I guess if a preacher can't come up with a sermon on prayer while spending 5 days in an intensive care unit, then a preacher might want to get into some other line of work!  We've been doing a lot of praying in my family --- especially since we found out that my dad needed quadruple by-pass surgery last Monday.  We've been praying, and, when you are around ICU, you also get in on the needs and prayers of lots of others.  One woman was in the waiting room, talking about how her husband was getting better since she said her three special prayers over him, and threw holy water all over the bed.  When we are in pain, or worried about our loved ones, our prayers get pretty intense.

          Anne Lamott, a favorite author of mine that I have mentioned before says that she basically has two prayers.  Help me, help me, help me.  And Thank you, thank you, thank you. Sometimes we treat prayer like our own special vending machine. Put in the right prayer, and out comes the very thing you wanted. We think if we just say the right words or say them often enough, then we will certainly get exactly what we want.

          Rather than a tidy formula, or a magic wishing well or vending machine, prayer is a relationship between us and God --- the one that Jesus invites us to address as Father.  The disciples said teach us to pray, and Jesus said, when you pray say, Father -and the prayer is for US to receive daily bread, for US to be forgiven, it is a communal prayer, addressed to OUR Father.

          I know all about the reality that for some people "father" is a term fraught with complications.  Some never knew their father, some have been wounded broken, or deserted by the very person who is given the responsibility to take care, to nurture and tend, and thinking of God as father gets in their way.  But, we all know what "father" is intended to be.  Father is the one who helps to give you life, who cares for you, holds you when you are in pain.  A father guides you and corrects you when you are headed for trouble.  Fathers provide, and they love and do all they can to give their children what they need.  When they cannot give their children what they want or need, they keep on loving them no matter what.

          I can think of lots of prayers that I have prayed, and that others have prayed that were not answered with what was hoped for.  Our loved ones don't always recover from illness no matter how hard we pray, bad things happen to good people, the things we want to happen, don't.  Even when the answer to our prayers is not the answer we wanted, our relationship with God is what gives us something to cling to, a power that holds on to us no matter what.  As Job discovered in his suffering, the answer was in the presence of God.

          OUR FATHER reminds us who God is, reminds us that no matter what we experience, God is with us and will find a way to bring us healing and life, even in the midst of suffering and death.  Jesus taught his disciples the prayer, and then he told them a story about someone being bold enough to just keep on asking --- someone persistent.  Jesus told his disciples to ASK and it will be given, search and you will find, knock that the door will be opened.

          Often people will look to these verses as a guarantee that whatever they want, they will get.  And when they don't get it, they say --- I asked, and asked, so either God is not there, or God just does not care.  If we aren't going to get what we ask for, why does Jesus tell us to be bold and persistent?

          I am convinced that we are invited to ask, to search, to knock, because that is what keeps us in the relationship with God, and when our hearts are broken by not receiving the answer we wanted, God promises to provide what we NEED, to stay with us, to be there.

          In the midst of all that we cannot understand, in the midst of all that is broken in this world, the promise of God is that no matter what, the presence of God will be with us.  And when we are in relationship with God, sometimes our eyes are opened and we see that we are being taken care of even when the answer is no.

           When we pray, we acknowledge our place in the relationship, God is our loving father, and we are God's beloved children.  When we pray, we are acknowledging our dependence on God, and our desire to be who God created us to be.  When we pray, we come to know God better, and we see the ways that we can be part of God's kingdom coming to this world.  When we pray for our daily bread, we begin to understand that we can help to feed others, when we realize how completely we have been forgiven, we can forgive others.  The relationship is between God and us, and between us as God's children.

          Sometimes we will not get exactly what we prayed for, but always we will get what we need.  Maybe you have heard that if you have an enemy, pray for that person for 90 days.  We cannot hate someone whom we are talking to God about every day for 3 months because prayer changes us.  Prayer strengthens the relationship that we have so that we can let go, forgive, to move on.

          I have urged all of us to be people of prayer as we think about this congregation, to pray for this community of faith and for our work in the world.  God answers prayer through us sometimes.  As we grow in our relationship to God, the Spirit stirs us to action, and helps us to listen for the ways that God is calling us to new adventures.

          Pray, not because it is magic, not because you expect the right treat to come out of the vending machine.  Pray because it keeps us in close contact with our loving father.  Pray because we need to talk to our dad, and because our dad longs to hear from us.  God does not depend on our asking, he knows our needs, but like any loving parent, he desires a relationship with us.

          As I walked in and out of that intensive care unit, I was very aware that each person was probably the focus of at least one person's prayers.  I was also aware that not every prayer being offered was going to be answered with what was hoped for.  Honestly, right now I don't even know for sure how my dad will come out of this --- his heart surgery went well, but he had to be put back on a ventilator because his lungs are not working well.  What I do know is that God is with us, that God waits to hear from us, and that even before we have formed our first petition, God is at work to care for us and give us what we need. It is no magic formula, it is a relationship with a loving father, a father who will listen when we are in need, who will pick us up when we are hurt, and who will whisper into our ears, I love you, you are mine. 

AMEN