Knowing Just What to Say

I probably repeat myself a lot.

I should clarify: I’m sure I do repeat myself a lot (I just did right there), but I also seem to repeat topics and ideas that come up again and again. Just this past week, I had to point out that the stories we’re currently hearing from the Gospel of Luke have appeared in a sermon series, in a study group and been the topic of a study group all within the last year. What more can be said?

Well, allow me to repeat myself or, at least, remind you of the work of others.

This week, we’re hearing Luke’s account of Jesus offering the words of the Lord’s Prayer. I’ve looked at that a lot - we just did a study group on the Lord’s Prayer in June - and I was curious how often I’d preached on it. When I looked back, I found a post from 2016 that remembered more creative days. Forgive me a summer week to share some of it again. It’s really worth repeating.

We had a Sunday back in March, 2016, when the service was led by youth and children. It was awesome, of course, as you’d expect, and included an important lesson for anyone who struggles with prayer. Let me share it again.

The scripture passage was Luke 11:1-13, the story that begins with one of the disciples asking Jesus to “teach us to pray.” Jesus answers with the words we know as The Lord’s Prayer or The Prayer of Jesus, that formal prayer we all say together each week. Jesus goes on to talk about the need to be persistent in prayer and how important it is to remember that God answers our prayers, though the answer is God’s wisdom rather than our own. And God knows us like no one else.

The theme of the morning was “a letter to God.” Each of the children had written a letter to God, a prayer which expressed what they were thankful for and shared needs and concerns that they had. Many of the children read their own letters, all of which also appeared on the big screen behind them. All the adults were invited to write letters, too, if they wanted to, and they had paper to hand out.

It was the same kind of paper they had used, that cheap, lined, three-hole paper like you might put in a binder for school. Somebody had some spare. And when they wrote their letters, they used pencil or crayon or pen, whatever was handy. Some had little drawings as well as words. The writing or printing might not have been the neatest, they didn’t always stay in the lines, the grammar wasn’t always good and the spelling was interesting. Some signed their name at the top and some at the bottom. Maybe even twice. They’re kids.

But God knows what they meant. And that’s just it.

For anyone who struggles to pray because they’re not sure what to say or how to say it, don’t worry. Or if maybe you wonder if there’s a proper form or a special way to address God. Don’t worry. God knows what you mean. God reads - and hears - what’s in our hearts. Just talk to God.

The “church” the children led us in last Sunday mirrored their letters. It wasn’t traditional or formal and it certainly wasn’t perfect. And yet it was. It was personal, authentic and sincere. Just what prayer needs to be.

That bears repeating.