Are you there God? It's me, Licia.

Weeks ago I preached a sermon on prayer. It is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart, probably because I have always felt that my prayer-life is lacking. To this day, when I look at the great mystics, at the monastics who devote their life to prayer, I can't help but feel that I will never be "enough".

This is the script I put together for my sermon, yet since I preached three times over the weekend, to three very different congregations, I ended up ignoring my notes and talking more about my experience.

I even shared how now I have set three alarms on my phone so that when they go off (mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon) I can drop everything and talk to God and, more importantly LISTEN. 

Very hard to write it a sermon a posteriori...this is what I "almost said"...more or less.

Pentecost X year C – Luke 11:1-13

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe,

who sanctified us with your commandments,

and appointed us to be a light to the nations

and who gave to us Jesus our Messiah, the Light of the world.

Amen

Prayer is the most important activity in our lives.

It is the main way in which we develop a relationship with our Divine Parent;

it is a conversation with the whole Trinity,

a loving exchange, a communion.

According to a recent poll, only 50% of people in the US pray every day.

53% among mainline Protestant denominations.

I think this sad. And scary.

How can we keep our relationship with God alive, if we don’t talk to God?

Are we really that busy? Doing what? I mean really, what is more important?

Or is it that, like the disciples, don’t “know” how to pray?

That we are afraid we don't have the "right" words?

Well, Jesus seems to be pretty clear on how to pray...

We are to pray to our Father seeking intimacy, closeness with the Creator of all things

who is both transcendent (above all things)

and immanent (within all things...including us, who are made in the image of God).

We are to pray that God’s name, God’s role in the life of Creation be hallowed, sanctified, blessed

in our own lives, in our communities, in the world around us;

that God’s centrality in human life be understood, honored, and shared.

We are to pray that the Kingdom of God may come,

that we may be a part of God’s dream, God’s project for Creation.

That we may find ways to contribute to that project,

to cooperate with God so that the dream may soon become  a reality.

We are to pray for God’s Dream (with a big D) not our dreams,

because we tend to be limited in our dreaming, and in our asking, and self-centered.

So we’d better pray that God’s will be done, as opposed to our own,

because God wants for us more and better than what we can ever ask or imagine.

Also, we are to pray that our basic needs may be met. Yes, that’s perfectly acceptable.

God is interested and will listen to our little issues and to the large ones.

Because God cares.

God cares for the number of hair on our heads.

God loves us immensely and enjoys hearing our voice in prayer.

Even when the prayer is a simple “Thank you!” or “Help me!”

God is concerned about everything you and me are concerned about.

Just as I want want my child to to talk to me about anything she is worried about

(a broken nail...a broken heart),

so God wants to hear about the things we are worried about.

Then we are to pray for God’s forgiveness,

because although we are the recipients of God’s grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,

as we go about the business of life in community through the world,

we continue to miss the mark, to fall into meanness and selfishness,

and we need to be aware of that and be ready (with God’s help) to do better.

And we who are constantly forgiven, we who know what grace is,

need to learn to forgive others and bring God’s message of redemption to all those who live in despair.

Finally, we are to pray for God’s strength and support in times of trial - which in my case is everyday,

because I am fully aware of my imperfection, my many limitations,

and it is only thanks to God’s support

that I can stand here in front of you all today.

I know, sometimes when we pray it is hard to believe that God is listening.

It is hard to feel a connection with God.

Frequently, it is because we do a lot of talking and very little listening.

More often than not, it is because we pray to God as if God were 

the great “fixer” of all things.

Like a child with a broken toy we pray that God may fix what is broken

or change things to our advantage.

We pray that we may get the stuff that we want but really don’t need.

Or, out of our impatience, we pray for RIGHT NOW,

as if we had the right to expect God to ask “how high” when we say “jump”.

And yet.

God-in-Christ tells us that

no matter how we pray, what really counts is that we pray.

That we keep the conversation going, even when it seems to be one sided.

It never is.

What really matters is that we turn to God consistently, even impatiently 

and empty our hearts.

Because every time we turn ourselves toward our Creator asking for ourselves or on behalf of others,

in joyful thanksgiving, or in a cry of pain,

every time we appeal to God,

it’s as if we lit a candle in the darkness for ourselves and for all humanity.

There are no good or bad prayers; there are no wrong or right words.

Prayer is letting go.

Prayer is saying that we know that God is.

And that God loves.

Choices

Luke 12:32-40 - Proper 14C

Do you know how many hits you get if you Google:

“How to help teenagers to make good choices”?

Thousand and thousands.

Trust me, I tried.

I tried because all of a sudden I am the parent of a pre-teen.

[Boy, just saying it out loud makes me weak at the knees.]

A pre-teen.

Someone who is already beginning to face a multitude of choices.

Someone who is slowly but surely paying less and less attention to ME,

when she’s making her choices.

The adolescent years are filled with questions about everything...

what music to listen to and what media to follow;

how to spend their time and money;

how to deal with friends and with peer pressure.

Teens make daily decisions on how to handle and resolve interpersonal conflict.

And what about choices related to vocation and how they will spend their lives?  

Will I marry? Will I have a career? Will I have children? 

What role will faith play in my life?
The list goes on and on.

And we, the parents, the mentors, the adults they more or less look up to

are supposed to guide them, encourage them to make good choices, reasonable choices, and support decisions that (God willing) 

will keep them happy and healthy and whole for a long time.

We are all aware that children today are facing

an unprecedented array of attitude and behavioral choices

while growing up in a postmodern culture that says the final court of appeal is how

"I feel" at any given moment in time.

But the fact is that it is not just children. It is all of us, isn't it?

We all have to make choices every day.

"will I or won't I?"..."what should I do?"

And, just like our children, we are surrounded on all side by entities seeking to harass us into submission:

Peers, authoritative figures, media, trends...

even when we think we are making independent choices

the pressure around us is at times so subtle that we can’t be sure anymore, can we?

Not even about the fundamentals.

We live in a day and age where personal feelings and preference

have become the guides for living and deciding.

We are constantly bombarded with messages about what is beautiful,

what is right, what is powerful, what will make us happy.

And we want that, whatever "that" may be.

And we want it now, because if our next door neighbor has it

then it is a good and joyful thing and I should have it too!

So we end up spending a lot of physical and mental energy keeping up with the fads, the trends, and the Joneses...

And then, sometimes, we look back and ask ourselves why,

why we accumulated things we've used only once

and shoes that were too tight even when we tried them on at the store.

[that would be me]

Why we went on vacation to the trendy beach that is really not our scene,

why we are having dinner with someone who is boring us to death,

why we are in a career that is not really using our God-given gifts,

and is definitely not making the world a better place,

but hey, it’s prestigious and it pays well, and it seems like such a good idea at the time...

And the list goes on.

So, my Brothers and Sisters, take a deep breath and ask yourself:

Where is your treasure?

What is really important in your life?

What is your guiding principle?

That is where you heart will be.

That is where you will put all of your energy, all of your time, all of yourself.

You need to be sure that it is really YOUR choice.

You can’t be giving all your heart to something just because it is expected,

just because everyone else does it, or because it has a cute commercial.

If you ask me, of course, I will tell you that our treasure is the love of God,

the Good News of Jesus Christ.

That following Jesus is the priority we all should have.

That imitating Christ ought to be our guiding principle.

The problem is that the Gospel is not sexy.

And on Superbowl day, Jesus doesn't have a funny speaking animal,

or a scantily dressed blonde to represent him.

And the Holy Spirit doesn't have a popular jingle.

How can we expect to hear the still small voice of God

with all other voices screaming in our ears?

Voices that are becoming louder everyday.

Every day more distracting.

Jesus promised to walk alongside all of us, 

while we walk the difficult journey of life.

Jesus life is our example.

Scripture can be our decision-making guide.

But we need to pay attention.

We need to stay awake.

We need to turn off the world’s influence and focus.

The light of God's Word illumines all of life and each choice we make.

God has something to say about matters of honesty, integrity, character, work ethic, sexual behavior, substance abuse, vocation, time, dating, and so on.

We just need to listen.

Find God’s voice in the Biblical text,

in the words of the Saints of God that preceded us or that are around us.

In the actions of all those who are already making good choices, Godly choices.

So, my brothers and sisters, for God's sake and our community's I have to ask you:

Where is your treasure?

Whose voice are you willing to listen to?

To whom are you going to give your heart?