[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 20B: “Prayer Changes Thing’s Sometimes” or “Selfish Praying”

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded: 
-------- Original message --------From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> Date: 9/22/18  9:34 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 20B: “Prayer Changes Thing’s Sometimes” or “Selfish Praying” 


Dear
Friends,

 

This
Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Prayer Changes Thing’s Sometimes” or “Selfish
Praying” and deals with all the lessons. 
Here it is:  

 

Did you hear the story
about a little girl who hated to do her homework?  She had a rather comprehensive math test
coming up and was feeling rather stressed. 
As you can guess- she put off her studying until the last minute and
then worked just enough to hopefully pass the test.  That night, her father was going past her
room just as she was saying her bedtime prayers, and this is what he heard: “Now
I lay me down to rest, and hope to pass tomorrow's test.  If I should die before I wake, that's one less
test I have to take.  Amen.”  Somehow, that’s not exactly what God expects
in our prayers.  Did you hear the rather
strange statement in our epistle reading from the book of James (4:3)?  James talks about “selfish prayers.”  He says, “Your prayers are not answered
because you pray for selfish reasons”- that’s a different concept!  Selfish reasons- what could he possibly be
talking about?

 

Actually, we can get a
clue from our Bible lessons today.  First
of all- the Old Testament Jeremiah lesson: Jeremiah’s enemies were out to get
him- actually not just get him- but KILL him. 
Human nature, under those kinds of circumstances, craves revenge.  Did you notice Jeremiah’s prayer?  Jeremiah didn’t ask God to put his enemies
into his own hands.  He put his enemies
in God’s hands and asked him to do the revenge. 
Remember, God did say, “Vengeance is mine.  I will repay” (12:19).  He trusted God to “teach them a thing or
two.”  Jeremiah did not take God’s
privileges into his own hands.  He was
not selfish.  He trusted God to take care
of his enemies.  Sometimes our
selfishness takes the form of holding on to revenge when it is God’s job, not
ours.  So if you are quick to tell people
a thing or two and get revenge, even in small ways, don’t be surprised when
your prayers are not answered.  James
predicted it.

 

The Psalm (1:6) has
another clue about how our selfish attitudes get in the way of answered
prayers.  The caption reads, “The Lord
protects everyone who follows Him, but the wicked follow a road that leads to
ruin.”  We are so tempted to ignore God’s
way and follow our own path; then when things start to go badly for us, we pray
that God will protect us from the consequences of our behavior.  I’ve said it so many times- why don’t you say
it with me, “You can’t pray yourself out of consequences you behave yourself
into.”  If we self-centeredly do our own
thing, we should not be surprised when our prayers go unanswered.

 

Another clue about a
type of selfish attitude that interferes with our prayers is in today’s Gospel
(Mark 9:34-37) when Jesus caught the disciples arguing about who was the
greatest.  Our society teaches us to be
competitive, not with ourselves- but with others.  As soon as a child is old enough to
understand, he or she is taught to try to be better than the other
children.  In fact, parents are not at
all happy if another child is smarter, better looking, more athletic, more you-name-it
than their child.  The truth is- Jesus
says we are not to try to be better than someone else.  The Christian doctrine of creation teaches us
that we are all amazingly and beautifully different from each other.  Remember the statement the Rev. Lynn Collins
made a long time ago we invited her from New York as our Absalom Jones
preacher?  She said, “Our God must surely
love variety; he made so much of it!”- and isn’t that true!  Yet, instead of appreciating each other’s
giftedness, we struggle to be better than they are.  God does not intend for us to try to be the
greatest.  He does want us to compete
against ourselves and be the best WE can be.

 

So when James reminds
us that our selfish motivations keep our prayers unanswered, these Bible
passages clue us into exactly what types of behaviors he’s talking about:


 Selfishly usurping God’s privilege by taking
     care of our own revenge;
 Selfishly living our lives our own way
     instead of God’s way; and
 Selfishly trying to be greater than others
     instead of encouraging others and trying to be the best we can be.


 

Unfortunately, if we’re
not careful, our prayers can sound like a child’s Christmas list of
“gimme’s.”  Did you hear the story of the
young lady who had just broken up with her boyfriend?  She wrote him this letter.  “Dearest Jimmy, no words could ever express
the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement.  Please say you'll take me back.  No one could ever take your place in my heart,
so please forgive me.  I love you! I love
you! I love you!  Yours forever, Marie.  P.S. And congratulations on winning the state
lottery.”  I hate to say it, but we must
sound a lot like Marie when we pray to God. 
The Rev. Dr. Tony Evans’ thought for the week is good advice: “Do you
pray for what you want or what God wants? 
Your motivation determines the answer you will receive from heaven.”

 

Now that we’ve seen how
NOT to pray, I’d like to make a suggestion of a way to pray, especially before
you go to bed, that works to prevent a selfish perspective while praying.  I learned it from Fr. Henri Stines, past
rector of Grace Church, Detroit, and now with his Lord in heaven.  This is a way of praying using your
hand.  I’ve shared it with you before,
but many of my friends had forgotten it, so I figured it was time to share it
again.  If you pray this way each
evening, you will almost certainly not pray selfishly.  Please turn to page four of your bulletin for
the diagram.


 ADORATION: start with your thumb.  Since your thumb is the part of your
     hands that allows it to grasp easily, it is perhaps your most important
     finger.  The most important part of
     your prayers should be adoration- when you tell God how wonderful he
     is.  What lover isn’t constantly
     telling his beloved about her beautiful eyes or lovely smile or gorgeous
     something?  Think back through your
     day and tell God how fantastic his sunset was or how touching that little
     child’s smile is or how amazing the relationship of his people is or how
     miraculous the works of his doctors are.
 CONFESSION: next is your pointer finger.  This is the finger you use to accuse
     your neighbor of sin.  You notice,
     when you point your finger at someone else, you have three fingers
     pointing back at you reminding you of your sins.  The next part of your prayer should be
     confession.  List your sins of the
     day and ask God to forgive you.
 THANKSGIVING: after that comes your third
     finger- your longest finger, the finger people use to “give other people
     the finger.”  That finger should
     never be involved in cursing other people; it should be our reminder to
     thank God for our many blessings. 
     List the blessings you received that day and thank God for
     them.  Be specific.
 INTERCESSION: next comes our ring
     finger.  It’s the finger we use for
     our engagement and wedding rings, signs of our relationship with
     others.  It reminds us to pray for
     others.  Again be specific.
 PETITION: finally comes our smallest
     finger.  This small finger reminds
     us to pray for ourselves.  Because
     it is smallest and last, it helps us remember to not be too self-centered.
 OBLATION: at last use both of your hands to
     offer yourself to God, and go peacefully to sleep.


 

May God bless us in our
daily prayers so they truly bring us closer to our precious Lord.  Amen.

 

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated
African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under
“Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org
.

 

Blessed
preaching,

Judy
Boli

St.
Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw,
Michigan





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