Did anybody notice that part of the Gospel sounded familiar? Maybe when Jesus said, “Give us the bread we need for today. Forgive us our sins…”? 

Did that remind you of something we do in church?… 

Do you know what that prayer is called?…

It’s called The Lord’s Prayer because Jesus, who we sometimes call The Lord, taught it to his friends. 

Anybody remember praying it with everybody saying the same words together at the same time? …  (Anybody see the movie Sinners?…) 

We used to do it that way here, too. A couple of things made us start to change, maybe seven or eight years ago. We were using the version that starts, Our Father in heaven… Instead of the version with the fancy old language that starts, Our Father who art in heaven… Because the fancy old language can be kind of confusing! Like, what does art mean? … But in the prayer it doesn’t mean that. It’s a fancy way to say is.

But! Some people like the fancy old language. Including some of our youth – big kids who have grown up and graduated now, like Simon and Florence. They sat in the front row, and they prayed with the fancy old words, and I could hear them. So people were already praying in a couple of different ways.

Then… I went to General Convention, which is a GREAT BIG gathering of Episcopalians from all over the place, to meet and talk and argue and worship together. And at General Convention, in worship, they tell us, Please pray this prayer in the language of your heart. Because not everybody there speaks English – or even if they do, it might not be their heart-language. 

So I got to see what it felt like to be in a room with a thousand other people who were praying the Lord’s Prayer in English and Spanish and Swahili and Creole and Navajo and French and ASL and so on. It was pretty cool!

So in our worship here, we started to say, Please pray in the language of your hearts. And we put a Spanish version in our bulletin, because Spanish might be some people’s heart-language here. And I put in another version that I liked to use, because it talked about God in different ways and just gave me some fresh words. And since then we’ve added or swapped in some other versions too. On All Ages Worship Sunday we sometimes add a few ASL signs to pray with our bodies too. 

I bet some people like the way we do it and I bet some people find it a little overwhelming! I understand that all those voices saying different things could be hard for some people’s ears. I think if you need to gently cover your ears and maybe close your eyes to get enough quiet inside yourself to pray, that’s OK. 

What I like about it is that I have a chance to really say the words and think about them, instead of just kind of keeping pace with everybody else. Does anybody say the Pledge at school? That can get kind of automatic, right? You don’t really think about the words, you just say them because it’s time to say them and everybody else is saying them. For me, the way we pray the Lord’s Prayer here helps it not be like that. 

Let’s talk for a minute about what’s actually in the prayer. This version is very short and simple – I bet it’s a lot like what Jesus really said, and that other stuff has gotten added on over time. 

Jesus calls God Father, here and in other places. He wants his followers to think about God as a loving parent. Now, listen: Human parents are imperfect! Some people had a parent who might give their child a snake, or a scorpion, or nothing. 

That’s a hard truth. For people with that experience, part of your life work is healing from not being loved well when you were a kid, and becoming someone who can love well. I have deep respect for people who do that work. 

Calling God Father can be hard for people who maybe had a not so great human father. Same with Mother! What Jesus wants us to know is that God loves us the way we hope a parent will love their children. 

The part right after that is a little hard to understand! Today we read, “Uphold the holiness of your name.” Many versions say, “Hallowed be your name.” “Hallowed” is a fancy way to say, “make holy.” I think this part of the prayer is to honor God, and remind ourselves that we’re talking to God, not just another person. 

Then it says, “Bring in your kingdom.” Jesus talks a lot about the kingdom of God and the ways it’s different from the way we run things here on earth. This part of the prayer is important for me! I like to pray for this world to become more like God’s dream. 

Then we get to, “Give us the bread we need for today.” Notice how simple that is! Last week some of the kids heard a book about MORE and ENOUGH. This is a prayer about ENOUGH. We might WANT lots of things, but what we NEED is enough food to get us through till tomorrow. 

Then Jesus’ prayer says, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us. And don’t lead us into temptation!” In this part of the prayer we ask God to help us live right. When we do things we wish we hadn’t done, or don’t do things we wish we had done, we ask God to forgive us – and we remind ourselves that we should try to forgive other people, because we mess up too. And we ask God to help keep us out of trouble! 

That’s it! We turn towards God. We ask for the world to get a little bit more like God means it to be. We ask for the most basic things we need, and for help living the way God calls us to live. 

Our friend JonMichael likes to point out that Jesus was probably just giving his friends an example – like, here’s one way to pray! – but his friends grabbed onto it, like, THIS IS THE ONE WAY CHRISTIANS SHOULD PRAY, EVERY DAY, FOREVER.

Because we pray it SO much, every Sunday, maybe every day for some of you, I’ve sometimes gotten pretty bored with the Lord’s Prayer. But right now it feels like kind of a relief. There’s so much to pray about, and this prayer covers a lot of ground, simply. 

You can read whole books about the Lord’s Prayer if you want to! But that’s a little bit about what it is, and why we do it the way we do. I have some pages here with a question – what do YOU think is important to pray about, every single day? I would love to see whatever you might write or draw as an answer. 

But I’m going to talk a little bit longer. This is more of me talking than I usually try to do on All Ages Sundays. But when I started working on today’s lessons, I realized that this is in what I call Big Questions territory. This particular Big Question being, Why don’t I get what I pray for? (Which ties in with a possibly even bigger question, What is prayer?, but we will not tackle that today!)

Why don’t we get what we pray for? It seems like, in this Gospel, Jesus says we will. He says, “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.  Everyone who asks, receives!” Right? So how come I don’t always get what I ask for in prayer? 

It is a big question. I’ve thought about it myself; I’ve heard from other smart and wise people about how they understand it; I’ve talked with folks who are wrestling with it in their lives. I don’t think there’s one big answer. Here are some answers that I have found helpful. There are eight of them, if that’s helpful to you!

Number one: We’re praying for something we don’t need. Our culture tells us we need a lot of stuff that we really just want. Who knows the Janis Joplin song,  “O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends…” Everybody else has fancy cars so she wants a fancy car too! It’s fine to want a fancy car… but does anybody need a fancy car? Sometimes we might pray for things that just aren’t really God’s department. 

Have you ever gone to a grown-up that loves you because, like, maybe you can’t get past a hard part in a video game you’re playing? And you can tell that they care that you’re upset, but they really don’t care about the problem in your video game? I think God feels like that about us some of the time.

Number two is related: We’re not praying for what we really need. That might sound the same as what I just said but it’s different. Maybe we’re praying, “Please let Stephanie be my friend again,” when the prayer underneath the prayer is, “Please help me find a friend I can trust and feel safe with.” Or, “Please buy me a Mercedes,” instead of, “Please help me feel good about myself. Please help me not be driven by envy and insecurity.” Sometimes if we can peel back what we think we need to what we really need, we might see how God is responding to that deeper need. 

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had somebody you love who really really wants something that you kinda hope they don’t get, because you don’t think it would be very good for them.

Number three: Maybe what we’re praying for breaks the rules. That’s a simple way to talk about something pretty mysterious. Here’s an example of what I mean. About a year and a half ago, we found out that our dog Kip had something wrong in his brain that meant that he was going to die, but probably not for a while. When we learned that, I didn’t start praying that that thing would go away. I prayed that we’d have some good time together, and that we’d be able to take good, kind care of him, and that it would be really clear when it was time to help him through death. 

And you know, I think we got what I prayed for. No pet lives forever. No person lives forever. Our bodies belong to this world; they break and wear out and wear down. I think maybe death seems like a much bigger deal to us than it does to God, because from God’s point of view we’re with God the whole time, during this life and after death. 

Now, listen: Sometimes I pray big fierce angry stubborn prayers! GOD, YOU FIX THIS RIGHT NOW. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. I don’t care what the rules are!! God doesn’t mind those prayers! God wants us to pray from our hearts! And sometimes, surprising, amazing, wonderful things happen. I know people who have experienced miracles. You should pray for what you truly, deeply hope for. But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t mean God didn’t hear you, or doesn’t love you or the person you’re praying for. 

Number four! The world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be! This is important. Some people like to say, “Everything happens for a reason.” I understand that can be a really comforting thought sometimes – although I think we have to be really really careful about saying it to other people who are going through something hard. I think I know what people mean when they say that everything happens for a reason, and I would say it a little differently. I would say: God, and people acting on God’s behalf, can bring some good out of terrible situations. 

Two weeks ago my wonderful, loving brother-in-law, John, was up on a ladder trimming branches on his property, when a falling branch somehow swept the ladder out from under him. He fell, breaking his elbow, ankle, pelvis, and several ribs. I know many of you are holding him in prayer – thank you so much! 

I don’t believe this accident was God’s intention for John, that God did this to John to punish him, or teach him something, or build his character. He’s quite a character already. 

But I do believe God can bring good out of it. I’m praying for silver linings, for healing and hope and possibility. When I was writing this sermon on Wednesday, 81 people had donated to a fundraiser for John and his wife Kelsey, to help support them while John is out of work. The money helps, but it’s also really amazing to see that network of care – family, friends, churches, friends of friends, friends of family, friends of churches, and so on. The money helps meet practical needs, but all those people choosing to help somebody that a lot of them don’t even know really helps lift hearts and spirits. 

Which brings me to point five! Maybe our prayers aren’t answered because somebody else isn’t cooperating. This might sound a little woo, but there are times when I feel God tap me on the shoulder and tell me to give someone my time, or pay attention to something and see how I could help. And I have sure seen many of you find moments and opportunities where you can step in and be a helper, a companion, someone who makes a difference, who turns something around or at least nudges it in the right direction. We’re not God’s dolls or God’s puppets; we’re free. God asks us to help make good happen, sometimes. And sometimes we miss it, because we’re too tired or busy or overwhelmed or scared, or maybe we just don’t wanna. Lots of good things that could happen, don’t, for all kinds of ordinary human reasons. 

Point six: Our prayers are answered, but not in the way we’re looking for. I bet a lot of people have experienced this, though you might have to think to remember when. A prayer journal can be a good tool for looking back and seeing: Hey, I was praying really hard about this, or for that, a while ago, and now, that’s resolved, it’s come to some kind of peace, it’s not at the top of my list or the top of my mind. Maybe something happened out there, or maybe something changed inside of me; but somehow, that thing isn’t driving my thoughts and my prayers anymore. 

I don’t really keep a prayer journal but I do keep a list of people I’m praying for, and even with that I can see how things get resolved, or released, or just get less important, even when the outcome that our prayers were pointed at doesn’t happen. 

Point seven – out of eight: There’s a bigger picture we don’t understand. There’s a bigger picture we don’t understand. Now, if somebody said that to me when I’m struggling with something hard or sad, I might punch them. But I also do think it’s true. A couple of years ago I read the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras. 2 Esdras is DEEPLY weird, but there’s one verse I really like. Esdras asks an angel, “Why are our years few and evil?” And the angel answers, “Don’t be in a greater hurry than the Most High. You indeed are in a hurry for yourself, but the Most High is in a hurry on behalf of many.” Let me put that in simpler words: You’re focused on your own little circle of needs and concerns. But God is trying to work for good and right and mercy and peace and justice and healing throughout the whole cosmos, the whole world, the whole system. It’s not that that makes my concerns less important. It just reminds me to have a little perspective, and to try to trust that God is working for good in all things, even when I can’t see it. 

Point eight. If you found the others unsatisfying, you’ll hate this one! Point eight is: I have no idea. The whole business is a mystery. A few thousand years ago God told the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” And Paul writes something similar in his letter to the Romans: “God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep! They are as mysterious as God’s judgments! All things are from God and through God and for God. May the glory be to God forever. Amen.” What I like about that is that thinking abut how big and mysterious God is doesn’t make Paul feel overwhelmed or scared or lost; it makes him want to praise God. Even when it’s frustrating that there aren’t easy answers or quick solutions, knowing that Someone ultimately wise and ultimately kind is watching over things and working through things, in ways I can’t begin to underhand, holds some kind of comfort for me. 

So, this could just be a list of eight excuses for God not to answer our prayers. But I think it’s more like a list of eight reasons why the whole idea of answered prayer is kind of complicated, maybe a lot more complicated than Jesus makes it sound in today’s reading. When we ask, maybe what we are asking for isn’t what God wants for us. When we knock, maybe the door that opens isn’t the one we’re knocking on; maybe we don’t even realize that a door opened over there somewhere. 

I think what Jesus really wants us to know is that God is not like a gumball machine, but God does hear, when we pray; and God cares, and God often responds, one way or another. So we should talk to God about the things we want and the things we think we need. And maybe we can also talk to God about how we can help with the things God wants, for us or our loved ones or our communities or the world.