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The following message is preached by Reverend Dr. Bruce Wheeler Thielman. His sermon is entitled "Prayer for Beginners and Those Who Have Forgotten How." The scripture reading of the morning is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 6. I begin the reading at the verse number 7. Jesus is speaking. "And in praying do not heap up empty

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phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this, 'Our Father who art 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, and forgive us our debts,

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as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And may the same Spirit who inspired these words incline our hearts to their understanding. Pray with me."

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. At the request of the session, I have taken as my principal preaching theme for this church year the subject of prayer. I shall be addressing that theme on nine different occasions. We began in September when we thought about prayer prerequisites, remembering always the holiness

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of God, confessing our sins to God and thus keeping the lines of communication to him open, and seeking always to live a righteous life because God does not hear the prayers of the unrighteous. In October, we talked about the invisibility of God, which led some to false illusions concerning God. And so God revealed himself perfectly in his Son, Christ Jesus,

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with whom we cultivate intimacy through regular times and places and procedures of prayer. In November, we talked about the place of thanksgiving in prayer, why we should be grateful, why we often are not grateful, and how we can bring the attitude of gratitude into our prayer life and into all of our lives. In December, we considered the glorious theme of how Christ himself prays

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for us and gives us the privilege of praying in his name, and we thought about what that meant, and of what a happiness it is to know that Jesus is our great high priest, and that any power in our prayers rests in the power which we receive from him. Now today, in January, I ask you to think with me on this theme, "Prayer for Beginners and Those Who Have Forgotten How." I want to talk

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about the simple rubrics of prayer, especially as they are illustrated for us in the prayer life of Jesus. The first thing we learn from observing Jesus' prayer life is that he always addressed God as Father, but that this intimate relationship he had with God never led him to any presumption or arrogance with God. Jesus called God Father more than any other term of address, and of course,

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calling God Father means that he had access to his Father immediately without earning that access. A father is always anxious to hear, when he is a loving or a good father, anything that his son or daughter has to say to him. Now the Apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians and by inference to us, says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. God has sent the Spirit of his Son

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into your hearts, and that Spirit leads you to call out 'Abba, Father.'" What Paul is saying is simply that as Christ addresses God as Father, so all of us who are in Christ may address God as Father. Now thinking of God as Father applies to all of the three different ways of prayer. There are three kinds of prayer. There is meditation, there is contemplation, and there

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is conversation. Let me illustrate what this means. Suppose that you are playing tennis on a hot day, and it's a good game, and you have a feeling of healthy tiredness at the end of the game, and you go to a fountain and drink some cool and refreshing water, and as you're enjoying that water, you think to yourself what a good thing water is. Where does water come from? And you

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realize that it comes from the clouds, and you say, "But where do the clouds come from?" And you think to yourself, "They are vaporized air," and you continue to ponder the origin of water until it brings you back to a recognition of the origin of all good things, which is, of course, the hand of God. Now let us further suppose that having been refreshed with this water, you go over

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and you stretch out on the grass, you rest and relax, you feel the coolness of the earth and the brilliance of the sun and the blue sky is above you, and you have this feeling of exhaustion, but also with it the influx of new strength through the refreshment of this water and this beauty and this comfort that you're knowing, and eventually this happiness becomes so much

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forward in your heart that you're led to cry out, "Oh God, I thank you for all of your blessings to me." Now in that simple exercise, you have demonstrated meditation, contemplation, and conversation. Meditation is thought, purposeful thought, which moves Godward. When you think about things, the origin of things, for example, and you trace that origin back to God, you are meditating on the

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nature of God. When you stretch out on the grass and you enjoy all the comforts and the blessings that God has given you, and you feel the peace and the new strength that comes from those things, and your heart is filled with joy in thinking about God, the giver of these gifts, then you are engaged in contemplation. And when finally those thoughts articulate themselves in words

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so that you cry out, "Oh God, I thank you for all these good things that come from your hand," this is prayer as conversation. Now we are to think of God as Father in our meditations, in our contemplations, and in our conversations. That is, when we think of God, it is to be as Father. When we rejoice and enjoy God, it is to be in terms of his fatherhood. And when we address God,

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it is to be again as our Father. This does not allow us, however, any presumption in our approach to God. There are some children, of course, who try to wheedle things out of their parents or to intimidate their parents into blessing them. Just so, there are improper prayers that can be prayed. The individual who prays that her house will be spared the hurricane and ignores any concern for

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others is praying a selfish prayer. The individual who asks that God will enable him to pass a test or to get a promotion when he in fact has not studied to learn the material or done the work necessary to earn the promotion, that kind of prayer is an improper prayer. There's an old story about two shopkeepers who had stores exactly opposite one another on the street,

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and they were fierce competitors. They came to the place where they hated each other. And this hate became so extreme that one night God sent an angel to one of these shopkeepers, and he said, "God is tired of this, and he has sent me to tell you that from now on every prayer that you pray will be answered. But everything you ask for for yourself while you will receive it, your competitor

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across the street will receive twice as much. So if you ask for wealth, you will be given wealth, but he will be twice as wealthy. And if you ask for fame, you will be given fame, but he will be twice as famous." The shopkeeper looked at the angel and said, "All right, then this is my first prayer. Oh Lord, strike me blind in one eye." There are improper prayers, selfish prayers,

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indolent and insolent prayers, belligerent prayers, and unloving prayers, and we ought to be ashamed to bring anything like that before God, just as any child should be ashamed to bring something before his father, which would embarrass or distress this one he loves. Now very closely related to this is the fact that Jesus in his practice of prayer always submitted to his father's

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will, always yielded to what his father wanted for him. In Gethsemane, you remember how he prayed, "Father, not my will, but your will be done." And a few minutes later, when the soldiers came to arrest him, the disciples took up their sword to defend Jesus, and he says, "Put down that sword, shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" And in John chapter 8, there's this

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beautiful word of his, "I always do what pleases my father." In the book of Hebrews chapter 5, the prayer life of Jesus is being discussed, and it says there he was heard because of his submission. Now it's hard for us to submit ourselves to God. We like to be in charge of our lives. It seems to us a rather risky thing to turn it all over to God, but I often wonder why

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this is so. Suppose you had a little girl that you loved with all your heart and soul, and suppose that she came to you tomorrow and she said, "I love you so much, I'm just going to try in everything I do to do what you want me to do. I will obey everything you tell me to obey. Do with me whatever you wish, and I will trust you and your love to the uttermost." Now how would you respond

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to this little girl when she came to you with those words? Would you say, "Aha, now I have her just where I want her, and I'll make her life as miserable as I can be, and I'll fill it with every ugliness and a hardship that I can imagine." Certainly not. You love this little girl, and when you hear of her trusting love in you, why, you take her up in your arms and cover her with

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hugs and kisses. Well, my friends, no matter how much we love, God loves infinitely more, and that means that when we go to him and say, "Father, we love you, and we want your way to prevail in our lives, and we will obey everything you tell us to do, and you may do with us whatever you wish, for we trust your love to the uttermost," his great heart responds infinitely beyond any way

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in which our smaller hearts can respond, and he surrounds us with his love and his care. There's no risk in surrendering yourself to God, in submitting to his will. There is instead magnificent opportunity. Now, I will admit that it doesn't always look like that. There's a story of a little boy who was watching a telephone repairman up on the pole, and suddenly the youngster turned around

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and he ran in the house and he said, "Mother, there's a man on the telephone pole outside, and he's on the telephone talking to heaven." And his mother said, "What makes you think he's talking to heaven?" And the little boy said, "Because he keeps saying, 'Hello, hello, good Lord, what's going on up there?'" Well, sometimes when we see the things that happen in our lives,

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we're inclined to say, "Good Lord, what's going on up there?" What we need to remind ourselves of at such a moment is that God is love. There are times when the darkness is all around us and we seek light and the light does not come, but that moment of darkness does not replace the reality that God is love. There are times when we think that God is being unkind or perhaps brutal to us,

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but it's not true. The fact is, God is love. There are times when we think we're being treated very unfairly and very unjustly, but the truth is that God is love. In spite of what the circumstance of the moment may seem to dictate, God is love. And therefore, when we yield and submit ourselves to him as his son did, it's simply our love reaching out to the one who is perfect love. And this leads

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us to note another thing which is basic to Jesus' example in prayer. It's important to notice that Jesus prayed in all kinds of moods and attitudes, and when he prayed, he was always totally honest with God. In Luke 10, we read about Jesus praying when his heart was filled with joy, but in John 12, we read about him praying when his heart was troubled. In Matthew 15, we read about his praying

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when he totally controls the situation, the feeding of the 4,000 plus, but in Luke 22, we read of him praying when he's so weakened that he needs the angels to assist him. In Luke 5, we read about his praying alone. In Matthew 26, we read about his asking the disciples to stay and pray with him. In John 11, he prays and there's a great certainty about his prayer, but in Matthew 15, when he

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prays, there's a certain note of loneliness there. Jesus prays when he takes the little children up into his lap. He blesses them, but he also prays for the ones who crucified him. He prays for the kids and for the killers. In all kinds of situations and circumstances, he prayed and always in truth. It's interesting to observe that every kind of prayer that we are called upon to pray, Jesus

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prayed except one. We're called upon to praise God, Jesus praise God. We are called upon to thank God, Jesus thank God. We are called upon to petition God, Jesus petition God. We are called upon to intercede for others before God, Jesus did this. The only prayer that Jesus never prayed that we pray is the prayer for forgiveness and of confession, and that's because there was never

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anything in him to forgive. There was no sin to confess, but all of the moods and attitudes and circumstances of his life are moods and attitudes and circumstances that exist in our lives except for our sin, and therefore we ought to learn to go to God in all kinds of situations just as he did and always with honesty. When we're up, to talk as though we're up, and when we're down, to pray as

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though we're down, never poisoning the wells of communication. You're not phony with your best friend, with the one you love the most. That's the one to use the parlance of our time with whom you let it all hang out, and therefore when we talk to God, it must be in utter honesty. You remember what Huck Finn said, "You can't pray a lie, I found that out." Now I will confess to you that this is

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very hard for me. I find my mind wandering in certain circumstances and situations in which I find myself, so that my prayers become confused and disoriented and meaningless. Jesus was sinless and therefore his concentration was perfect, but I am a very great sinner, a far greater sinner than those of you who think the least of me would begin to imagine, and many times

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my sins wipe out the purity of my prayer. Now I have found two things that are of assistance to me at such times. The first is to slowly and carefully read the scriptures before the prayer or during the prayer. Jesus, of course, loved the scriptures. His speech is full of allusions to the Old Testament. He was raised in a first century home where the Bible was quoted every day. He

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worshipped in the synagogue where all of the worship, including the prayers, were derived from the pages of the Old Testament. We are called upon to memorize scripture, to store it in our hearts so that in circumstances and situations which are distressing and that pull us away from what prayer is meant to be, we can refocus ourselves by remembering God's Word. After all,

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what right do we have to expect God to listen to us if we never take the time to listen to him? The other thing that I have found helps me when my sinful mind wanders was taught to me by St. Teresa of Avelia, that great Christian mystic of our tradition. In her little work, "The Way of Perfection," she says when you cannot focus your mind in prayer, when it wanders, don't be distressed

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because that makes the matter worse. Don't tire yourself out trying to do what is impossible for you at the moment. Stop praying as you are praying. Your soul is sick, she writes, so give it some time to rest. And best of all, she concludes, enter into other acts of Christian virtue. What she means is if you're meditating, then contemplate for a while. If you're contemplating, then move

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into conversational prayer. If none of this is any help, then lay aside those forms of prayer and instead become particularly assiduous in your calling upon the sick or pick out some lonely person and make that person a friend and bring joy into their life or become more aggressive in your witness or take some job aside from the job which is regularly yours and all of the money

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that you earn in that job, give it to the work of the Lord. Do something new in your Christian experience. Change your spiritual scenery. Exercise some muscles you haven't been using for a while. This brings new zeal and focus into your prayer. It steadies your mind on the things of God. The sum of the whole matter, of course, is that prayer must be priority in our lives. That's the most

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important thing for forginers or for those who have forgotten how to remember. We are above all other things to be praying people. Christ prayed in order to know his Father's will. He prayed before he selected his disciples. He prayed before he performed his miracles. He prayed when he sat down at the table to dine. He prayed for his disciples before he sent them out in ministry

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and he prayed when they came back successful in their work. He prayed early in the morning, a great while before dawn. On at least one occasion we know that he prayed the whole night through. He prayed standing. He prayed kneeling. He prayed flat out upon the earth. He prayed looking up toward heaven. He prayed and he prayed and he prayed. And we can't have a relationship with

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God without that kind of prayer. Relationships are built upon communication. If you hear it said of two people that they're no longer speaking, what does that mean? It means, of course, that some barrier has arisen between them, that they have fallen out of love or friendship, that there is something that creates ugliness and discord in the relationship. Well, if we're not speaking to God,

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such things may be said of us with regard to him. I suppose it is because I am a preacher that I can say to you that I don't know how I would get along in my work and in my life without prayer. Yet I must say to you at the same time that I am utterly ashamed that I pray so poorly. Most often, you see, I approach my tasks from beneath rather than from above. I lack the sense of the heavenly

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or the angle of elevation or the perfection of vision or the perception of proportion which comes from spending enough time with God in prayer. That's the reason I degrade so much that I touch rather than dignifying it. My soul lacks the culture of the Spirit because I am not enough in prayer. I rejoice in my morning prayers. They make me feel clean like a shower. They give me

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rest like a night's sleep. They satisfy me like a good meal. They inspire me like the noblest music. They challenge me like the sound of a trumpet. They strengthen me like new health. And sometimes, I pray to God at night, abed, and fall asleep while praying. I told that to some people more than a quarter of a century ago, and they were shocked when I said it and called it blasphemy

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to fall asleep when you're talking with God. I didn't agree then, and I do not agree now. For as in my life, I approach the final stillness when I will lay me down to sleep, the long, long sleep of death. I'd like to do it, meditating or contemplating or talking with God. What else could be more beautiful? What else could be more wonderful? Prayer, you see, is the great priority

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of the Christian life, and that is the reason that I pray for myself, and as your pastor, I pray for you. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, by your perfect example, teach us how to pray. Pray with me now. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, by your perfect example, teach us how to pray. Amen.

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Amen.