Sermon and Video of Divine Service for 7th Sunday after Pentecost
7th Sunday after Pentecost
Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer
2025 Proper 12C
Colossians 2:6-19
Luke 11:1-13
There are two places where Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer. Today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11 and Matthew 6. We note that in Luke 11, Jesus gives them the words of the Lord’s prayer in response to a question. “…one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’” Jesus responded with words that we recognize as the Lord’s Prayer. In Matthew 6, the situation is different. Jesus offers the Lord’s prayer in middle of the Sermon on the Mount. The lead up to this moment in the sermon is different in tone and instruction. Jesus begins by saying, “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners.” And a couple of verses later adds this, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Then, Jesus provides for them the words of the Our Father.
Two very different lead-ins are recorded for our benefit. In Matthew, Jesus encourages us to not be like either hypocrites or gentiles. In Luke, he responds to an inquiry from a disciple who wants a distinctive prayer that distinguishes them from the disciples of John the Baptist.
The lead-in to the prayer made me curious how we know to say the Lord’s Prayer when we are worshiping together. I looked at all five Settings in the hymnal and all the other services that we would use when we are together.
Divine settings 1 & 2, the Pastor says, “Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray.” This request is a combination of the request from the thief on the cross and the disciple’s request in Luke 11.
In setting 4, the Pastor says, “Hear us as we pray in His name and as He has taught us.” This is the transition in the Prayer of Thanksgiving that leads us into the Lord’s Prayer before the Words of Institution are proclaimed.
In Settings 3 & 5, there is no introduction. By being familiar with the pattern of worship, we know that this is the correct time for us to pray together.
In Matins, Vespers, and Responsive Prayer 2, the three-fold invocation of God’s mercy prefaces the Lord’s prayer. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
Responsive Prayer 1 follows a similar pattern. The Leader of the prayer service begins with “Holy God, holy and most gracious Father.” The congregation responds with “have mercy and hear us.” So, we begin the Lord’s prayer by invoking the Lord’s mercy.
In Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Compline, and the Funeral service, the Lord’s prayer is introduced when the Pastor says, “Taught by our Lord and trusting His promises, we are bold to pray.”
One of the things that impressed me through this survey of the church’s divine services and daily prayer offices is the constancy of the Lord’s Prayer. The Bible readings change daily. The Collect of the Day, the Prayers of the Church and others portions of the liturgy weekly or seasonally. But, what you will always find is the Lord’s Prayer. It serves as an anchor to a Christian service. It is fixed. It is constant. Always there.
All the different ways in which the Lord’s Prayer is introduced in our liturgies come from the Bible. They are biblical themes and teachings that we need to have engrained in our hearts and minds so that the Lord’s words easily come to our remembrance and tongues.
Because God loves us and because the Lord God is merciful to us beyond reason, He wants to hear from us. So much so that he gives us words to say when we need to pray. Even if we do not yet have the words we want to use formulated in our minds, we have words to use because the Lord gave them to us.
Because there are times in which we know that we need to pray, but the situation is tense, or we are devastated, or we are too distracted, and our minds draw a blank, and we are tongue tied, we are assured that the Lord already knows our needs and concerns before we come to Him in prayer. Nonetheless, He wants to hear from us. So, how do we start? Where do we begin? We start just like Jesus taught us. “Our Father, who art in heaven…”
I do believe that the Holy Spirit has shaped the communal liturgies that we use. The Holy Spirit has arranged for us to regularly use the prayer that Jesus teaches us. The persistent presence of the Lord’s prayer in the liturgy spills over into our expressions of congregational and personal piety. In every congregation that I have been a part of while growing up, when I went away to school, and the congregations in which I was a member and that I have served as pastor, the Lord’s prayer is a part of nearly every event and meeting. Most often we begin with a prayer that uses different words, but we conclude our time together with the Lord’s prayer. I am confident that most regular church going families use the Lord’s prayer at some point during the day or night. This is what Jesus wants of us.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, He says, “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith…” When he says “received Christ Jesus the Lord” he is referring to their baptism. After Baptism comes the long walk with the Lord where our faith is continually built up and strengthened. Prayer is a significant part of that walk. Christians never walk the faith alone. The church is with us too. Together, we are learning and re-learning what the Lord teaches us.
Persistence is something Jesus wants of us. Persistence in listening and learning. Persistence in conversation with Him. Jesus also desires that we have confidence to address Him. This is one of the lessons we take away from the example of Abraham’s desperate prayer on behalf of the residents of Sodom where Lot lives.
Abraham is confident in his faith and he is bold to pray. “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it?” Abraham boldly gets the LORD down to ten. Abraham boldly appeals to the Lord’s character. The Lord is merciful beyond measure. Sadly, that is not enough. Sodom and Gomorrah both are thoroughly debased and so spiritually and morally corrupt that they cannot even offer basic hospitality to strangers. Only Lot and his immediate family is saved from destruction.
Yet the Lord because He is merciful and kind and generous, He is willing to entertain Abraham’s concerns.
Through the Word of God, and the formal worship of the Church, we learn what our Lord teaches us. He desires an ongoing conversation-oriented relationship with Him. Not as grandstanding hypocrites or gentiles with meaningless words. He desires obedience. He desires our sincere and heart-felt words too. We are ever his disciples. Yet, through the cross of Jesus and the righteousness and forgiveness that Jesus places upon us, Jesu calls us friends, and we call him brother and Savior.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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