Beyond the Patio

What Are We Asking For ?
Luke 11:1-13

There was a cartoon that I saw at one time which depicted a pyjama clad tot shouting to his parents, “I’m going to say my prayers. Does anyone want anything?” I afraid that is the way a lot of people look at prayer. It is seen as Heaven’s toll free number or an Aladdin lamp to be rubbed whenever you want something – it could be anything from an ice cream soda to a new All-Terrain Vehicle. That is the danger in hearing some of the words that Jesus said in the 11th Chapter of Luke

“Ask and it will be given you; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be opened to you.”

It sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Students! You don’t have to study anymore. Just pray the night before exams and you’ll do just fine. Musicians! You don’t have to practice anymore. Just pray before your concert and it will be surprising what will happen!  Looking for a job? You don’t have to labor over a resume and prepare for interviews, but use the right words in prayer and a job will be handed to you on a platter.

I think that we know that things don’t quite happen that way, that prayer is not a substitute for work.  However, the attitude that prayer is a way of asking God for what we want still persists among us.  Unfortunately, I think that it is a form of self indulgence. In fact, one of the weaknesses of our age, or indeed human nature itself, is our apparent inability to distinguish our need from our greed.

In one of the old morality plays entitled The Castle of Perseverance (A.D.1425), humankind is represented as entrench within a citadel, while the seven deadly sins are without enticing humans to leave the safe guardianship of the walls and come outside. After many contests the sins seem to lose their hold as the heat of youth and passion die down. There is one exception, however; it is covetousness. This is the vice which is represented as never losing hold of the heart, but as increasing until it becomes the passion of old age. (1)

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What then do we ask for in Prayer?  Jesus said in another place, “Ask anything in my name and it will be given to you”. Many of our prayers end with “In Jesus name”. When we pray in Jesus name, we pray in the spirit of Jesus. We don’t ask for anything that Jesus wouldn’t ask for. If you were writing a letter for someone and needed that person’s signature, you wouldn’t put anything in that letter that the signer it would not say.

So the question becomes “What would Jesus ask for?”  We notice that in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, which we have come to know as the “Lord’s Prayer”, the first concern if for God’s Name. The next is God’s Kingdom. Then some ancient authorities add, “God’s will”. In Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane, Jesus was ready to submit to God’s will, ready to be part of the coming Kingdom, even if the coming of the Kingdom meant his suffering.

What we learn here is that prayer is not a way of getting what we want but a means of discovering what God wants in the world. Kierkegaard, the philosopher and theologian wrote:

“The true character in prayer is not when God hears what is prayed for but when the person praying continues to pray until he is the one who hears what God wills.” (2)

When we pray for God’s Kingdom and God’s will to be done in the world, we also see that we together with others are the answer to the prayer. We are to find the divine power within us to bring about the changes that are necessary for God’s Kingdom to come, that is, the Kingdom of Justice, Peace and Well-being for all peoples of the earth. If we are to pray for it, we are also to help to bring it about. We often sing a hymn that includes the words “Worship and Work must be one”. Our prayer and work must to be one at all times.  The only way change will come about in our world is when we are willing to be one of the change-agents.

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I know that there are some things in our lives we cannot change not matter how hard we pray such as sickness, suffering and death.  In some circumstances I believe that we pray for the skill of the physician to find and employ the proper treatment for our illnesses.  In the same way we pray that those involved in medical science discover in the natural healing powers of the earth the necessary cures for the diseases that beset us. That is an ongoing battle. Sometimes through prayer, in a way that defies all rational explanations, we discover within ourselves or beyond ourselves the power that restores us to health.  But there are other times that we need to pray for the inner strength to deal with that which we cannot change. We know that sooner or later everyone must die. No one has been able to change that. Death is an inevitable part of our life story.

William Willimon tells a story of a woman lying in a hospital bed, her body inflamed by the spread of cancer. Day after day her friends prayed for healing. Each day her disappointment in not being healed was evident.

One day she said,

“Today let’s not pray that I’ll be healed. God knows that I hate this illness. God knows I want to be healed. Let’s pray that, whether healed or not, I’ll feel close to God because even if I’m not healed, especially if I’m not healed, what I really want is God.” (3)

When all is said and done, what we seek is not just peace, justice, well-being, health and bread alone. We seek God. We seek the experience of God’s presence. That is the miracle we look for. And that is also, I believe, the miracle we really get.

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I have learned so far in my life that prayer is not a license to exercise our greed and covetousness.

To pray in the name of Christ means sharing his way of looking at life. Our desires are gradually changed, our desires are purified, and our human wanting is changed.

In reality, to pray is to work for what we pray for. St. Ignatius Loyola said, “Pray knowing everything depends upon you; act, knowing everything depends upon God.”

Also, to pray is not to utter the right formula or say the right words but to be with God with our whole body, mind and spirit until our entire self  becomes one  with God and God becomes one with us.

That is what we are really asking for.
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(1) As quoted in Pulpit Resource, Glendon E. Harris,, third Quarter, 1986, year C, Honolulu, Hawaii

(2) As quoted by Leonard Griffith, Gospel Characters, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, pp. 61-62)

(3) Adapted from William H Willimon, With Glad and Generous Hearts: A Personal Look At Sunday Worship, Nashville: The Upper Room, 1988.

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