Sermons for the Month
Be A Fortunate Importunate!
DATE: July 25,2004
SERVICE: 8th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Luke 11:1-13“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
It is good to be back worshipping with you following 18 days of being away for vacation and continuing education. I missed a great deal of exciting activity between Vacation Bible School and the Great American Bake Sale and some challenging times too as a number of our congregation members were hospitalized and are facing various challenges. I was far away - in Washington State and Chicago - but I knew all was in the capable hands of the church staff and congregational leaders. And, of course, God was with us all.
I prayed for you while I was gone, and you'll be happy to know that it was not a "King of Queens" prayer that I offered. What is that, you may ask. Have you ever seen that television show "King of Queens?" Well, I recently watched about 10 minutes of it and, surprisingly, it was about prayer.
The main characters - a young couple who live in Queens, New York City - were shopping when they saw their priest, who they tried unsuccessfully to avoid. The priest noted that he had not seen them in Mass recently, and in an attempt to make a quick escape, Doug promised that they would be there on Sunday. He was more enthusiastic about the commitment than his wife, Kerri, who drug her feet every step of the way.
When the time came in the service for silent prayer, she was "done" before everyone else. When she whined this fact to her husband, he told her to think of something else to pray about. So, after a bit of squirming an idea popped into her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment and "just like that" her cell phone beeped; a message conveyed the good news that her prayer had been heard. A much-anticipated pay raise had been granted! Thus, the praying frenzy of Doug and Kerri began.
I did not see the rest of the episode, but it was viewed by a number of my Peer Group Colleagues, with whom I traveled to Chicago for Continuing Education. Evidently the praying got out of hand. It became a combination of the "Santa Claus", "911 Emergency" and "Let's Make A Deal" prayers of today's skit.
So, whenever our Group was stuck in traffic or made a wrong turn off the freeway, someone would proclaim, "It's time for a King of Queens prayer!", and there would be a moment of comic relief as we prayed for lines of traffic to part or direction signs to appear.
Although we laugh, the fact is that the prayers that often are said are just like the ones offered by Doug and Kerri of TV fame or the woman portrayed in that skit by Carrie and Ann. Prayers can be self-centered, crisis oriented and even manipulative, as if one could manipulate God. Yet, Jesus makes it clear in today's Gospel lesson that being an importunate person is OK, in fact it is preferred. The question is, do we want to be fortunate importunates or unfortunate importunates? I know if I had my choice, I'd rather be a fortunate importunate than an unfortunate importunate. What about you?
HUH??? Weren't we talking about prayer? What's all this fortunate and unfortunate stuff? Well, according to the dictionary an importunate person is someone who is overly persistent in a request or demand. In other words, to be importunate is to be annoying or troublesome when asking for something. Jesus makes it clear in the parable about the man who has an unexpected visitor and asks his sleeping friend for bread that being persistent, even annoying, in praying is acceptable. Each one of us should be importunate. We should keep praying, and praying, and asking and praying. However, if we want to be successful in doing so - that is if I want to be a fortunate importunate - then the key is know who to ask and what to ask for.
The fact is that Jesus wants us to be fortunate importunates, so he tells us exactly who to ask and what to say in a prayer that has come to be known as the Lord's Prayer. We read it at the beginning of today's Gospel lesson.
So, does that mean it is the only prayer we should ever pray? I would not say that. However, it does seem that even if we do not use these precise words every time we pray, the content of our prayers should be "in line" with Jesus' teaching.
Here is a quick summary. The prayer is directed to God, our Creator, who is holy, above all and in all. That's who we ask.
Then, in terms of what to pray, there are basically two requests. The first is that our world, and the people in it, might soon become what God intended them to be. Our prayer is for a great and wonderful transformation, and that such a change would begin today in each one of us. That's our first request.
Our second is that as that transformation begins, and while we wait for it to be completed, that God would supply what is needed to meet our physical, emotional and spiritual needs day by day.
We pray that our physical needs, for this day, will be met. We ask for spiritual help, requesting God's forgiveness. Wipe out our mistakes, we plead, and remember them no more; then empower us to offer that same forgiveness to others. We ask for emotional support, praying that we are not tempted, and that God will help us avoid that which hurts us and seek out that which is good for us. It is these things that Jesus wants us to be persistent about in our prayers, and if we are we will be fortunate importunates.
Think about your prayers. Are you praying for physical healing? Perhaps another way to do that - which lines up with the Lord's Prayer - is to ask that in the midst of illness you would become more and more the person God wants you to be, and that God would help you not be tempted into despair. Are you praying for a financial need? Perhaps another way to do that - which lines up with the Lord's Prayer - is to ask for the ability to be satisfied with having just what is necessary for that day. Are you praying about a relationship? Ask for the ability to forgive, or for the willingness to put God first above all else. The list could go on and on ….
Yes, we should pray. Yes, we should be persistent in our prayers. But we must ask ourselves, as I pray am I asking for radical change in the world and in myself, or do I just want my life to be easier? Am I praying as the Lord taught me to pray?
As you consider that question, remember the last verse of today's Gospel. Jesus is making it clear, though example, that if earthly parents give good gifts to their children, then certainly God will do the same - and more - for us.
Did you notice what the ultimate "good gift" is? "…how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask."
My friends, we live in this imperfect world filled with imperfect people who have the ability to make choices. A world of free will, where people can choose and nature runs its course and bodies are imperfect means that at times it will be difficult to see how God is at work.
However, if we are persistent in our prayers, careful to line them up with what our Lord taught us to pray we will know God's presence among us. And, we also have been given the greatest gift of all, the Holy Spirit, who opens doors and answers questions in ways that are far beyond our imaging.
So … let go of those "King of Queens", "Santa Clause", "911 Emergency" and " Let's Make A Deal" prayers and join the ranks of the fortunate importunates. AMEN