Category: JR Sermon preparation

The story so far… I am preparing a sermon on the theme of “A people of prayer” to be preached on February 9th 2020 at St Mark’s Staplefield Common. The readings are:

Matthew 6:5-8

and 1Thessalonians 5:16-28.

On Day 1 I recorded my initial impressions of the theme and the two set readings.

So let’s look at our readings:

Matthew 6:5-8

The context is practising righteousness to impress others. I recall seeing a description of integrity (or morality) as doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

Chapter 6 starts with giving secretly, then moves on to prayer. It describes people praying ostentatiously on street corners or in the Synagogue. Then goes on to the Lord’s Prayer, quietly, with an economy of words, and secretly in your room.

Then moves on to fasting, treasure in heaven, trusting God, and not judging others.

So the context is always going to be about personal prayer rather than corporate prayer. It doesn’t denigrate or make any judgement about corporate prayer; it just isn’t about corporate prayer.

1Thess 5: 16-28

This is about personal (and corporate?) behaviour. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. Paul treats these as lifestyle choices. We choose to rejoice and give thanks. We look for things to be thankful for; we count our blessings. We pray – there are always things we wish were different, and God knows our hearts. But choosing to share these things with God means we acknowledge God’s place in our lives, his power to change the world, and that is surely what he desires.

Do not quench the spirit, do not treat prophesy with contempt. Listen to God as well as talking to him. Prayer is a two-way conversation. If we babble continuously (see Matt 6) we are not listening. Our old rector used to say “Are you listening, or just waiting to speak?” Well, are you?

I searched in the Gospels in OliveTree Bible for the word ‘pray’, and got 29 hits, 6 of them in our passage, but spread across all 4 gospels.

Love your enemies and pray for them.

…he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

…to place his hands on them and pray for them.

Sit here while I go over there and pray.

Watch and pray…

…should always pray and not give up.

I pray for them…

At first glance there seem to be two things here: Jesus goes away to pray by himself, in solitude. He also prays for specific other people, sometimes in their absence, sometimes when they are present, sometimes even laying hands on them.

A people of prayer is next Sunday’s sermon topic. The readings are:

Matthew 6:5-8

and 1Thessalonians 5:16-28.

Reading these two passages immediately brought me back to last Sunday’s scribble. Alone or together? Well of course it’s both. Jesus always went to the synagogue, but he went to pray alone.

I also realise that different people pray in different ways. In Soultypes, Sandra Krebs Hirsh and Jane AG Kise examine the different soulwork (their term) preferences of people with various personality types. Here’s a brief extract:

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

“I attended a writers’ workshop at a retreat centre. One evening our leader dismissed the group to work on an assignment identifying our strengths as writers and our aspirations for the coming year.”

Introvert – “I couldn’t wait to get to my room – the evening session had covered so much and I was ready to organise my thoughts. The next ninety minutes flew by as my pen filled the paper. For me, this quiet time alone on the retreat was the most meaningful segment of the weekend.”

If this person was asked to participate in prolonged group discussions with no time for reflection, they might think they were struggling spiritually.

Extrovert – “They chose to use each other as sounding boards, tossing out ideas and dreams to allow those listening to give input on the patterns and strengths they saw. At breakfast they were still bubbling about the insights they had gained through their discussion.”

If this person attended a silent retreat with long periods for pondering a single idea, they might think they were struggling spiritually.

……………………………………………………………………………

I’ve got some starting ideas. I need two things now. One is time to ponder what I already have. This gives opportunity for God to speak, to inspire, to point me the right way.

The other is to give myself a better grounding in the Bible. So tomorrow I’ll start looking at what I find about prayer in the Good Book, starting by going back to the two set passages.

I use quite a few Bible translations and versions. Although I have a good library of proper paper books, I usually use Olive Tree Bible on a tablet. I have lots of Bibles available instantly, I can search and annotate, I can copy verses, and I have good commentaries instantly available too. I also use e-Sword, mainly because of the macros available to copy verses straight into MS Word.

Mentioning commentaries, I will be going to these after looking in the Bible itself. Primary source first.