Words for Worship
Ministry Today
Matthew 6.1-15
The author Fredrick Forsyth
is best known
for his big thrillers
such as
the day of the jackal
and the Odessa file.
But he also penned
a great little ghost story
for Christmas.
It all starts
when a young RAF pilot
flies his jet fighter home
from Germany
on the Christmas eve
of 1957.
His troubles start
over a freezing North sea
when all the electrics
on his plane failed.
He was now
without instruments and radio.
Not a problem he thinks!
I will find out where I am
when visually recognise
the coast of East Anglia
by the town lights.
Wrong –
for the whole of England
is shrouded in fog.
He can’t bail out
and expect to survive
in the chilling sea below,
so he flies in triangles
in the hope of attracting
the British air traffic controllers
attention.
But on his third circuit
he starts to pray.
This is how the story goes on…
Ten minutes went by
and nothing happened.
I had not really prayed
for years
and the habit came hard.
Lord, please get me out of
this bleep mess ..
no - you must talk to Him like that.
Our father which art in heaven ….
Well the Lord’s prayer
has been said
already
thousands of times in the last hour
and in a thousand and one situations.
Yet Willie Barclay observes
it is not a child’s prayer
or a family prayer
and least of all
not an unbelievers prayer.
It is however
Quintessentially
a committed Christians’ prayer
who understands God.
Since – you see –
the Lord’s Praye
is above all
a gift from Christ
to his followers.
It is not just
a model for prayer.
It is not just
best practice
for the pious.
Rather provides
in a very compact form
most of what we need to know
to speak to God
in any age.
It is then
a prayer only for disciples.
And so we are going
to spend a few Sundays
looking at the Lord’s Prayer
in some detail.
Because discussing
it should benefit
our private piety
and it should also
boost our quiet service.
But far more importantly,
it will help us
as disciples
to be people
who know
what not to bother God with
by our lives
and people
who want to be bothered
about God
in their lives.
And to explain all that
we need to look
at the structure
of the prayer itself.
Since if we look carefully
at it
we find that it is built
on two sets
of three requests.
Firstly, we have the three petitions
to God
about himself.
For in the first part
of this exemplary prayer
we’re are concerned
that God s influence
in the world
is respected as other
and holy
and probably beyond human understanding.
Then we seek that his full vision
for the universe
comes to pass.
Finally we recommit
to his will
being expressed not just in nature
or others
but within ourselves.
And this concern for God
first
is the right way round.
The reason being,
as genuine disciples,
we know
that we must put God
in pole position.
We know
never to exploit publicly
the name of God
for our own end.
Even more supremely,
we must realise
that we cannot bend God
to our will
either through prayer
or other means.
Instead our lives
must be in accord with
what He wants.
Because above all,
we must pursue
his vision quietly
and piously
and if need be sacrificially.
Only once
these vital prayer objectives
are out of the way,
does the Lord’s Prayer
suggest we should
to turn to self.
And here it covers
these issues
in a very clever
and concise way.
For, it starts
by asking for bread –
that essential factor
to maintain life
here and now.
In other words,
this portion of prayer
deals with all that we need
in the present.
Next it turns
to repentance and forgiveness.
Put another way,
it requires us
to look to our needs
generated from our past.
Often that is all about
coming to terms
with what has happened,
being reconciled
to the people
who have had their hand in
bad events
and to finding release
from the times
when we have not
literally
been at our best.
Finally, the Lord’s Prayer
talks about temptation.
More precisely,
it now deals with the future.
With all that could
scare us,
mislead us
and guide us
in unrewarding ways,
in dangerous ways
and ways
that threaten
our genuine well being;
the ways that tempts us
out of undemonstative piety
and into the broad thoroughfare
of public service
to selfishness and worse.
From the beginning of time,
God has attempted
to get people’s attention
and to call them
into a commitment
to live within his principles,
values,
and sense of sacredness.
Sometimes
the people heard
and responded ,
and sometimes they ignored him.
Yet century after century,
God has kept on working
at getting human’s attention.
And that leads me
to a little story
I read recently.
There once was
a little girl
who sort of understood
about God
never giving up.
For, she was
sitting on her grandfather’s lap
as he read her
a bedtime story.
From time
to time,
she would take her eyes
off the book
and reach up to touch
his wrinkled cheek.
She was alternately
stroking her own cheek,
then his again.
Finally she spoke up,
"Grandad, did God make you?"
"Yes, Sweetheart,"
he answered,
"God made me a long time ago."
"Oh," she paused,
"Grandpa, did God make me too?"
"Yes, indeed, honey,"
he said,
"God made you just a little while ago."
Feeling their respective faces again,
she observed,
"God’s getting better
at it, isn’t he?"
Well with his son’s teaching
of the Lord’s Prayer
you could say
that God was getting better
at gaining human attention.
More importantly,
with its teaching
he should be getting
the right sort of reaction
from humans.
Because as we go on
to study this compendium
of all we need from God,
we will become better disciples.
We will learn to follow
without public show
or self serving pretence.
We will be better
at discerning
what God
really wants of us
and for us.
Yet high above these
we will quietly
be inspired to seek out
pious moments.
Instants when we not only
know his present maintenance
but also his setting right
of the past
and his reassurance
of a future that serves everyone’s interest.
Oh by the way –
did Fredrick Forsyth’s pilot
get home safely?
Well through the dark fog
he was met
by a ghostly world war two aircraft
that guided him
through the unseen
to land him in safety.
And so his prayer was answered,
his speaking to God worked
and his life was saved.
No wonder I like
that story’ title.
For it ever reminds
of the Lord’s Prayer author
and his sure guidance.
It is called –
the good shepherd.
Amen
Offering
HYMN…………
The Good Shepherd