Pentecost, Year B – 24 May 2015
Seven Marks of Discipleship: Prayer
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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During seminary, I spent six months
as a hospital chaplain, completing what is called Clinical Pastoral Education,
or CPE. For six months, I ministered to a variety of patients, dividing my time
mostly between the Med-Surg floor (where people were often recovering from
surgery), the maternity floor, and the NICU. In these areas, I could develop
relationships with some of the patients and their families because often those
patients were there for an extended period of time.
At times – especially when I was on
call overnight - I would be paged to respond to a situation in the Emergency
Department or the ICU. Sometimes, these calls would come in the middle of the
night, and so, off I’d go at two in the morning, to be at the bedside of
someone who was about to die or to sit with family who’d just lost someone.
In some ways, those calls were the
most difficult because I had no relationship with the patient or the family –
and so all I could do was help in whatever ways I could help. Sometimes that
meant finding a blanket or a pillow or a cup of water. Sometimes that meant
heavy discussions about end-of-life decisions. And sometimes – though not
always – that meant sharing a time of prayer with the patient or their family.
The first few times I prayed with a
patient or families in these cases, I felt awkward. My awkwardness felt
awkward, too, because I was the chaplain! I was the one who was supposed to
know how to pray, right? I was the one who supposedly had this direct
connection – from my lips to God’s ears.
And yet, when I started out in
chaplaincy, each time I prayed, I felt inadequate to the task because I didn’t
know the whole situation. All I knew were the scattered bits I could pick up
from my pager or a nurse or doctor or from a family member. All I could do in
those moments was to receive those bits of information, and then, as I prayed,
try to listen for the words that God would lead me to say.
At some point, the passage from
Romans 8 we just read came to me: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes
with sighs too deep for words,” Paul writes.[1]
And there was such relief for me as a hospital chaplain, living into these
words that Paul wrote so long ago. It was as if the Apostle Paul was placing a
hand on my shoulder himself and saying, “It’s OK that you don’t know, because
God knows, and that is enough.”
“The Spirit helps us in our
weakness,” and the image that comes to my mind is that of someone who has sat
down on the ground and can’t quite get back up again. (As you get older, once
your rear gets lower than your knees, it’s a challenge!) When that happens,
you’re stuck until someone can help you. Sometimes that’s how we feel when we
are praying for others – we feel stuck in our ignorance – and that’s when the
Spirit comes along and gives us a hand up, off the ground.
The Spirit doesn’t wait until we
are strong to help us – the Spirit helps us while we are weak. In fact,
sometimes it is our weakness that helps us be open to the working of the Holy Spirit.
When we are strong, we don’t feel the same need for the Spirit.
Today is Pentecost – it is the day
we remember the Holy Spirit descending upon that early Christian community with
a rush of wind and tongues of fire. Yet, sometimes in our prayers, especially,
the Spirit lands softly – and whispers.
After Communion today, I will offer
prayer and anointing as we’ve done here countless times before. This’ll be the
third time this week I’ve done this (Conference pastors and Wednesday). Each
time I offer prayer and anointing, I am struck by my own ignorance because when
people come forward for prayer - even those of you that I know pretty well – I
don’t know everything on your heart and mind that is leading you forward for
prayer.
All I can do is offer a prayer of
blessing, and make the sign of the cross on your forehead, reminding you of the
Spirit who came upon you at your baptism – the Spirit who accompanies you each
day and every day of your life. This is the same Spirit who intercedes with God
for us – intercedes with sighs too deep for words when we have no idea ourselves
what to say in prayer.
Last week, I talked about how much
we search for God’s will, and yet this passage from Romans tells us that
knowing God’s will when we pray really isn’t all that vital. The Spirit knows
the will of God, and the Spirit intercedes with God according to the will of
God. So where our prayers feel inadequate or incomplete, the Spirit makes up
the difference for us.
We’re focusing on prayer this
month, and so I have a prayer challenge for you. It’s in two parts.
First, take a look at the person
sitting in front of you, and then the person sitting behind you. (If you don’t
have both, pick someone else sitting next to you.) You don’t have to know them
or their name. You don’t have to know their life story. If you don’t know them,
introduce yourself later or make up a name for them in your head.
This week, I’d like you to pray for
them – by name or nickname. Pray for them at least once per day – maybe while
you brush your teeth or drive to work. It’s OK if you don’t know what you are
praying – just pray, and let God worry (as Martin Luther said).
Second, take out the prayer list. This
week, rather than putting this paper into the recycle pile after worship ends,
take this list home. As you go through the week, work your way down this list.
Cross names off as you pray for them, if that makes you feel better. Again, if
you don’t know what to say in every situation – or you don’t know every person
on the list – don’t fret. God knows them, God knows their hearts. You pray, and
let God worry.
Amen.
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