Pastoral Letter 126
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
As I write this pastoral letter, COVID and flue are looming yet again to threaten us and our COVID restriction free days. Fortunately, restrictions are not put in place, and we hope not, as we are moving forward to a pandemic free future. Wearing masks is encouraged and please feel free to use during our services and activities.
Now we look forward to our much-awaited Market Morning. After two years of break due to COVID-19, we are back and the next three weeks will be a busy time for us, for Virginia and our team. I am sure that by God’s grace we will have a successful program and good results as usual. Please be ready to do your utmost to support us as we are missing some of our usual active members.
A final gentle reminder. We have received a special request from the Exodus Foundation asking for UHT (long-life) milk. It would be good if everyone could donate a few 1L containers. We need to deliver it by the end of July. Please accept our thanks in advance.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let us know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
If you will not be able to join us at our face-to-face service, you can worship with us at home. Please light a candle and follow the attached Order of Service.
Here are some more prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for those who are unwell and struggling with different kinds of medical issues.
- Pray for the Demirchian family in Artsakh as they struggle to have the minimum to sustain their lives.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for the hope that God gives.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
Luke 11:1-13
Several years ago, Mother Teresa appeared on the Hour of Power television program. The host, Pastor Robert Schuller, reminded her that the show was being broadcasted all over America and in 22 foreign countries, including her native Yugoslavia. He asked her if there was one message, she would like to convey to all those viewers. Her response was: “Yes, tell them to pray. And tell them to teach their children to pray.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples were following Mother Teresa’s message. Jesus told them to pray and taught them to pray. The lesson he gave them became the pattern for the prayer we all know-namely, the Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus intended the words of the Lord’s Prayer to portray the spirit of our prayers instead of specified words. For Jesus, prayer was not just a form, but a force, a power. Prayer was vital and influential in His life. It can be the same for us. Prayer can take many forms, but it is often difficult to find the time, energy or focus to engage in prayer. The disciples wanted to learn to pray, to integrate prayer into their lives, to understand and deepen their relationship with God, and find the words to offer. Jesus taught the disciples to make their prayer God-centred. The glory of God’s name and the advancement of God’s kingdom were to be their primary concerns of prayer. We also want and need to learn these same things.
We are to come before the throne of grace boldly. We are to live every moment knowing that a loving, heavenly Father is on our side. He understands the problems of our lives. People have given up hope and trust. Little in life seems worthwhile. Faith has gradually faded out. The parable Jesus told encourages us to keep stirring up God until He gives us His ear. Whenever we pray, God is on our side. He is ready to listen for the sake of bringing us the best possible blessing.
Do we know how to pray as we should?
Prayer is a spiritual discipline. It can be enthusiastic and frustrating, mentally and physically demanding. I think the disciples may have been struggling with the art of prayer. They didn’t ask Jesus how to preach or teach, but they recognized how they needed help with prayer.
Luke mentions that Jesus was “praying in a certain place” (11:1), when the disciples approached Him concerning prayer. It may be that our Lord’s example of prayer brought into contrast their lack of an effective prayer-life.
Seeing the insufficiency of their prayers, they asked for help. Although the need to pray is natural for believers, human weakness calls for Jesus to teach us to pray.
When we pray, we receive the gift of God Himself. Prayer is communion with God. He wants us to know Him. As we grow in prayer, we discover that prayer is more than simply asking God for things, a selfish means to an end. Prayer is not an attempt to force the hand of God, but an act of submission to Him, with the understanding that God’s answers are wiser than our prayers. Prayer is to impress us with God more than it is to impress God with us or our needs. If we never gain anything from prayer but the opportunity to commune with God, that should be sufficient for us.
For many people, the Lord’s Prayer is simply a prayer to recite. But as we discover this prayer, we can find this model prayer to be a life-changing experience. There is no magic in a prayer, and mechanical recitation is empty and meaningless. Jesus discourages us to “not keep babbling like pagans who think they will be heard because of their repetitive prayers” (Mt 6:7). But as we truly pray this prayer with understanding, we may find it changes our lives.
Some people think of prayer as an airbag; they’re glad it’s there in the car, but they hope it never goes off.
In prayer we rely on God; prayer is our steering wheel, not our spare tire! Those who don’t pray are trusting in their own, limited resources. Some people turn to God only when their fragile foundations are shaking, and they discover it is God who is doing the shaking.
We sometimes struggle with how God answers our prayers.
C.S. Lewis once confessed that he was grateful God hadn’t given him everything he wanted: “I don’t know where I’d be if I’d gotten all I asked for!“
Prayer may not change our situation, but it changes us. If our request is wrong, God says “No.” If our timing is wrong, God says “Slow“. If we are wrong, God says “Grow“, and if our request is right, our timing is right, and we are right, God (usually) says “Go!” In John’s first epistle he cautions that our prayers need to be “according to God’s will” (5:14).
There’s no “spiritual decoration” in the Lord’s Prayer. It avoids arrogant, high-sounding phrases, sticking to simple, meaningful concepts. We begin with God’s glory, and then we bring up our needs. It’s been said: “When God is first, prayer makes sense.” The Lord’s Prayer is God-centred, not me-centred. It highlights the primacy of God. We should also thank God and confess our sins.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t discuss the posture of prayer; people prayed kneeling, sitting, standing and lying face down. He doesn’t dictate the place of prayer. We can pray anywhere. He does not discuss the manner of prayer. Prayer isn’t getting a serious look on our faces or adopting a certain tone of voice. Nor does Jesus specify the time of prayer-some people organize their lives in such a way that they have very specific times of prayer-that’s fine, but prayer is fitting any time, under any circumstance. We can go pray in church, but we can also find that church is within ourselves.
Is it OK to pray while driving? As long as your eyes are open! And it’s a good idea if you’re on the freeway!
When we live in a God-conscious state, we begin to recognise the presence of God around us, which opens up the channel of communication with our Lord.
Some Christians don’t pray the Lord’s Prayer because they want to avoid empty religious ritual. I agree that we don’t have to pray these exact words. Even Jesus doesn’t use the exact words on another occasion, His sermon on the mount (Mt 6:9-13). There He introduces this prayer, not by saying “pray this“, but “pray like this“.
The Lord’s Prayer is a blueprint for prayer, a flexible model, not a rigid formula. Yet it is appropriate to pray these words because in them we unfold the entire message of the Bible and a summary of our relationship to God.
Praying is essential for us and for those who believe and trust in God. But we should avoid this prayer if we use to fulfill our Christian duty.
According to John MacArthur, praying this prayer places some demands on us… it is a risky prayer. We cannot use these words if we don’t mean them. MacArthur clearly says:
We cannot say “our” if we’re living only for ourselves.
We cannot say “Father” if we don’t try to act like His child.
We cannot say “Who art in Heaven” if we are laying up no treasure there.
We cannot say “hallowed be Thy Name” if we are not striving for holiness.
We cannot say “Thy Kingdom come” if we’re not doing our part to hasten that day.
We cannot say “Thy will be done” if we are disobedient to His word.
We cannot say “in earth as it is in Heaven” if we’re unwilling to serve Him here and now.
We cannot say “give us this day our daily bread” if we’re not relying on Him to provide.
We cannot say “forgive us our debts” if we have a grudge against someone.
We cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if we deliberately place ourselves in its path.
We cannot say “deliver us from evil” if we haven’t put on the whole armour of God.
We cannot say “Thine is the Kingdom” If we are not loyal to the King as His faithful subject.
We cannot attribute to Him “the power” if we fear what people may do.
We cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if we are seeking honour only for ourselves.
We cannot say “forever” if our life is bounded completely by the things of time
The question for us all is this: What are we relying on?
– When we rely upon education, we get what education can do;
– When we rely upon skill, we get what skill can do;
– When we rely upon technology, we get what technology can do;
– When we rely upon organisation, we get what organisation can do;
– When we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.
Those devoted to prayer do things by prayer. They begin with prayer, not attaching prayer on as an afterthought, after decisions are made. When faced with a challenge, the first thing to do is to go into prayer, not action. Those devoted to prayer give priority to prayer and are never too busy to pray. Our level of Christian commitment is gauged by the character of our prayer-life.
The Holy Spirit directs our energies in the direction of our prayers. It keeps us sensitive to God’s signs to change direction and ideas. It keeps us assured of God’s love. God’s gift comes to us because we are persistent. He gives to us out of His love, and he gives to us knowing what is in our best interest. We are to ask God to help us keep His name holy in our hearts and on our lips, to help us provide for our daily needs, to see the wisdom and necessity of forgiveness and to help us lead a life that is pleasing to Him by strengthening us against temptation.
In his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, Martin Luther said that at times of distress our only help or comfort is to take refuge in the Lord’s Prayer and appeal to God from our hearts. If we attempt to help ourselves by our own thoughts and counsels, we will only make matters worse.
Prayer is not a special gift for a select few. All who have trusted Jesus for salvation can pray as He taught. True prayer will not be achieved by human effort; it is a gift of God. Prayer is grace. If we are followers of Christ and we want to learn to pray, He stands ready to teach us.
Today all we have to do is to turn to God our Lord and say to Him: “Lord, teach us to pray”.
And let us pray as He taught us to pray.
Amen!