Praying With Confidence

 Praying With Confidence

Luke 11:1-13[1]

When I was thinking about the message for today, I wondered if the title, “Praying with Confidence,” might sound strange. In fact, I wondered if it might sound “cheesy.” I’m not sure we’re used to associating “praying” with “confidence.” I think we tend to connect “praying” with “humility.” Truth be told, I’ve always questioned preachers and teachers who have spoken casually about how confidently we should all be praying. It made me wonder whether they were paying attention to what’s going on in the world. It made me wonder if they had ever had any real problems in life. I’ve never been comfortable with that kind of shallow, fake-sounding prayer as a cliché!

And in the spirit of “true confession,” I’d have to admit that I’ve always had a problem with praying. It’s not that I think that God isn’t there, or that God isn’t listening, or that God doesn’t care. My problem with praying has centered on the experience of pouring out my heart—sometimes for years—and having my prayers go unanswered. Or at least so it seemed at the time. I know the old saying: “God always answers prayer: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and sometimes wait.” When you’re praying like your life depends on it and nothing changes, that just doesn’t cut it. I think I’m probably not the only one who’s had to face this problem with prayer. And when we do, it’s natural for us to wonder “why”.

Our Gospel lesson for today presents Luke’s version of Jesus’ teaching on prayer. The whole thing is meant to remind us that when we pray, we can do so in the assurance that God knows our needs, cares about us, and delights in providing what is good for us all. You may have noticed that I always conclude my pastoral prayer with “we thank you that we can pray in the assurance that, before we even know to ask or a word is on our lips, you are already working in each and every life to bring your grace and peace, and your love and mercy, and your joy and new life.” I don’t do that because I can’t think of a different way to end my prayer. I do that to remind us all that this is the way Jesus taught us to pray.

At the heart of this passage is Luke’s version of the “Lord’s Prayer.” It sounds incomplete to our ears. The fact is there are three versions of the “Lord’s Prayer”: this one, the somewhat expanded one in Mt 6:9-13, and the one from a second century Christian document called the “Didache” (or teaching), where we find the “full version” of the prayer we pray today. I don’t believe the “additions” to the prayer in Luke change its tone in any way. All forms of the Lord’s Prayer, including the one we pray today, remind us to pray in the recognition that all that we are depends on God, and to pray in the confident trust that God will provide for us.

I think that’s one of the most important reasons for us to pray in the way that Jesus instructs us: it reminds us who God is. We’re not praying to a God who is too far above us to hear or care about our prayers. We’re not praying to a God who disapproves not only our actions but who we are. We’re not praying to a God who gives only grudgingly. Jesus reminds us that when we pray, we’re praying to a loving Father who already knows exactly what we need, who cares deeply about each and every one of us, and who delights in providing what is good for us. So we don’t have pray as if we’re “begging” for God’s attention. Jesus teaches us to pray in the confidence that we’re always at the center of God’s loving care.

I think the other reason we pray in the way that Jesus teaches us is because it makes a difference in the kind of people we become. When we live our lives in the humble confidence that God knows, cares, and delights in providing for our needs, we can practice the same kind of care and generosity toward others. This also shapes the kind of community we create. When we come together as a community of believers who pray with this humble confidence, we shine the warmth of God’s unfailing love through the very spirit in which we gather, as well as through our caring for one another and for our community.

You may have found it surprising for a pastor to admit in a sermon that I’ve had a problem with praying. Truth be told, I’ve had problems with the Bible, problems with church, and problems with God at various times in my life. I hope that helps me be a better preacher and teacher. Or at least a more honest one. There was a time years ago when I was struggling with church. I had been through some major disruptions in my life and I wasn’t in the best place spiritually. I was actually preaching for a friend that day, which I find highly ironic. And when it came time to pray the Lord’s prayer, the beauty and the power of that prayer just came over me. I’ve always loved the Lord’s prayer, but it hit me in that moment: where else do we pray this prayer other than at church? Where else do we pray this prayer?

I still love praying the Lord’s prayer. It captures all the spirit of trusting in a God who like a loving Father knows our needs, cares about us, and delights in providing all that is good for us. I’m like most of you, though, in that I don’t always pay attention when I’m praying the Lord’s prayer. But I love the fact that we keep praying that prayer. To me, it demonstrates that we’re all still trying to become people who trust God enough not only to pray with confidence, but also to live out our trust in God through the generous and grace-filled way we relate to one another and to our world.

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 7/24/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/tyR6Q8WB2Ao

The Joy of the Kingdom

The Joy of the Kingdom

Psalm 30; Luke 10:1-20[1]

Let’s be honest: our world feels like chaos right now. We’ve already lived through a time of turmoil that most of us couldn’t have imagined a couple of years ago. And if the sweeping changes that have affected everything from gas prices to the ways movies are released haven’t been enough, it seems like every week we’re hit with something that is “unprecedented.” It feels like that word is getting worn out this year! If you look closely at your friends and neighbors, or even if you look closely at yourself in the mirror, I think beneath the appearance of everything being fine, many of us are actually struggling. We’re tired, we’re stressed out, and we’re afraid. And the “hits” just keep on coming.

When you look at all that, it may seem completely out of touch with reality to even talk about “joy.” How can anyone in good conscience talk about “joy” while so many are suffering so desperately? And yet, with all the pressure we’re all living under, I would say that finding joy in our lives is precisely what we need. When we live out of our stress and fear, we are never able to be our best selves. But finding joy in life gives us the hope that enables us to rise above all that would box us in with fear and to live out of our compassion and kindness instead.

Our Gospel lesson for today might raise this question for some of us. When you look at all the turmoil and the suffering going on, it may seem irresponsible to talk about the “joy of the Kingdom.” But the joy found in our Gospel lesson for today doesn’t come from some naïve detachment from the harsh realities of life. It comes right out of them. In our lesson for today, Jesus warned those who would take a stand for the Kingdom of God of the dangers it may involve. In this context, he was sending 70 (or 72) of his followers “on ahead of him” to take the good news to as many people as possible. And he was preparing them for what will happen as they work to spread the “peace” of God’s kingdom.

Jesus knew that there would be some who would welcome the peace they were bringing into their homes and their lives. But he also knew that there would be some who would reject it. He warned them that he was sending them out “like lambs into the midst of wolves” (Lk 10:3). Jesus had already told them more than once that he must go to Jerusalem where he would face rejection, torture, and eventually death. And he warned those who would follow him that they must be prepared to take up their own cross “daily” (Lk 9:23). Jesus knew that those were willing to join him in sharing the “peace” of God’s kingdom would not be welcomed by everyone they met along the way. And he knew that some of them would literally risk their lives for the sake of the good news.

Even though this group of disciples apparently did not face that level of threat on this occasion, the call to follow Jesus and to carry out the mission of the Kingdom of God would sooner or later lead many of them into danger. We might think that would put a damper on their sense of joy in serving God’s purposes in this world. But that was not the case. As the New Testament shows us, time and again those who suffered for the sake of their faith considered it a privilege to be counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ, for the sake of God’s kingdom, and for the sake of the peace, justice, and freedom God was bringing into the world.

Their joy in serving the kingdom of God didn’t come from the ease or comfort of their lives. Rather it came from the promise of salvation. That’s what Jesus meant when he instructed his disciples to “rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Lk 10:20)! Their joy was inspired by the confidence that God will never fail us or forsake us but will be with us no matter what our circumstances. Their joy was inspired by the assurance that God will keep his promises. Their joy was inspired by their faith that God’s kingdom will make all things right and restore everyone and everything to life. That was the kind of joy they found as they followed Jesus in ministry to their world.[2]

Jesus continually bore witness to the joy of the Kingdom—in his parables, in his proclamation of the Gospel, and in his life. What makes the good news about Jesus so joyful is the faith that God’s kingdom of justice, peace, and freedom is already transforming this world. That hope frees us so that we can live joyfully now, even in the midst of all the difficulties we may face, and even in the face of the suffering that many have to endure!

When you think about the stress and fear we’re all going through right now, I think we might agree that we could all use a dose of joy right about now. I’m not talking about looking at life through rose-colored glasses. I think the joy we need is the joy that Jesus pointed us to: the joy of God’s future, where those who suffer will be comforted, the poor will be supplied with everything they need, and the oppressed will be set free to live the lives they were meant to live. It’s a joy that comes from looking for the day when God will turn all the mourning in the world into dancing. As we redirect our lives from fear to joy, we can serve others with love in the hope that God’s kingdom is already making all things new!

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 7/3/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/W4DbflNw06Y

[2] Jürgen Moltmann, The Passion for Life: A Messianic Lifestyle, 74, calls this kind of joy the “laughter of the redeemed, the dance of the liberated.”  Moltmann uses this phrase with reference to the celebration of the resurrection at Easter, but I would say that it applies as well to the joy of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ ministry.

Past All Hope?

 Past All Hope?

Luke 8:26-39[1]

I think all of us have known someone who was thought to be “past all hope.” Life in this world can bring so many challenges, and for some it’s just too much. In his brilliant but cynical novel “A Call to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway said, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” I’ve found that to be true. But I’ve also known people whom the world has broken, and they just seem to remain broken. For whatever reason, instead of taking the steps to heal and grow stronger, they cannot break free from the darkness of their pain and fear. Or they retreat into some kind of unhealthy behavior in order to avoid their suffering.

Unfortunately, I would say that our willingness to write someone off as “past all hope” is just a convenient way to let ourselves off the hook when it comes to treating them with human dignity and kindness. Let’s be honest: it can be frustratingly difficult to try to relate to people who are caught in the darkness of their pain and fear. We have to go out of our way to try to have any kind of basic interaction with a person like that. And all our efforts may be met with little or no response. There isn’t much of a “payoff” for trying to treat someone so fundamentally broken like a fully human person. But the call to follow Christ demands that we reach out to “the least of these.”

Our Gospel lesson for today can be difficult for us to hear. It’s easy to get caught up in all the talk of “demons” and casting them out. Some may want to just write all that off. But I agree with Karl Barth, who said that Jesus saw and experienced “an abyss of darkness” that was not imaginary but real and actually affected people’s lives.[2] On the other hand, it would be a mistake to think that this story is primarily about the “demonic” and to believe that we live in a world “with devils filled” as Martin Luther put it. We live in God’s world, and this story shows us God’s power to overcome all that torments people.

That’s what we see when we focus our attention on the man who was afflicted. Luke tells us that although he “a man from the city,” “for a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs” (Lk 8:27). Because of his extreme torment, although people tried to restrain him, he broke the bonds and was driven into the “wilderness” (Lk 8:29). The result of his affliction was that he was completely separated from human community. Perhaps we might say that even more than that, he was separated from his own humanity. I think it’s safe to say that the people who knew him had written him off as “past all hope.”

When we focus on this man and his interaction with Jesus, what we see is the power of Jesus to save and heal and restore this man. It’s important to note that when Jesus crossed into this territory, which was on the Eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, Luke says he was “opposite Galilee” (Lk 8:26). That’s a way of saying that he had left Jewish lands and was in a Gentile region. I think we’re meant to see that Jesus’ power and authority to both heal and save even one so utterly tormented was fully intact. That might seem logical to us, but in that day, people believed that different “gods” had control of different countries. While we may not be surprised to know that Jesus’ power to heal and save was just as effective in Gentile territory, Jesus’ disciples may have been.

Part of the point of this story is also found in Jesus’ interaction with the people of that land. When those who witnessed what happened went back and brought others with them, they found the man who had been so tormented “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (Lk 8:35). The contrast between his present state and his former state could not be more obvious: Luke identifies him as “the one who had been saved” (Lk 8:36). This man who had been written off as “past all hope” Jesus had not only restored to his own humanity, he had also saved him.[3] But when the people of that place saw all this, they responded not with joy but with fear. They were content while he was among the tombs or in the wilderness. But the thought that he might rejoin their community was too much for them. So they asked Jesus to leave. Despite that, Jesus left this man behind as a living witness to the power of God to heal and to save even one who was “past all hope.”

Some of you know that I have some personal experience with this kind of thing. My younger brother, Douglas, suffered a kind of mental and emotional breakdown when he was 16. We’re not sure what happened, but whatever it was shattered his soul. His life was one of constantly going from one medication to another that from my perspective didn’t help much. It was difficult to know how to relate to my brother, how to treat him as a fully human person. Finally, we decided to make regular trips to Corpus Christi, where we would take him to his favorite restaurant, visit with him as much as possible, and then take him back to his day care center. My brother passed away in 2009 at the age of 44. He was never “healed” in the sense that the man in our Gospel story experienced. But I’d like to think that our willingness to treat him as fully human person, along with his caregivers who worked with him over the course of most of the last twenty years of his life, was a kind of “restoration” for him. And I believe that now, in the presence of the living Jesus, he has been restored to his full humanity. It’s my hope and prayer that all of us may find a way to respond even to those who are labeled as “past all hope” with dignity and kindness, treating them as fully human persons.

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 6/19/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/DF3FbH9B6lo

[2] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.2:230. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX, 733: he describes this phenomenon simply as “evil afflicting the psychic being of a mortal man.”

[3] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 104: “The lordship of God drives out of creation the powers of destruction, …, and heals the created beings who have been damaged by them. If the kingdom of God is coming as Jesus proclaimed, then salvation is coming as well.”

God's Love Overflowing

 God’s Love Overflowing

Proverbs 8:1-11, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15[1]

When you think about religion as our human efforts to worship and serve God, you would think that a concept so basic to the human experience would be consistent across the board. But the opposite is true. The cultures of the world throughout history have held many beliefs about “God.” In ancient religions, the “gods” were simply a picture of human impulses on a large scale. But while the “gods” may have embodied the best human qualities, they also embodied the worst. Other cultures have approached their understanding of “God” through nature, and some even found their way to a “benevolent” notion of God. But our notions of “God” have always been as varied as the human family is.

Even in the Christian faith there are very different images of God. Some see God as a stickler for rules, always eager to punish those who go astray. And in many cases, those who understand God like that have come up with all kinds of things you have to do in order to stay on God’s “good side” so you can go to heaven when you die. Others have such a casual view of God that they turn the creator of the vast universe into their “buddy.” And they think this “buddy” of theirs is a personal “genie in a bottle” who will make their every wish come true. How you understand God makes a difference!

That’s why we observe “Trinity Sunday.” It’s a day for us to recall that there are important reasons we worship one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I realize that may sound like a “stretch” to some. A lot of people these days think it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you have some kind of faith. But I would insist that the Bible bears witness to God in this unique way of understanding that we call “Trinity.” And it’s not just about making sure we follow the Bible. Believing in, worshipping, and serving God as “Trinity” makes a big difference in what your faith and your life look like.

Our scripture lessons for today point out some of the reasons why it’s important that we understand God in this way. In our lesson from Proverbs, we get a better glimpse of what it means to say “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” There is something intimidating about the notion that God created all the galaxies we can see with the new James Webb Space Telescope. But our lesson shows us a different side: God enjoying creation and delighting in the human family. Creation was not only an expression of God’s power, but also of God’s love, overflowing in the beauty of the world that is “very good” (Gen 1:31). Part of what it means to believe in “Trinity” is that we see God not only as all-powerful but also as one who takes great delight in loving all creation.

Our lesson from John’s Gospel reminds us of what it means to say, “I believe in Jesus Christ God’s only Son our Lord.” As we’ve seen in our journey through John’s Gospel during Easter, Jesus’ whole life was one act of demonstrating God’s love for us. By coming in human flesh, he showed us what God’s love looks like. By serving “the least of these” (Mt 25:40), he demonstrated God’s love for everyone. And by giving his life on the cross, Jesus revealed just how far God is willing to go to draw us into the embrace of love shared eternally by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Part of what it means to believe in “Trinity” is that we know God’s love for us through Jesus Christ.

Our lesson from Romans reminds us of what it means to say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” God not only poured out his love when he created all things “very good.” And God not only poured out his love by sending Jesus to show us what love looks like in real life. God also continually pours out his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Again, as we have seen in John’s Gospel, the Spirit is our constant companion, the one who leads us to faith, who shows us the truth of what God is doing in and among us, and who guides us daily. Part of what it means to believe in “Trinity” is that we trust that God’s love for us means that he continually accompanies, guides, sustains, and empowers us.

In the Bible, it takes all three, God the Creator, Jesus the Redeemer, and the Spirit who sustains us, to fully understand who God is. If it’s true that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), it should come as no surprise that the one God who is three—Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer—exists in a relationship of love and community. This is the image of God in the Bible: God in relationship, God in community, God involved in our lives. This is central to our faith, because the love shared between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the basis for everything God does in our lives, for all that God does in our community of faith, and for all that God does through us as we serve others.

The point of the Trinity is that God is a God of love—not just love that observes from afar, but love that reaches out to us and seeks a relationship with us. The God who creates and redeems and sustains us is a God who shows us a love that is constantly present among us, that gets involved in our lives, and that takes action to fill our lives with love. About twenty years ago, the PCUSA commissioned a study of our understanding of God as “Trinity.” That doesn’t take any kind of stretch of imagination! The (inevitable) report encouraged churches to explore ways to include affirmations of our faith in God as “Trinity,” using the range of expressions in the Bible and in the history of the Church. And the overarching theme was framed in the title of the report: “The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing.” I can think of no better way to understand God: love overflowing in and through all creation and in and through every one of our lives!

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[1] © 2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 6/12/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/q6bP3CkiA0Q