Communion – Luke 11:1-4

In Luke 11, the disciples say, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus’ response is both a pattern and a script for prayer, a guideline for prayer and a prayer we regularly recite. It is the place we go to when we ourselves wonder, “Jesus, how do we pray?” However, the starting place of prayer is not "how", but "who"?

A study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization in 2021, found that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, prayer Google searches “rose on all continents, at all levels of income, inequality, and insecurity, and for all types of religion, except Buddhism.”

The researchers concluded that the global rise in religiosity or spirituality happened because “people pray to cope with adversity.”

“Our culture is increasingly abandoning anything that resembles orthodox Christianity in favor of a generic or sentimental kind of spirituality. This has caused many, including those within the church, to embrace a distorted vision of prayer. They seem to think that prayer is little more than a form of self-therapy but with a spiritual facade. In some places it’s seen as a self-improvement practice that any health-obsessed person should do, like working out or eating quinoa.” – Skye Jethani

Christian prayer should be concerned with relationship not results. To whom we pray is more important than how we pray.

LUKE 11

This prayer for Jesus followers has become both a pattern and a script for those in the Christian tradition. It is a guideline for prayer AND simultaneously, a prayer we regularly recite. It is the place in scripture we go to when we ourselves wonder, “Jesus, how do we pray?”

This is why for the next several weeks leading up to lent, we will be unpacking each line of the Lord’s prayer in a teaching series entitled “Teach Us to Pray.” Each week we will focus on a different aspect of prayer as reflected in the Lord’s prayer.

Week 1: Communion

Week 2: Contending

Week 3: Petition

Week 4: Confession

Week 5: Mission

GOD AS FATHER

Jesus begins the Lord’s prayer reminding us that our communion with God as father is the foundation for all of prayer- it is the starting place- it’s everything. The who of prayer is God our Father.

The opening line of this prayer, “Our Father in heaven” would have been shocking even scandalous to the ears of Jesus’ 1st-century audience for a few reasons:

As aforementioned, God was never referred to in an intimate way but always in a formal and reverent one.

Prayers in the 1st century for both Jews and non-Jews were generally formulaic in approach using words to compel a reluctant God to act.

Our Father in heaven, these four words changed the way we relate to God and thus the entire nature of prayer. In defining the who, Jesus changes the why, when, where, what, and how of prayer.

BREAD FOR A NEIGHBOR

“And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Luke 11:5-8

“Ancient Israel was an honor-based culture and highly communal. A person’s reputation was of paramount importance, and their reputation was inexorably linked to their extended family and community. Failing to provide bread to an unexpected visitor, which is the core problem in Jesus’ story, would not only bring shame upon an individual but also upon the entire village.” – Skye Jethani

The point is remarkable simply: God does not answer prayers because of our reputation but because of his.

In one simple story, Jesus takes the focus of prayer off of our own righteousness or even our dedication to God. And he places the focus of prayer on God’s desire to retain his reputation as a good loving father who gives his sons and daughters what they ask regardless of the quality of the asker.

God answers prayers not because of our reputation but because of his reputation. And he is known as a good father.To whom we pray is more important than how we pray.

GIVER OF GOOD GIFTS

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”’ –Luke 11:11-13

As mentioned beforehand, the betrayal of God as a good and loving father was a scandalous idea for Jesus’ first-century context. God was rarely referred to in an intimate way. He was almost always referred to formally and reverently.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” –Genesis 3:1

Interestingly enough, in Genesis 2, God is referred to over and over again as Yahweh Elohim or Lord God. But when the serpent comes onto the scene in Genesis 3:1, twisting God’s words and creating half-truths, he refers to God by only using the word Elohim. Scholars call this keeping the abstract but dropping the personal. It would be like calling someone by their title and not their name.

RESTORATION OF FATHER
According to theologian N.T. Wright, there are nearly half a million words in the Hebrew Bible yet God is only portrayed as father 15 times.

But then we turn to the New Testament. Gone are the days of reserve or distance. There is a new tone, a new familiarity, a new narrative. Jesus calls God father 65 times by the time you finish the gospel of Luke and over 170 times by the time you reach the end of John.

It is only in proximity to the Father God of love that we “grasp how wide and long and high and deep” God’s love is for us

We must stop thinking of prayer as simply communicating with God and start communing with God.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
We do this through a practice commonly known as contemplative prayer.

Contemplative prayer, as defined in the Handbook of Spiritual Disciplines, is a way of being with God without wordiness relying on God to initiate communion and communication.

“Let your heart rate decrease. Know that you’re already bathed in the Father’s love, and ask simply for what you need, in the assurance that the One to whom you’re speaking is already cupping His ear in your direction.”– Wesley Hill

“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.” – Matthew 6:7-8