LSS at Meramec Bluffs, Ballwin, Missouri

Pray!

St. John 16.23-33

Rogate Sunday/May 5, 2013

Rev. Keith R. Weise, chaplain

Invocation

Acclamation

Christ is risen!

He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

1We all know how to pray.

We pray when we wake up in the morning.

We pray before and after all our meals.

We pray at every

task

chore

activity

throughout the day.

Daily we pray for

our families

our friends

people we know who are sick

and

everyone in need.

Before bed we pray our evening prayers.

Not a moment of our lives passes by

without a prayer passing

from our heart

over our lips

and

to the ears of God.

Right?

2Ok.

So maybe we pray before meals.

And certainly we all pray together on Sunday mornings.

Perhaps we pray at

Bible Study

Devotion.

When there’s an

urgent need

crisis in our life.

3Maybe your prayer life is

robust

and

very active

and

not a moment goes by that you aren’t saying a prayer.

Maybe your prayer life is

weak

and

feeble

and

teetering on the verge of non-existence.

Maybe your prayer life is dead.

4Whatever your prayer life looks like,

today Christ our Lord has a word for us concerning prayer.

He says:

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you . . . Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full . . . In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. (St. John 16.23-24, 26-28)

5Jesus says:

PRAY.

Ask the Father for the things you need.

PRAY.

your worries

and

your troubles

with our Father.

PRAY.

Our Father in heaven will hear you

because you love me.

PRAY.

And your prayers will be answered.

6Jesus reveals that prayer is simply asking God.

Asking God for the things we need.

Asking God for the things he has promised.

And asking for them in Christ’s name.

7So,

in faith in Christ

and

in his name

we make our requests to God.

We ask that we may receive.

We ask that our joy may be full.

8But what does this sort of prayers look like?

How exactly should I pray?

What should I ask?

Ask for what God has promised to give.

Ask that his name be kept holy among us

as we

faithfully receive his word in Christ

and

strive to live holy lives.

Ask that God's kingdom come upon us

as we

receive the Holy Spirit from Christ

together with all his gifts.

Ask that God's will be done

among us

and

by us

as God

breaks and hinders every evil

and

destroys the work of the devil

by Christ at work among us.

Ask that God give us our daily bread.

That he

feed

and

nourish us

body

and

soul.

AND

That we remain mindful of the fact that

all we have

and

all we are

in this life

come as gifts from God above

delivered by the hand of Christ our Lord.

Ask for God’s forgiveness.

That for the sake of Christ’s death upon the cross

he would forgive our

paltry

pitiful

lives of prayer.

Ask that for the sake of Christ’s resurrection

he might raise us up to new life

filled with prayer

soaked in prayer.

and

permeated by prayer.

Ask that he would look not on any of our sins,

but instead

look upon Christ

crucified for our offenses

and

raised for our justification. Ask that God would always

see us through the crucified Christ

bless us because of the risen Christ

and

deliver us from our bondage of sin by Christ.

And by such deliverance free us to forgive those who do us wrong.

Ask that God defend us in temptation

that

the devil

the world

and

our sinful flesh

may not steal us away from Christ through

deception

despair

shame

vice.

Finally, ask that God deliver us from evil.

That he would

protect us from every evil that endangers

body

and

soul

and

grant us the heavenly protection of his holy angels alongside Christ our Lord.

9But chaplain, I could never remember all that.

Of course you can.

You pray this way every Sunday.

Some of you pray this way every day,

multiple times a day.

This is how the Church prays.

When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

He said: “When you pray say:

Our Father, Who art in heaven.

Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

Amen. (St. Matthew 6, St. Luke 11)

10Every prayer we offer fits into the Our Father.

Prayers for a world that

neither knows God

nor

respects him?

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Prayers for

peace

justice

and

the honor of all men?

Thy kingdom come.

Prayers for

patience

discernment

and

submission to God?

Thy will be done.

Prayers over meals?

Prayers over the Word?

Prayers before and after the sacrament?

Give us this day our daily bread.

Prayers of

contrition

and

confession?

Forgive us our trespasses.

Prayers for protection from

the devil

the world

and

our sinful flesh?

Lead us not into temptation.

Prayers for

healing

restoration

and

freedom from tribulation?

Deliver us from evil.

11Thus Jesus teaches us how to pray.

This is the kind of prayer Christ has promised God our Father will answer,

Whether we pray the entire Our Father

portions of it as the need arises.

Christ has promised,

that God will answer our prayers:

According to his will.

According to his time.

and

According to his grace.

So, brothers and sisters: do not neglect your prayers.
So not fear to pray.

We have a sure and certain word from Christ that our prayers will be answered

and

that God our Father

in answering them

will fill us with heavenly joy.

God grant it for Jesus’ sake.

AMEN.

Invocation Hymn of Response