Remind me: how does prayer work again?

John 17:1-11

When I was a little girl, I would often stay by my Grandma if my parents went out of town for a weekend. One of my most consistent memories of her was waking up early and finding her at the kitchen table saying her prayers. She had this old envelope that was so worn, the paper was almost soft. It was full of prayers clipped out of devotional pamphlets, or prayer cards. I know in that little stack of prayers was the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi that she prayed every day “Lord let me be an instrument of your peace…” She also had a rosary with dark purply beads that she would pray.  She had handwritten lists of people that she mentioned in prayer by name.  She was one of those people who added prayer requests from her conversations in the check out line at Jewel. When my grandma said that she prayed for you, you can bet that she did.

I would like to say that I have a prayer routine like my grandma’s: that I wake before the sun each day and spend an hour in prayer.  Prayer has been something that has taken on different shapes at different phases of my life.  As a very little girl, I remember praying with my dad before bed. I don’t remember a lot about those prayers except that we always prayed for “teachers and pets.” 

Then, there was a period of time when I was in youth group and wore, oversized Jesus t-shirts under button down plaid flannel shirts.  And held hand with my youth group as we all prayed.  When my child was in the NICU after he was born, my prayers were different, spontaneous, urgent. I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say that there have been a lot  of periods of silence between me and God too over the years.

These day, my prayer life again looks differently. Sometimes I pray on jogs or walks with my dog.  Other times, I find myself sinking into the news I’m reading and just sort of mumbling “Lord have mercy” and shaking my head a lot.  I’m not really sure if that counts as prayer.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I’ve actually done prayer right over the years and even now. Have I gotten the words right? Have I been too focused on myself?  Should I have had more of a prayer routine? Written them down in a journal?

In today’s bible story, we have a little moment into this world where Jesus is praying. It’s the Thursday night right before he is going to be arrested and then crucified. He has been talking with his disciples for hours about how it’s going to be after he physically ascends to be with the God, he told them how he’s going to send them the Holy Spirit. He’s preparing them for life and ministry without him.  And then, sitting at the table with his disciples right there after dinner and he prays. 

When I think back on the highlights from Jesus’ life that I love, I think of certain bible stories, (the Woman at the Well, or those guys who lowered that man through the roof to be healed, that time Jesus got up and calmed the stormy seas).  Or I think of his teachings, like that story he told us about the good Samaritan. In my top ten or even top 20 Jesus moments, I realize this week that I have to admit, I don’t always look at how Jesus prayed.

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, he taught us how to pray by saying “Our Father…” but in our bible story today from the gospel of John we see how Jesus himself actually prayed. 

At first, Jesus prays for himself: He is pretty down to earth, honest, he shares what’s hard in life, and asks for God’s help.  “Help me to glorify you,” Jesus says, which is kind of like saying. Help me to make you known in the world. 

Then he turns to what is on his mind, which is, as it turns out, his disciples. His friends, his followers gathered there with him. Now only does Jesus pray for himself, he also prays for his disciples. Jesus doesn’t pray that life for his disciples will get easier. He knows it won’t. He doesn’t pray that they will escape challenges, struggles, or persecutions or defeat their enemies.  He prays for them to hang in there together, for God to strengthen them, care for them, to protect them.

Now I don’t exactly know how prayer works.  I don’t think it’s some kind of deal where we put our order with God and back it comes piping hot to our table.  But I know that this week, when I got an email from someone on Friday that said that the person was praying for me and my family, that she was holding us in God’s presence, that it mattered.

Patrice Karts has a children’s book, “The Invisible String,” that suggests that when we hold one other in the presence of God we’re connected to God and one another through this “invisible string.”  That’s why we pray individually and we also pray here as a group in worship. Praying together connects us to God and to each other as the church. As we gather here today, I ask you: What is it that you would lift up to God right now? For encouragement when things are hard? For protection for someone you love? To be a better friend or a better parent? For courage or patience during this time of being sheltered at home? For hope when it feels like things are hopeless? For companionship during this time when so many of us feel lonely? For healing? For forgiveness? What are the honest things that you would lift up to God?

While a life of faith has to do with thinking and reflecting about God, it also has to do with connecting to God. Prayer is a connection to God. Maybe we don’t get the words right, maybe we’re clumsy, maybe we fall asleep if we pray late at night, maybe we pray for a minute here and there between email and making dinner, But prayer connects us to God and prayer connects God to the world, “that God so loves” (John 3:16). And this is very good news.

We don’t know exactly how prayer works, but we know that the Holy Spirit animates life around us  in ways that we cannot explain or understand. We know that prayer connects us to God and to one another in ways that are powerful and mysterious. We know that Jesus prayed and encourages us to pray.

Reflecting on that idea of an invisible string that connects us all in prayer, Nadia Boltz Weber says that “Maybe these silken threads of prayer which connect us to God and one another and even our enemies are how God is how is stitching our broken humanity back together.”

Maybe, just maybe.