Sermon
– 01/29/2023
Matthew
5:1-12
Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian, philosopher and poet, insisted that we do not find God through abstract definitions, or through group affirmation. Rather, Kierkegaard believed that it is only through the personal encounter of prayer that we find and hear God. Kierkegaard believed that “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.”
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, although using different language and different concepts, also believes that it is only deeply centered prayer that clears the way for the Holy Spirit to descend upon us and move us in the direction of understanding and living into God’s will for us. For Williams prayer is about what we let God do in us.
Origen, a theologian who died around the year 254, believed that if we are to engage in true prayer, we must rid ourselves of anxiety and preoccupation with worldly matters and fully center our hearts and minds on God. It is only then that our vision is clarified; only then that the voice of the divine begins to slowly transform us; only then that we move into a condition where the whole of our life says, Our Father.
Today’s opening Collect also addresses the importance of prayer, both individual and corporate. The collect implies that it is only through prayer that we will find the peace that passes all understanding; the peace that we are called to bring to all; to the world. “Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN”
Theological reflections on prayer abound. A Google search for prayer quotes yields literally hundreds of resources – each one, of course, different in many ways; but all in agreement on one essential point. Prayer, done quietly and in earnest, changes our relationship with God, and in so doing brings changes in our relationship with the world.
Put quite simply by Elisabeth Elliot, missionary and author, “Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer.”
Last week at our Annual Meeting we gathered to hear reports from our vestry’s Treasurer and Junior Warden. Reports that were compassionately delivered but quite hard to hear. The reports call the St. Simon’s community, both corporately and individually, to be in deep prayer with God. Prayer that will allow us truly to hear God’s voice. Prayer that will allow us to hear God’s will for us, his beloved children, his will for this holy ground, St. Simon’s Church. Prayer that will guide us and allow us to accomplish his will with courage and grace.
I am sure that you will all agree that this is a critically important time. A time in which it will be so easy to get lost in anxieties and fears; lost in anger and blaming; lost in all sorts of emotions that confuse us and lead us away from a state in which our prayer allows us to hear God's plan; allows us to become the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth.
It will be a time in which we resist change. A time in which we will say to God, “This is our home. We want all to be made well for our building and our land. We don’t want the things that have meant so much to us to disappear.” A time in which we will not easily accept the fact that whether we stay put or move to a new place of worship, St. Simon’s reality and the reality of the world itself has changed dramatically in just a few short, but tragically difficult, years.
It also will be a time when we dig into a period of focused and rigorous self-reflection. A time when we ask ourselves the hard questions, “Who are we? Why do we gather each week? What is our purpose? Upon whom do we intend to shine the light of Christ? When God looks at us what does he see? Who do we want to be in our role as disciples of Christ?”
Perhaps most importantly it will be a time of mourning. A time of deep sadness for people who are no longer among us, and of ways of life lost. A time to consider our own mortality.
It is this discernment of what the future holds that is, perhaps, the most important task of all. If we are unable to mourn, to let go, we will never move forward, whether it be here or somewhere else.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches the crowd about the blessings that abound for all who believe in the kingdom of heaven. He proclaims in the second verse “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Jesus teaches us that we are blessed in our grief, our sadness, our anxiety, our confusion. We are blessed because as God’s beloved children our Father hears us when we cry out to him, and if we pay attention through focused prayer and deep reflection, we will hear his voice as it responds to our cry. We will hear a voice that through the power of the Holy Spirit will guide us in shining the light of Christ into our world in new and exciting ways.
In his book “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Unchartered Territory”, Tod Bolsinger uses as a paradigm the demanding challenge that Lewis and Clark faced when, in their journey to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, they found themselves facing the Rocky Mountains. Reporting on how the two explorers faced this challenge, Bolsinger suggests that if the church is going to scale the mountains of ministry in today’s world we need to leave behind our canoes and find new navigational tools. He speaks to the concept of reorientation and writes, “When our old maps fail us, something within us dies. Replacing our paradigms is both painful and absolutely crucial…But you must let go, learn as you go and keep going no matter what.”
This brings us back to prayer; to Kierkegaard, Rowan Williams, Origen, and so many others who in their own way each advise us that if we rid ourselves of anxiety and preoccupation with worldly matters, if we center our hearts and minds on God, the voice of the divine will begin to slowly transform us and move us into a condition where the whole of our life says, Our Father. The whole of our life will center on the blessing of God’s presence in our lives. The whole of our life will be centered in prayer. Prayer that allows us to see what God is doing in us; that allows us to become channels of the Holy Spirit; that allows us to become the link between God’s will and its accomplishment on earth.
The St. Simon’s community of worship is founded on both corporate and individual prayer. Prayer is, has been, and always will be the foundation and the guidepost of the St. Simon’s community. St. Simon’s is God’s House of Prayer, and it is filled with God’s beloved children who daily pray, Our Father, as they seek the gift of God’s blessing.
It is my prayer that in this time
of discernment and difficult decisions, we, both corporately and individually, work
intentionally and diligently on our prayer life, casting aside mixed, painful,
and confusing emotions and opening our hearts and minds to God’s word for us as
we discern our future as a light in the Okaloosa County community. A prayer
effort that is so directed will both strengthen us as disciples of Christ and at
the same time strengthen the St. Simon’s community as we let go, learning as we
go and keep us going no matter what.
