Luke 11:1-13

Pentecost 8  July 25, 2004

Rev. Christa von Zychlin

Our Savior’s, Hartland, WI.

7/25/04

Almost 20 years ago, in my first parish near Mansfield, Ohio, movie stars Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell came to town to make a movie using the dark old Ohio State Reformatory Prison as their location.

Well, this was more action than good old Mansfield, Ohio had seen in a decade or so, and was enough to set more than a few hearts aflutter.

The local paper were filled with nothing but who catered the stars’ lunch and what Kurt ordered for dessert, and what kind of a limo Sylvester was riding.

They said the traffic past the Ohio State Reformatory was non-stop.  Clusters of fans stood around with binoculars, whole families skipped school and work hoping to get a piece of the action.

I was especially intrigued by one lady, interviewed on local TV, who kept riding back and forth by the prison all day long on her Harley Davidson.  “I ride a Harley D and Sylvester rides a Harley D. she said, “ and I thought maybe he would see me and say “Why there’s a girl riding a Harley D, I think I’ll go and talk to her.”

A couple of years ago, I heard something kind of like that, there was a group of teenage girls who wanted so desperately to attract the attention of the music group Nsynch that they actually camped out for 3 days and nights in front of the music hall… in sinks (sinks with faucets that is)

++

You just don’t know whether to laugh or to cry at this stuff.  Ordinary people who spend their energy on the chance – the littlest chance of seeing or even speaking with the rich and famous.  You don’t know whether to admire them on their persistence or shake your head at their shamelessness.

There is a lot of energy spent, in this world, on how to approach the right people in the right way.  At the White House, I’ve heard there are several permanent full time jobs that exist for the sole purpose of Social Protocol:  How to properly meet, invite, and entertain foreign leaders, celebrities, kings and queens, ambassadors from all over the world.  Who should sit with whom at state dinners?  What should the attire be?  How should each person be addressed:  “Sir, your majesty, your honor, Mr. President, Madame Chairwoman”  And most importantly, the protocol person needs to know:  how can a request be best put to the rich and powerful?  Which requests will he respond to, and by which will she be offended?

Of course, in a smaller way, many of us deal with this sort of thing every day.  How do you present yourself at a job interview?  How do you get your jumbo loan?  How do you impress that nice looking new associate?  How do you ask for more time or more money and equipment?  How do you ask for a donation, or a major gift?  HOW do you ask, how do you search, how do you knock at the right doors at the right times, in the right ways?

Yes, and what about God.  How do you dress, what vehicle do you ride, what kind of invitation do you send, and HOW do you ask God for the right things in the right way to get what you want out of life?  Am I spiritual enough?  Are my prayer requests spiritual enough? 

All of that , you see, lies behind the disciples’ request to Jesus today:  Lord, teach US to pray.

We can see that you’ve got something going with God.  We can see you’re old friends.  Introduce us, will you?  We want to do it right.”

Far from giving some kind of a “spiritual” answer, Jesus surprises them and us with something utterly simple.

Believe it or not, Jesus’ answer to the question of how to pray has very little to do with White House type protocols, and something very much in common with that crazy lady on the Harley D, riding back and forth past the Ohio State Reformatory, and it’s got something in common with those dizzy girls, camping in sinks in front of a concert hall.

Yes, according to Jesus, it turns out that there ARE some ways to approach God, to ask God for things, to talk to God, to see God and hear God.  Sure, there’s a way to pray and there is a way to do it right, says Jesus.  But there’s no mysterious secret knowledge involved. 

When approaching God, it’s not some special language, not some special  spiritual wardrobe, not some special time of day or place you’re at or a certain posture you take.  The golden word, according to Jesus,  is persistence, a word which is linked in the Greek language of the Gospels with the word for shameless-  shameless persistence is the key to prayer.

Jesus is saying that most of us are too shy when it comes to God.  We drive by once, so to speak, to see if he’s around, and if we don’t see Him right away, if we don’t get our answer immediately, we drive back home and find our own answers.  “Oh well, God may not really be there anyway.  Oh well, God wouldn’t want to bother with my personal, individual prayers.  Oh well, I’m not too sure about this prayer business anyway.

Look, says Jesus, you’ve got to take yourself.. and GOD more seriously.  If you had a friend and that friend came in the middle of the night to ask for some supplies because some of his buddies just stopped in,  be honest,  you’d probably shout at your friend to “get out of here!  It’s the middle of the night for Pete’s sake.”

But even so, if that good friend just kept ringing the door bell, you’d end up getting up and giving him whatever you could find to help him out, just so he’d go away and let you sleep.

Now don’t you give God at least that much credit when it comes to asking something from Him?

But, you say, I’ve tried.  I’ve prayed about stuff at school and I’ve prayed about my friend’s husband and I’ve prayed about that situation at work and I’ve prayed about the poor people in the Sudan and God didn’t answer me.  I DO feel like that lady on the Harley.   Silly, that’s how I feel – riding by again and again.  Hoping.  And the doors stay shut.  God isn’t going to do anything for me. 

You know what the difference is?  Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell got done with their filming on a Tuesday morning and by noon they’d left Mansfield, Ohio forever.  It was over.  They finished their jobs and they were on to bigger and better places.  It would have been pointless for anyone to ride her Harley by the reformatory on Tuesday afternoon.   The stars were gone.

Our Lord God, though, doesn’t close shop, doesn’t land a better job, doesn’t pack up his bags and go.

Maybe you have been praying lately for a certain kind of help from God, and you don’t seem to get it.

Jesus himself went through that, you know, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on that Cross, that he prayed to avoid.

Maybe you have suffered disappointments, aches, missed opportunities, and even God’s silence.  That silence has been felt by enough Christians through the ages that there is even a name for it:  The mystics have called it, “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

Jesus’ promise, though, to his disciples is this:

The door may be shut but it is not locked.

God may be hidden, but He has not gone away.

Jesus just tells us, we have to be persistent.  Shamelessly persistent with our God.  Like a kid with her Dad.

When it comes to prayer, sometimes you’ve just got to keep riding that Harley by and toot your horn.

Ring that bell, and raise your voice.

Gun that engine and make ‘er roar.

And you know what, even if you’re pounding on the wrong door (which can easily happen, when we’ve decided exactly HOW God should answer us)

Even if you’re pounding at the wrong door, the racket you make lets God know how serious you are, how determined, committed and shamelessly desperately in need you are for a living relationship with the One True God.

And the Door will be opened for you, says Jesus.

God’s answer will not necessarily be your answer.

But it will be lavish.

God’s Holy Spirit will be poured out on you, yes, you.

And you will be rewarded… Jesus tell us this!

You and I will be rewarded for NOT having gone away.

Jesus message for us today is this:

Don’t just be patient in your prayer.

Be persistent.  Shamelessly persistent.   AMEN.

Office (262) 367-6000 • Fax (262) 367-6769

Email us:  info@oursaviorshartland.org

Some information on these pages is presented as Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.  Adobe provides a free program; Adobe Reader; for reading PDF files.  Use the following link to Adobe's site to download Adobe Reader.

Site Last Updated On:  Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Contact the webmaster

Copyright © 2002 Our Savior's Evangelical Lutheran Church, ELCA All Rights Reserved. Our s Hartland Wisconsin ELCA