As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Give us, we pray, O God, thoughts higher than our own thoughts, prayers better than our own prayers, powers beyond our biological possibilities, that we may spend and be spent in the preaching and hearing of Thy Word. Amen.

Last week I began a three week series on prayer, and did so because of the study that appeared on the front page of the New York Times on March 31. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?ex=1301461200&en=4acf338be4900000&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss) If you missed last week, or were just asleep, I won’t go over the details as I did last week. If you want them, check out last week’s sermon on the web, or look at the link included to see the Times Front page article. In short, it is enough to say that the study showed that prayer from strangers did not actually have positive effect on what happened to 1800+ heart patients. And the questions that have come up for some people, myself included, have led me to define for myself, and in these sermons, what I believe prayer does do. If it doesn’t cure heart patients, and studies are saying what it doesn’t do, then let us figure out what we believe that it does do. Last week I said that one of the reasons we pray, one of the desired effects of prayer, and one of the reasons I believe that God wants us to pray, is that it connects us to each other as God’s human family. In these times, in this post modern, ultra individualistic society and world in which we live, that power to connect us with others, including and especially strangers is a much needed thing. You and I regularly need to be reminded that the world doesn’t revolve around you or me.

That was last week. This is a new week, a new day, a new sermon on prayer. Today we turn to Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians to learn about prayer. Hear now The Word of the Lord. Listen.

I Thessalonians 5.16-18.

¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  

The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

Study or no study, I’m for prayer. And generally, it is one of those things that the church and Christians are for. Granted, there are many issues where good believing Christians can disagree. You can be pro-life and be Christian, and you can sit next to and even have a healthy discussion with a pro-choice Christian, which is a good thing to do. You can vote Democrat and be Christian, you can vote Republican and be Christian, you can vote Green Party or Independent and be Christian, and it won’t take you too much effort to look and find Christians who sit on all sides of most any issue. But prayer is not such an issue. Generally, as Christians, we ain’t agin it, we fer it. I can think of only a small handful of issues that all Christians either generally do agree or should. And prayer is on that short list.

I once heard a story about a monk who was so devout that there were indentions in the wood floor beside his bed. The indentions were the exact shape of his knees, and the story went that they were there because the monk prayed in that exact spot for hours each day.

I don’t know about you but I feel extremely humbled by that. I mean, I pray, everyday, but I don’t pray for hours on end. The monk’s story was such that there were hours in the morning, hours during the day, and more hours at night. Three sessions daily that each lasted hours. I’m feeling good if I get some time in the morning, pray over meals, and remember to be thankful in that brief time after my head hits the pillow before I sleep. Add to that verse 17 in today’s passage from Paul. He doesn’t mince words, “pray without ceasing.”

I know scores of people who pray regularly, who are “Prayer Warriors,” as you might have heard them called. But I don’t know of anyone who prays 24/7. Eventually, even the most penitent of us has to fall asleep, right.

And Paul knew this. Was he just overstating his point? I mean, I’ve told Kayla thousands of times not to exaggerate.

But how do we define prayer. One of the aspects of it is that prayer is hunger for God. All have somewhere in their being a desire for God, therefore all pray.¹ That is a beautiful idea. This does not mean, however, that the process is easy or that we can throw away prayer because we all do it naturally anyway. If we all have desire for God, then it is how we as individuals handle this that makes prayer worthwhile and life-giving. If I hunger for God openly, honestly, and humbly, not for my gain, but for reasons I cannot understand, then I will be in positive relationship with God. If I desire God but suppress this and try to do things on my own and be self made pious, then this is not a healthy expression of desire for God, and I may not find peace there.

Perhaps one can define prayer primarily as encounter with God.² If prayer is encounter with God, don’t we as Christians need that continually, and constantly? To turn God off and on for specific time use is to use God and not live with God in integrity.

Henri Nouwen, renowned author and priest, wrote this about prayer; “To pray, I think, does not primarily mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people.”³ If all we did was pray, we would have no time for the other aspects of the Christian life. Nouwen writes that our prayer should not be a compartmentalization of our life. Constant prayer means to think and live in the presence of God.⁴ To think and live in the presence of God. This is not only something that the Christian should desire, but is something we need to make it through each day. If we divide our lives into our time and God’s time, then we remove God from our daily life and put God in a pious niche where we can think pious thoughts and feel pious feelings.⁵ If prayer is our being aware of the presence of God, then how can Christians not live in continuous prayer and still be Christians?

Last week, I said that we pray because it connects us with each other, it turns us into community. This week I say we pray also because it connects us with God, because through our prayer life, we become incorporated into God’s life, and God becomes incorporated into our lives, and the lines between the two become more and more faint. Without doubt, I am not saying that you should try continual prayer as a substitute for daily, regular, conscious, words coming out of your mouth, traditional prayer. I’m saying that traditional prayer can get formulaic. And there are folks who pass along formulas. I was told “A.C.T.S.” for adoration, then confession, then thanksgiving, then supplication. Do the formula, prayer completed. The problem with formulas is that they make prayer and prayer life formulaic. You go through the motions, and after a while, all you’ve got is the motions. We pray to connect with God, not to complete some task. We pray to connect with God. It is an awesome thing. Sometimes you do it in silence. Sometimes you do that in the quiet middle of a lake with a good buddy, a fishing pole in one hand, and whatever you like in the other. And if you are aware of it, you can do it in traffic on 285. Obviously, that last one takes a little practice.

You know, it’s not like God is in heaven measuring prayers. “I’m sorry, that one doesn’t count because you didn’t start it with, ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’” And you don’t have to be around the dinner table to talk with God. When we pray, we realize that we enter into communion with God.⁶ The thought of prayer as communion with God makes praying an habitual attitude and not simply an occasional act. It is continuous fellowship with God.⁷ Our life is to be continuous fellowship with God, that is the call of the Christian life. The inevitable effect of this sort of communion is that God becomes real.⁸ God becomes more than creator, God becomes companion and friend.

God isn’t measuring our prayers. When Jesus was walking on the water, and Peter joins him, do you remember what happened? Peter started to sink. And then, Peter uttered the shortest, and perhaps one of the most common prayers, known to humans. “Lord, help me.” Did Jesus reprimand his form? “I’m so sorry Peter, but you know you didn’t start with adoration, move to confession, then to thanksgiving and only then to supplication. You’re running out of time, waist deep now, you’d better hurry and start over.” Peter brought his life and his situation openly and honestly to God, because relationship with God was just part of his life.

So, what I’m asking you to do is pray more, to pray constantly. Actually, it’s not me asking, it’s Paul, and he’s doing it in the Bible. Become aware of a couple of things. First, as we define prayer as hunger for God, or encounter with God, or interaction with God, be aware that you are always in God’s presence, always praying. Becoming in touch with God all around you in a step in continuous prayer. Connecting with God is the point. We should all do that. Sometimes we should do that with heads bowed and hands folded, but sometimes just being aware will trigger it.

Second, if you want to deepen this awareness, this understanding, this praying constantly, as Paul writes it, then you need to be regular with your prayer life. If the only minute of contemplative silence you get each week is the minute we have here in the beginning of the Pastoral Prayer, then don’t ask me why your prayer life is having a hard time recognizing the continual presence of God. You and I will both know the answer before you ask the question.

So, last week I said that one purpose of prayer is that it connects us as humans to each other. Prayer is a way of enacting ourselves as the family of God. This week I say that another purpose of prayer is that it connects us with God, individually and corporately. Prayer is a point of connection with God. The more you do it, like the marathon runner, more in shape to achieve the desired goal, you will become. Leadville. Point, some things are too important. If prayer is contact with God, and we are God’s family, then we need to pray without ceasing. May we be moved closer and closer to God as we so do. Amen.