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November 12, 2006

"The Power of Prayer"

1 Samuel 1: 4-20

It has been a very strange and interesting week. I changed the title of my sermon on Wednesday, thinking I was opening the gates to creativity and let me tell, as soon as the gates opened, I was flooded with ideas and examples of the power of prayer. And I am sure you are thinking, well of course, Heather, you of all people should know the power of prayer. You are the preacher!

Let me share a few examples of the power of prayer that I have experienced this week. Mike forwarded an email to me that was from a former youth group kid. This is her first year at college and not really enjoying it so much. She traveled about 8 hours away for school and she is trying to decide if she should return to Lexington for school. She decided to pray to God to show her signs pushing her one way or another. And she did admit that this was a little weird for her because she normally doesn’t pray for things. She thanks God for people, etc but never pray for things. And she continued to say that some weird things have been happening since she asked for a sign. She decided to flip a coin and 7/10 times getting Tails for Transfer (instead of Heads for Here). And just when she was writing this email, it had been thunder storming and it hadn't lightening in a while, so she asked God to make it lightning if she should transfer, which she will admit was stupid, but then thirty seconds later, if that, it lightening, when it hadn't for at LEAST 45 minutes.
The youth continued in the email that she didn't know how much of this is chance and common occurrence and how much of it is God telling her to do something. And she just wanted Mike’s thoughts on it.

After reading this email, Mike asks me what should he do? All I could think about was is this really the power of prayer?

Another example I had this week, and I will admit that this is completely selfish of me but I did say a little prayer. I was driving to Lexington just a few days ago, and I was late for a meeting. You forget how long it takes to do that drive when you walk to work. So as I was driving, people kept pulling out in front of me and I kept getting stopped by every red light between here and Lexington. And I heard myself saying, God, please turn the light to green. I am late for a meeting. Come on, God, Turn the light to green.
And I had to stop and I asked myself. Was this the power of prayer that really wanted and needed? Sure, I could have left a few minutes earlier. Sure, I could have scheduled my time a little better. But was I really praying for God to change a red light green?

The power of prayer. What exactly are we doing or saying when we say a prayer to God? We were all taught as little children to say our prayers before going to bed at night. I remember as a child my sister and I would drive our parents crazy by praying for everyone and anything. We prayed for our family. We prayed for our friends. We prayed for our cats. We prayed for just about anything. Just so that we could have a few more minutes staying up and not going to bed.

The power of prayer. Have we reduced this amazing connection with God to a passing thought or a wish list? One gentleman asked Mike the other day if we had sold our house yet or rented it out. Mike said no. And the gentleman said, Well, have you prayed about it? Just pray about it and God will sell your house. As much as I would like to sell our house, I just can’t imagine God as my personal Remax agent.

The power of prayer. What exactly is the power of prayer? Today, we learned in our story that Hannah prayed to God for a child and went to the Temple to bring her plea to God. She was so distraught the priest thought she was drunk. Before leaving the Temple, Hannah was told that God would grant her petition. The power of prayer.

I have to tell you I really enjoy these stories from the Old Testament. The people are just right there with God, carrying on conversations, stating their needs and holding God accountable. Think about it. Moses comes across a burning bush. He goes and checks it out and then a voice talks to him. And Moses carries on a conversation with the burning bush. He learns its God and now God has come in response to the people’s prayers in Egypt. God and Moses carrying on a conversation.

Think about this. Abraham and God standing around carrying on a conversation about Sodom and Gomorrah. God thinks, Well should I tell Abraham what I am about to do? Well, yes, I picked him as my servant and he needs to know what’s going on. So God tells Abraham God’s plan and then Abraham proceeds to bargain with God. Okay God, what if you find if you find 50 righteous people in these towns? Are you really going to destroy them? And God says well, no. And then Abraham continues this back and forth for a while until he has bargained with God to not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if God can find 10 righteous people. Think about it. Just Abraham and God talking.

Think about this. Elijah meeting God on Mount Horeb. God comes to Elijah in a still small voice and asks, What are you doing here? And Elijah proceeds to tell God, “Look I have been working for you and now they want to kill me. I am the last one, God. Just thought you should know.” Just God and Elijah talking, sharing in a conversation.

That’s what I love about these Old Testament stories. It is the power of prayer. Moses, Abraham, Elijah, and Hannah lay it all out before God. They carry on a conversation with God. They are not talking to an empty space or in reverent silence. They are standing there in conversation with God. They let God know what’s going on. They let God know their frustrations. They let God know that they are lost or forgotten. They let God know that God made certain promises. They let God know.

And then turn it over to God.
That’s the key. That’s the power of true prayer. We carry on a conversation with a living, loving God. We tell God our needs. We tell God what’s going on in our lives. We tell God our frustrations. And then, we let it go and give it to God.

I think we all have this image or understanding that if we seek out help, then we are weak. We must be strong in our faith. We must be solid in our faith. If we admit that we are struggling, if we admit that we are anxious, if we admit that we are frustrated, then we are weak.

The power of prayer tells of differently. Hannah comes to God. She lays it all out. She reminds God that she is a child of God and knows that God’s grace is available to her. And then she leaves the Temple, knowing that God has heard her prayer, knowing that God would work in God’s time, knowing that some things were beyond her control, but not God’s.

The power of prayer is an amazing thing. The power of prayer is a gift of grace. The power of prayer is so much more than telling God what we want in our lives and what we think would work best. It is about sharing and being in conversation with God. It is about laying it all out there in an authentic and open and honest way. It is about turning things over to God, recognizing that what we want might not be the best solution or even in our control. The power of pray is being in relationship with God. The power of pray is trusting in God. The power of prayer is about grace.

We open ourselves up to be in true relationship with God when we pray. We open ourselves up to letting go to God when we pray. We open ourselves up to the possibilities of God when we pray. That is the power of prayer.

May we always experience the power of prayer in our lives. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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