Epiphany 7A (Matthew 5:38-48)
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
In just a few moments, you and I are going to join together in prayer for God’s church and the world. We will pray for the leaders of our churches, our nation and the world, we will pray for all who are in pain and suffering, we will pray for peace, we will pray for ourselves. And we will end these prayers by asking God to answer them as God will’s and by asking God to teach us to be God’s hearts and hands in the world.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
In just a few moments, you and I are going to join together in prayer for God’s church and the world. We will pray for the leaders of our churches, our nation and the world, we will pray for all who are in pain and suffering, we will pray for peace, we will pray for ourselves. And we will end these prayers by asking God to answer them as God will’s and by asking God to teach us to be God’s hearts and hands in the world.
Considering this is a weekly practice
of our corporate worship, it is good to have a gospel reading that speaks to us
of prayer. “Love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you.”[1]
Great, we’ve got this covered. We are
doing exactly what Jesus’ asks us to do.
But the practice can leave us frustrated, yes? For example, we read the
same names on the prayer list week after week after week. Is God’s healing available to them? We pray for our leaders and yet they do not
always do what it is we are praying for them to do. Is God’s desire for justice and peace even
realistic? We pray for the church and
its leaders. But even then, decisions
are made that we don’t all agree with.
Is God answering only some of our prayers? Prayer can be a frustrating activity and it
is an activity that many abandon – for a period of time or, in some cases, for
a lifetime.
But when I read this Sunday’s gospel
passage again this week, I was struck by something that had not caught my
attention before. It is the end of the sentence: “Love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, [COMMA]
so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Jesus tells us to pray –
and to pray especially for our enemies – but he tells us the reason is not, at
least in this case, about the enemy. It
is about us. Jesus tells us that we are
to offer prayer so that God might continue to change US – to help us become who
we are – “children of our Father in heaven.”
Well shoot. Praying to change
others is so much easier – even if it is frustrating.
Addressing this very real challenge,
C. S. Lewis, in a letter to a friend, wrote, “The practical problem about
charity (in one’s prayer) is very hard work, isn’t it? When you pray for Hitler and Stalin how do
you actually teach yourself to make the prayer real?”[2] I’ve shared the story in the past of a
beloved 8 o’clock parishioner from St. Mark’s who used always to read this
prayer from the Rite 1 service:
“We beseech thee also so to
rule the hearts of those who bear the authority of government in this and every
land especially Barack, our President, and Pat, our Governor, that they may be
led to wise decisions and right actions for the welfare and peace of the
world.”[3]
In January 2015, he no longer read the prayers of the people. He simply could not bear to pray for Bruce,
our Governor. (Given his political
convictions, I can only imagine how he might be responding were he still alive
to hear us praying for Donald, our President).
He was fairly vocal with the congregation about his thoughts on this so
I’m not breaking any confidences. In conversation
with him, I suggested that perhaps Bruce, our governor, especially needed our prayers that he might be led to wise
decisions and right actions. But alas, our
friend replied, “there is no hope of that.”
Today, I wish instead I had Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount close at hand to
remind myself and him that sometimes the purpose of our prayer is not to change
the enemy – real or perceived - but instead to change ourselves.
C. S. Lewis’, after acknowledging the difficulty of charity in
prayer, goes on to say to his friend,
“The
two things that help me are (a) A continual grasp of the idea that one is only
joining one’s feeble little voice to the perpetual intercession of Christ who
died for these very men. [and] (b) A recollection, as firm as I can make it, of
all one’s own cruelty; which might have blossomed under different conditions
into something terrible. You and I are
not at bottom so different from these ghastly creatures.”[4]
Before we react and say, “yes, but,” let’s remember where Lewis’
letter began – “When you pray for Hitler and Stalin how do you actually teach
yourself to make the prayer real?” Lewis
was not talking about the person in the office, at school or next door with
whom you have a grudge (though certainly his words would apply there as well).
He is not talking about your siblings or your parents (though again, his words
would still apply there). He was talking
about two extremely dangerous, cruel and hate-filled men and telling his friend
that yes, your prayers for them must be real.
Lewis is truly getting right down to the heart of the matter. And he says, Christ died for them too. Take a moment to let that sink in. Christ died for them too. Isn’t that what Jesus is saying when he tells
his followers, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends
rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.”[5]
And, as difficult as it may be to absorb those words, Lewis then
goes on to say that you and I are not so different - born in another place or
at another time, raised in a different set of circumstances, surrounded by a
different set of friends, acquaintances, family members and political and
social circumstances, who is to say that we would not have been and done the
same.
There was a post going around on Facebook a week or so ago that
said, “Remember how we used to read history books and say, ‘if I were alive
then, I would have done x, y, or z’? Well,
you are alive now.” We are alive now and
amidst the beauty in our world – and yes, let’s remember the beauty – amidst
that beauty there is much work to be done for justice and for peace, for
reconciliation and for love. And all of
that work begins with prayer. The
concluding collect for our prayers in this season ends with a reminder of this as
we pray,
“Generous
God, in your abundance, answer these prayers as you will. In our love, teach us
to be your hearts and hands in this World. Help us to feel your presence, to
know your love, and to be your stewards in this world.”
“Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you” so that God might continue to change US – to help us become
who we already are – “children of our Father in heaven.”
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