March 29, 2009
Grace Church
Rev. Robert E. Hensley

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33

      Let us pray.  Living Christ, deep within our hearts the fire of justice burns; so we ask this day for inner courage to walk in solidarity with all who are betrayed, exploited, driving from home, violated, imprisoned, detained without trial, held hostage, robbed, enslaved, silenced, and abused.  Amen. 
 

      The first "illustration" I remember hearing in preaching class in seminary was the one originally told by the Episcopal dean of Princeton Theological Seminary involving some students in the refectory lunch line. The student chef had propped a sign on a big bowl of big, ripe, juicy oranges that stated: 
 

      “Take only one.  Jesus is watching you!” 
 

      At the other end of the lunch line, there was a large plate of freshly baked, hot, chocolate chip cookies.  One of the seminarians had put a hastily written sign beside them that said: 
 

      “Take as many cookies as you want.  Jesus is busy back there watching the oranges.”   
 

      Most Christians believe that Jesus is watching over the universe – whether it be oranges, orangutans, Oregonians, or even ordinary folk like you and me. Every last one of us; and for that we should all be most grateful. 
 

      I think that it can be safely said that there are two kinds of Christians found in almost all of our churches: those who want to "pray their way in," and those who would rather "pray their way out." Unfortunately, most of us, take our prayer lives most seriously when we are trying to "pray our way out."

      For example:  When you're rushing to get to an appointment that you're already late for and you don't notice the traffic cop's car until you've whizzed halfway past it.  It is a time to "pray your way out."

      Or for a student, that walks into their math class and suddenly realizes that the chapter test is actually today, not tomorrow! Time to "pray your way out."

      How about when you get a letter with a return address from the Internal Revenue Service? Time to "pray your way out?"

      More and more common, given the state of the current economy, might be if your company were to announce that it will begin downsizing/"right-sizing"/"upsizing" or whatever else they care to call it. Definitely time to "pray your way out."

      Or an extreme example, when your spouse confronts you with the possibility of divorce.  Time to "pray your way out."

      Life hits the skids when situations arise that may cause pain or fear, anger or hardship. When we are suddenly caught off guard and brought up short. Even those who might not consider themselves very pious, prayerful or even very religious, when faced with these kinds of difficult circumstances, immediately send up "panic-button prayers." We pray to God for help in getting us out of the mess in which we find ourselves.

      You have to wonder sometimes whether God doesn't spend the better part of the day hearing petitions and attempts by people to "pray their way out" of situations. It must get very old. Praying one's-way-out prayers are not very creative or new. When we are trying to pray our way out, there simply is no time to be eloquent. I know that Jesus listens to my panic-button prayers because Jesus himself got to a point in his life where he authored and offered one of the classic "greats" in this genre of praying: "Father, get me out of here." Actually, what he said, as he looked down the road toward Jerusalem from the Garden of Gethsemane, was, "Father, save me from this hour."

      Sometimes we try to dress up our panic-button prayers by gilding them with flowery promises. We promise that from this time forward we will never break the speed limit, slack off from our responsibilities, cheat, lie or steal ever again if only God will just get us out of this one this one last time. As if God hasn't heard it all before.

      But there is another kind of attitude that we Christians can take in our prayer lives. Instead of searching around frantically for an escape hatch, instead of praying our way out, we can "pray our way in" to what God has planned for our lives.

      For example, if or when we find that we are confronted with the need to make a midlife career change, as difficult as it might be, let go and trust God's plan and pray your way IN to a new possibility.

      When you find that the demands on your time or your children’s behavior is causing your blood pressure to begin to rise, your head to pound and your nerves to snap, let go and trust God's plan and pray your way IN to a slower, calmer pace.

      If you find that you are discarding another opportunity for fun for a community of faith that can nurture your soul while encouraging you forward, just let go and trust God's plan and pray your way IN to a new address.

      When you are worried about the strain on your budget and hating the pinched feeling you always have at the end of the month, let go and trust God's plan and pray your way IN to a new examination of what is an authentic style of life and what is just "lifestyle."

      If you are grieving over the loss of a spouse trust God's plan and pray your way IN to a renewed love for family and friends.

      We all know that much of life is beyond our control. We simply cannot or are not able to run the show. Doesn’t it make sense that we should just relax and enjoy the picture? Why don't we just simply trust God's plan and pray our way IN and give our lives over to God’s keeping?

      A few years ago Henry Blackaby challenged the Christian community to rethink its approach to God. In his now classic discipleship resource Experiencing God, Blackaby pointed out that our approach to God most resembles a Christmas wish list – a litany of blessings, a collection of "gimmes" that itemizes everything that we want: "Lord, bless our church, bless my family, bless my ministry, bless my hopes, bless my dreams, bless my desires."

      Blackaby proposed following Jesus' lead and learning to pray not for what we want but for what God wants for us. Instead of asking God to bless our lives, authentic discipleship is asking God to "Let my church, my family, my ministry, my hopes, my dreams, my desires be a part of what you are blessing." Mother Teresa talked constantly about shifting our prayers from what we want to do to what God would have us do.

      In today's gospel text, Jesus shifts the direction of our prayers even further than Blackaby and Mother Teresa have proposed. Instead of asking God to "save me from this problem," or "deliver me from this mess/stress/distress," Jesus teaches us to ask God to "glorify your name in this action."

      When God's voice rang down out of heaven and promises that Jesus was being glorified, some people reported that they heard angel voices, others that they had heard it thunder. When your life takes unexpected turns, crashes into a barren spot, or overwhelms you with responsibility, do you hear the loud noise of thunder roaring in your ears? Or do you hear the still, small voice of an angel offering you a chance to glorify God?

      The choice is ultimately totally up to us.  We can either try to pray your way out of a thunderstorm. Or we can pray our way in to the glory of God.  Amen.