Proper 12, Yr C (2025) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

Proper 12, Yr C (2025)                                                                       The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

Luke 11:1-13                                                                                  St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

In the name of the one, holy, and loving God:

            in whom we live, and move, and have our being.  Amen.

As Jesus and his disciples continue on their journey to Jerusalem,

            Jesus takes some time to pray.

This time he is allowed to finish before someone asks something of him!

After Jesus prays, one of his disciples says,

            “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Perhaps this disciple has seen how rooted Jesus is in a Source beyond himself

            and has witnessed the power of his healing and his preaching and teaching,

which astound those who hear…

        and this disciple wants to connect to God in the way that Jesus does.

So, he says to Jesus,

            “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Notice the first thing that Jesus says…

            “when” you pray.

He doesn’t say if you pray,

            but when you pray.

Prayer is a vital part of our relationship with God.

When you pray, say, “Father, Abba.”

Prayer is personal.

            God is personal.

       Prayer is rooted in our relationship with a loving God.

The word “Father” is said as a call,

a cry,

a pleading.

       “Father!”… Much like a child crying out to a parent when they need help.

It is also a familiar term of address,

as of a child calling to a loving parent.

So, Jesus tells us to begin our prayer by boldly proclaiming: 

“Father,

Papa,

we need you!”

We call out to a loving God,

            whose name is sacred:

        “Hallowed be your name.”

God’s name is holy,

            unlike any other in this creation.

                        God alone is the one God.

We are to keep God’s name sacred –

something that is a challenge in today’s world…

       where God’s name is taken in vain and used flippantly so frequently.

One church community paraphrases this line in this way:

“May your holy name be honored

by the way we live our lives.”

Hallowed,

            Sacred,

                        Holy

       is your name.

Hallowed,

            Sacred,

                        Holy

        are our lives as we reflect God to others.

“Your kingdom come.”

After acknowledging God’s holiness,

we first pray for the coming of God’s kingdom.

We pray for the coming of God’s justice and God’s mercy,

which reminds us that we are working for God’s kingdom, not our own.

“Give us each day our daily bread.”

We ask God to give us what we need to sustain us each day.

We need not concern ourselves with all the little things –

making plans for a lifetime….

      allowing for all the “what ifs” in the plans for our lives –

becoming worried and anxious about all the little details before they even happen.

Let us instead take each day as it comes,

seeking to live each day as God would have us to live it,

knowing that God will give us exactly what we need for this day…

      being fully present to ourselves, to God, and to others in each moment of our day.

Give us today our daily bread.

“And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.”

As God gives us what we need to sustain us for this day,

we then seek to live in right relationship.

We ask God to forgive us for our sins.

That petition is understandable –

we are in need of forgiveness for the ways we wrong God,

one another,

creation,

 and even ourselves.

It is that next phrase that is a bit more challenging…

            “for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.”

Do we actually forgive everyone who is indebted to us?

            How forgiving are we of someone who owes us something?

                        Or who has hurt us or wronged us in some way?

Given God’s mercy toward us,

            may we strive to be as merciful to others

       and even ourselves.

Lord, help us!

And then Jesus then tells us to ask to be relieved of temptation:

“And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

As we know,

we will be tempted and tested many times.

We ask God to help us in avoiding temptation;

            we cannot be lone rangers.

We need God’s help.

What a wonderful gift of prayer that Jesus has given us!

God loves us more than we are capable of loving,

            and in this spirit of love, we must first seek God

                        and ask for God’s help.

Luke immediately follows this story of Jesus’ teaching the disciples how to pray

with stories of persistence in prayer

       and God’s goodness.

Jesus tells us to ask, search, knock.

Everyone who asks, receives.

            Everyone who searches, finds.

                        For everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Please note that Jesus does not say that God will grant exactly what we ask.

            God will grant the Holy Spirit!

Perhaps, as we pray this prayer over and over

– with persistence –

        it will descend from our heads into our hearts,

      and as we listen attentively to the Spirit,

then our prayer and our actions will come into alignment with God’s Kingdom!

As we ask God for God’s Kingdom to come,

our very lives become reflections of the Kingdom…

as we forgive and are forgiven…

and live into God’s justice and mercy.

So, perhaps, as the disciples saw God’s Kingdom reflected through the way Jesus lived and taught and healed and prayed,

others may see God’s Kingdom reflected through the ways we live and pray.

How much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask –

if only we will ask –

and persist in the asking!

AMEN.