they face danger together, initiates learn both the limits and the depth of their resources.

These disciples learned their limits right away. The storm was too big for them. And it was too big for them even to be respectful of their master. Their words (“Don’t you care we are about to be capsized?”) reveal panic and disrespect at once. What happened next slammed them against more of their own limits. Jesus told the sea to “shut up,” just like he had told demons before, and the wind stopped and there was an immediate calm. And the disciples were in AWE. Jesus’ probing questions teach them even more. “Why are you so frightened? Do you have no faith at all?”

Jesus does not rebuke the disciples. He rebukes the storm. He tells it to shut up, and it does. That’s what terrifies them. “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

There is little in this story that fits a domesticated Jesus or a domesticated Christianity. This is Jesus, weird and wild. This is Yoda sending Luke Skywalker into a cave, knowing he won’t prevail. This is Morpheus telling Neo to leap across a chasm to a building on the other side. This is a mother bird forcing her barely fledged chicks out of the nest to fly. This is a father climbing with his child to the top of the high diving board and saying, “Jump.”

The father making the hardest move any good father can make – allowing the child to test his wings, to try...and even allowing the child to fail so he can learn from the experience. Can you think of times in your life that you were allowed to fail so you could learn? Have you done that for your child? This is part of fatherhood – of parenthood – of childhood.

And yet, 40% of children will go to sleep in a home tonight without their father in the home. In a life full of storms and struggles and the challenges of daily living – so many will lack the anchor of being in relationship with their earthly father. How can we expect them to believe in a loving Heavenly Father?

As a church and as individuals we can extend the example of good fatherhood into a world that desperately needs to have those anchors and foundations. We can volunteer for programs like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Jubilee Center or JIFF. We can reach out to the neighborhood child or teach Sunday school or coach little league...the possibilities are endless.

We can be the anchor in a storm – the peaceful resting spot.

Brandi Carlile wrote a song called “The Eye” and one lyric that is repeated over and over is “You can dance in a hurricane, but only if you're standing in the eye.” The eye of a storm is that place, in the midst of the tempest that is calm. On the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association) website the eye of a storm is defined as a roughly circular area of comparatively light winds and fair weather found at the center of a severe tropical cyclone. Although the winds are calm at the axis of rotation, strong winds may extend well into the eye. There is little or no precipitation and sometimes blue sky or stars can be seen.

The storm hasn't completely passed and you had better be well aware that it is going to be building again (the National Weather Service warns that A common mistake, especially in areas where hurricanes are uncommon, is for residents to exit their homes to inspect the damage while the calm eye passes over, only to be caught off guard by the violent winds in the opposite eyewall.) But even though the eye isn't the END of the storm...it is a chance to take a breath and get ready for the rest of the hurricane.

My dad has often been that oasis in the stormy periods of life. He's also been a guide and an anchor. My heavenly Father is the same – if I will remember to call on him and lean into him during the rough patches, I can dance – even in a hurricane.

And I thank God for all the fathers who remind us of what our Heavenly Father is like: recall some of the descriptive words from Paul Harvey's essay -

enduring, growling, laughing, heroic, worried, working, loving. Above all – our Heavenly Father is loving.

Go forth and do likewise.

Forgiveness (aka Snakes or Fish, Scorpions or Eggs?)

This message was first delivered at Cove United Methodist Church in Coleman Falls, Virginia on July 28, 2013. It is based on the lectionary text Luke 11:1-13. 

at the beginning of the sermon I let the congregation know that although I had planned to preach about fathers not giving their children things that are dangerous, but giving good things...while writing the sermon the Spirit led me in a different direction. And though snakes and fish and scorpions and eggs would be mentioned in the scripture – it no longer was the focus.

Luke 11: 1-13: He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (This is the word of the Lord...)

Two boys were sitting on the front steps of the church one afternoon. "I bet you don't know the Lord's Prayer," one boy challenged his friend. "I bet I do!" the friend replied. "I bet you a dollar you don't." "I bet you five dollars I do." "Okay, let's hear it." "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." "All right, here's your five dollars. I didn't know you knew it."

The King James Version of today's Gospel Lesson might sound a little more familiar than the New Revised Standard translation that I just read: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Even that is a little different from the prayer so many of us have recited for years. The familiar “Our Father, which are in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

At one point in my life I worshiped at a Presbyterian church. I never could get used to debts and debtors. But has the familiar become so routine that we don't hear the message anymore?

There are a lot of positive reasons to memorize prayers, hymns and Bible verses. When Howard Rutledge's plane was shot down over Vietnam, he parachuted into a little village, where he was attacked, stripped naked and imprisoned. For the next seven years, he endured brutal treatment, sometimes shackled in excruciating positions and left for days. Later, he wrote a book about his ordeal and gave a powerful testimony as to the importance of remembered Scripture.

With the sights, smells, and sounds of death all around him, Rutledge wanted to know about the part of himself that will never die. In solitary confinement, there was no minister or Bible for answers to the spiritual matters of life he had long neglected. Rutledge thought back to his Sunday School days in Tulsa, Okla., and tried desperately to recall snatches of Scripture, sermons and hymns of his childhood. The first three-dozen songs came relatively easy.

One night during a huge thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning knocked out the lights. In the dark prison, he laid down to sleep listening to waves of rain falling. Suddenly, he began humming his 37th song, “Showers of blessings, Showers of blessings we need! Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.”

Howard Rutledge and fellow POW’s, like Harry Jenkins in a nearby cell, struggled to rediscover their faith. They would often use priceless seconds of communication to help each other recall Scripture verses and Bible stories.

Rutledge wrote, “Everyone knew the Lord’s Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm,” but the camp’s favorite verse, the one that prisoners recalled first and quoted most often, was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave……”

He described how much time he spent trying to remember what he heard growing up in Sunday School and was amazed at what he did recall. Looking back, he realized the importance of memorizing verses from the Bible.

And I agree, memorization is a good thing. But I caution you against letting the familiar become rote. A mechanical recitation is not the same as praying.

Hear the word's of the prayer from a couple of different translations: From the Good News Translation: ‘Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come. Give us day by day the food we need. Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong. And do not bring us to hard testing.’ From Eugene Peterson's The Message: Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

As I mentioned in the children's sermon – the prayer can be examined in three basic parts: Praise and honor to God, a request that God provide what we need daily, and forgiveness for when we fall short.

Let's examine those three sections together:

“Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”

“Father, may your holy name be honored”

“Father, reveal who you are”

“Thy kingdom come”

“May your kingdom come”

“Set the world right.”

In this first section – we recognize the Father is above all. He is in heaven and is worthy of praise and honor. He alone has the power to set the world right, to bring his kingdom, when the whole creation is restored and rid of sin, and when God’s holiness and splendor is revealed in its totality. Romans chapter 8 speaks of the cosmic need for His return, for the kingdom to come, and this prayer petitions God to bring it to pass. The first element of prayer has to do with the authority of the Father being fully established on the earth, and for His glory and splendor to be revealed at this time.

The second section is about asking for what we need:

“Give us this day our daily bread”

“Give us day by day the food we need”

“Keep us alive with three square meals”

This deals with the area of the disciples’ (and our) physical needs. The Father is also the provider for His children, and thus the disciples are taught to beseech Him for their daily needs. I believe that bread stands not only for “food” in a general sense, but also for all of the other areas of physical need. The Father is the Sustainer of life and here He is to be petitioned to meet our physical needs.

And the third section is about spiritual needs:

“And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.”

“Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.”

“Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.”

This section is both challenging and comforting. Forgiveness. There is no sinless perfection in this life. Sure would be nice if we got some sort of “sin shield” at baptism. But we are human and Jesus knew that his disciples (then and now) would fall short. I know that I fall short on a daily basis! So, Jesus taught his disciples to pray for forgiveness for their sins. Hard to believe, but even the apostles sinned. We can think of Peter’s denial of our Lord, or Thomas, who refused to believe until he saw and touched Jesus himself. As all creation awaits and yearns for the coming of the Kingdom of God, as man’s body yearns for the provisions of God for its physical needs, so the spirit of man desperately needs the forgiveness of sins committed and God’s protection from committing further sin. In order to enjoy fellowship with God, the barrier of our sins must be removed by His forgiveness. There is an on-going need for this, and it is for this that Jesus taught us to pray.

I believe He was not teaching that we must forgive before the Father will forgive us (which would mean that forgiveness is conditioned upon our works), but that the two work handin-hand. We need forgiveness but we also need to forgive others. Not in order to earn God's forgiveness – but because the very act of forgiving others is healing. When you are able to put down the burden then you can walk away from it. Today's society tells us that forgiveness is hard, that sometimes it is even impossible. We are encouraged to forgive but not to forget. And when we hear about people forgiving what we think would be impossible, we sometimes shake our heads in wonder. In 2006 there was a school shooting in Pennsylvania, a man stormed into a one room schoolhouse and shot 10 girls before killing himself. Five of the girls died. People around the world were stunned to hear words of forgiveness from the Amish community that was affected. It was difficult for some to understand. But they understood the value of forgiveness isn't just for the forgiven – it also affects the forgiver.

A story from the Zen Buddhist tradition illuminates the point: Two monks, going to a neighboring monastery, walked side by side in silence. They arrived at a river they had to cross. That season, waters were higher than usual. On the bank, a young woman was hesitating and asked the younger of the two monks for help. He exclaimed, 'Don't you see that I am a monk, that I took a vow of chastity?' 'I require nothing from you that could impede your vow, but simply to help me to cross the river,' replied the young woman with a little smile.'I...not...I can...do nothing for you,' said the embarrassed young monk.'It doesn't matter,' said the elderly monk. 'Climb on my back and we will cross together.'Having reached the other bank, the old monk put down the young woman who, in return, thanked him with a broad smile. She left their side and both monks continued their route in silence. Close to the monastery, the young monk could not stand it anymore and said, 'You shouldn't have carried that person on your back. It's against our rules.''This young woman needed help and I put her down on the other bank. You didn't carry her at all, but she is still on your back,' replied the older monk.

Forgiveness is putting the burden down.

Then there is the petition, lead us not into temptation, do not bring us to hard testing, or my favorite (from The Message) “keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” This, I believe, is the request that God enable us to deal with sin at its very roots, rather than waiting for its bearing of fruit. It is not a request that God “cease and desist” from tempting us, for we are told (in the book of James) that God does not tempt; instead, it is our expression of a desire on our part not to be tempted. Thus, the prayer of the disciple should acknowledge the reality of his sin and consequent need for forgiveness, but at the same time should seek to avoid sin altogether by being kept even from solicitation to sin.

And so through these words that Jesus gave his disciples – we have the WHAT of prayer. The rest of today's Gospel lesson gives us two more important principles. The HOW and the WHY. Perseverance and expectation.

Remember the guy who needed bread from his neighbor to feed an unexpected guest? When the neighbor said that he was already in bed and didn't want to wake his children...Jesus indicated that he should continue to knock until he got what he needed. Prayer is not a magic wand – we have to persevere. In the process of praying, (including praising God) and listening for his direction – we must not be faint of heart. We have to pray without ceasing.

And we must pray with the expectation that our Heavenly Father will provide what we need. Earthly fathers love their children and delight in giving good gifts to them. Human fathers do not give their children “bad” things when they have asked for something good. Put a little differently, earthly fathers do not give their children gifts which will harm them when they are asked for those things which will help them. Fish and eggs are both helpful. They strengthen the physical body. Snakes and scorpions are both harmful to the physical body. God, as a Heavenly Father, does not give us those things which will be harmful to us when we have asked for those things which are beneficial to us.

Too often, at least in my own experience, I find myself asking God for snakes and scorpions, rather than for fish and eggs. I may ask for a snake, but God gives me a fish. I may wish for a scorpion, but God gives me eggs. If God does not give us evil gifts when we ask for the good, He does give us good gifts even when we seek those which are harmful to us. Because God is a good God, a loving Father, He can not only be expected to answer our petitions, but to do so in a way that is for our highest good.

I have been fortunate to have a wonderful earthly father...so I understand the concept of a loving Heavenly Father. A father who is worthy of our praise, who can be depended upon for the needs of our physical bodies and who desires good things for us spiritually. Who hears our prayers and answers them.

And now, with the confidence of God's beloved children, let us share together the familiar Lord's prayer: