Let us pray

Why do I pray?  In many ways, it seems so unnecessary.

If God is all-knowing, God is all-powerful, and God is all-loving, then he knows everything I need, has the power to give me everything I need, and loves me enough to want to give everything I need.  Why are my prayers of petition necessary?

If God is secure in his being - and who could be more secure than the one who created the heavens and the earth, before whom nothing came into being - then why are my prayers of praise necessary?

If God loves me unconditionally, no matter what I say or do, simply because I am, then what do my prayers of thanksgiving or even contrition man?  God still loves me.

Yet Jesus insists that I pray.  And he leads by example.  The evangelists often write of Jesus at prayer.  In today’s passage (Lk 11:1-13), the disciples see Jesus praying and ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

And in teaching them how to pray, Jesus gives us insight into why we should pray.

Jesus begins the prayer with “Abba”, an Aramaic term of endearment for father.  In English, it would be more properly translated as daddy or papa or pops or some other term of endearment young children would use for their father.  Of course, since every person is created by God, every person, whether Christian or not, is a child of God.  But by using the intimate term “abba,” Jesus teaches us that, as his followers, our relationship to God, our status as children of God, is much deeper and more intimate than that of creator and creature.  Instead, it is the relationship of a loving parent and a loved child. Our anxiety is replaced by comfort and peace. 

Jesus then teaches that “when we pray,” we begin with praising God, for hallowed – or holy – is his name.  In ancient thinking, a reference to one’s “name” implied the entire essence of the person.  God is the holy one, the source of all that is holy and all that is good.  Our pride is replaced by humility.

As Christians, Jesus has us pray for the entire world, for God’s kingdom to come – a kingdom of peace, a kingdom of justice, a kingdom of love.  In Matthew’s more elaborate version, we connect the coming of the kingdom with doing of God’s will.  Jesus places prayer for God’s will and prayer for others ahead of our own desires.  Our selfishness and greed is turned to selflessness and generosity.

Jesus has us pray for “daily” bread, that which sustains us, that which is necessary for our survival.  This reminds us that our sustenance is an every day affair.  At the very end we still depend on God to protect us from temptation, the final test.   Our self-righteousness is turned to gratitude.

Next, we pray for forgiveness, for we forgive all who do wrong to us.  We are reminded of our call to emulate Christ who demonstrated forgiveness to the point of forgiving even those tortured and killed him.  Our vengeance is transformed to mercy.

C. S. Lewis had it right.  When a skeptic once asked him why he thought his meager prayers could change the almighty and immutable God whom he professed, his answer was simple.  He said that his prayers did not change God, they changed him.

Whether in praise, petition, thanksgiving, contrition, or contemplation, the essence of prayer is placing us in the transforming presence of God, making us the peaceful, humble, generous, grateful, merciful servants whom God created us to be, whom Jesus calls us to be, whom the Spirit gives us the strength and courage to be.

With confidence, let us pray.