On this first Sunday in Lent, instead of preaching about temptation, I want to talk about the bedrock of our relationship with the Holy, because I believe that is what got Jesus through all his temptations. I want to be as concrete and helpful as I can as I talk about a life of prayer that will sustain you and enrich you in as little as thirty seconds .. or five minutes a day.
I shared the heart of this with some of you ten or twelve years ago. But if your memory is like my own,it’s probably worth a second run. Here we go.
There are several ways we pray, mostly arrow prayers and those we’ve learned. Arrow prayers are those we shoot into the sky, such as "God help me get out of this traffic jam.” or “Please keep this guy from preaching as long as he did last time.” There are also the set prayers, such as those we find in the Book of Common Prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of St. Francis, the Serenity prayer, and various collections of prayers. Here are three of my favorite prayers:
"Dear God, make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am."
"Lord, so far it’s been a good day. I haven’t been critical of anyone in my family or anybody at work. I haven’t gotten angry at anyone. But I’m going to need your help, Lord, because it’s time to get out of bed."
My favorite Prayer is for Use by a Sick Person: “This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words and give me the Spirit of Jesus.” (BCP, page 461) The basics: No matter how good you are at something, it is always a good thing to go back to the basics. Concert pianists, even when playing Rachmaninoff or Chopin, still go back to their Hanon scales. Jugglers go back to the motions of one club, one ball, back and forth. Saints, who seem so close to God – most got there because of the basics.
So, today, a structure for a complete life of prayer that you can use effectively with 30 seconds a day -- not two hours a day, not one hour a day, but as little as 30 seconds a day. It’s called the FIVE FINGER METHOD OF PRAYER. First, I LOVE TOU. For most of us, this is the hardest part: it is easier being thankful, sorry, needy or generous. For me, the best place to start is just to say the words, “Dear God, I love you” and then be quiet. Later you might use a favorite Psalm. There are lots of ways to serve God. We love God with our lives: working for justice, caring for one another or others – but that is another dimension of prayer. Here we are taking time just to offer our love or even our desire to love God. Even the desire counts. To get started, just say the words – followed by silence of seconds and later .. minutes, maybe with words or sounds of love. I LOVE YOU and second, THANK YOU. Again, a good place to start: just say the words. Then either make a list or go with what occurs to you. “Dear God, I thank you for x, y, z, . . .” One thing is important to know: the more for which I am intentionally thankful, the more personal the universe becomes. Usually when I have preached a wedding sermon, I said that among all the wedding gifts the couple will receive, there is one that stands out. This is it: They are quite literally God’s gift to one another. So, (and you can still use this) in waking up, from time to time look at that scraggly, dragon-breathed person next to you and say to yourself, “This is my gift from God.” And you will be right. In good times and in bad. The heart of many funeral sermons is this: what is it that God has been giving us in this life? How has God been incarnate in this person's life? The answer comes as thanksgiving. So, I LOVE YOU and THANK YOU -- and on the third finger: I’m Sorry. I LOVE YOU, I THANK YOU, and I'M SORRY. The Episcopal Church is a full service church: we confess sins of Commission and Omission. Commission is what we have done to hurt others or to hurt ourselves. Omission is what we have neglected to do. When I was younger, I had a pamphlet with a list of sins. It was 18 pages long! If you have ever wanted a recipe for deep, down depression, that was it. But if you need help, there is an easier way to get it. There is the Ash Wednesday litany in the Prayer Book – or even easier, just ask your spouse or partner They would be more than happy to give you a list of your sins. (that is mostly a joke). The Greek word used for sin in Christian Scriptures is hamartia. it is a term used in archery for “missing the mark.” It is missing “all that we can be” or "all that God wants us to be/ created us to be.” Temptation. We confess our sins (plural) and our sin -- our missing the mark in our vocation in the world. Dear God, I LOVE YOU, I THANK YOU, I'M SORRY, and HELP OTHERS. I believe God uses our prayers in much the same way God uses what we do. God uses different ways to get something changed in the community: letters, speeches, raising money, telephone calls, demonstrating in the streets. The smartest priest I have ever known says this: It may be that God uses our prayers in the same way. The power, the energy, the karma, whatever it is in our prayers: they are among the tools God uses in healing, forgiving, strengthening us. Others know and feel your prayers – I know that from hospital calls. And I have felt the power of others’ prayers for me. There is something almost palpable about them. Some find it helpful to keep a list of people to pray for: if you do, you need to know that it is OK to cross names off. (that doesn’t mean they will die). I had a parishioner in California who had had a serious stroke, Mary Ella Sevier. She could speak with difficulty, but not much more. Depressed that she couldn't do for others in ways she had done before the stroke, we thought and we prayed. Then I gave her a copy of our Parish Directory and said, "One of the things we really need is someone to pray for each of us, maybe five or six of us a day - maybe more, maybe less. And that became her ministry – as fulfilling as her earlier service in the Altar Guild, as teacher, evangelist, as support person, or on the Vestry. HELP OTHERS . . HELP ME. This fifth finger is both the easiest and the hardest of the Five Fingers. It is easiest because we usually ask for little things (arrow prayers). And hardest, because in asking we entrust ourselves to God’s care and to God’s will. Someone said that most of us want a relationship with God in which God serves us as consultant. There is a truth in that: we do want help in knowing God’s will for us and the world and we do want a consultant as we figure out what we want, what we need to do. But, ask for what you want and what you need. Sometimes in asking, we discover we don’t want or need it. More Important: whenever we pray for ourselves, we are entrusting ourselves to God – and just as important, when we ask, we are asking as beloved children of God. We ask within that relationship. And we can even ask in our anger. If you are angry with God, share that with God with all the power of what you are feeling. In a serious relationship, our anger is a sign that we care. A colleague of mine once said that so often in our relationship with God we act as though we are on a first date, acting as nice as nice can be. But it may be time that we get past that dating stage and move on to a serious relationship -- in loving, in gratitude, in sorrow, in helping others and ourselves The Five Fingers.
This is important. Choose a time for your five finger method of prayer and stick to it. Begin with something really short, like 30 seconds and then increase the time as you wish. Your perspective on life will change, week by week, and your relationship with God will also deepen.
As our hymn begins: “O, for a closer walk with God …’ and ends “So shall my walk be close to God, calm and serene my frame. So purer light shall light the road, that leads me to the Lamb.” May we be blessed in all our prayers. AMEN..
