Prayer: Thanksgiving

John 2:1-11

Here we are in the book of John.  Remember the beginning of John?  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  A little later in that first chapter we hear “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”  It continues, “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” 

            Now fast-forward through Jesus’ baptism and the calling of the first disciples to the next chapter of John.  This is where we pick up our text for today.  The first miracle or sign that Jesus does.  Jesus, the disciples, and the mother of Jesus are all at a wedding in Cana.  The wine runs out.  But the wedding is still a lively party.  Talk about things you don’t want to happen at a wedding and this is toward the top of the list.  To some this would be a catastrophe.  One author that I read this week said that wine played an important role at weddings.  He said, “Wine isn’t just a social lubricant, it’s a sign of the harvest, of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality.”  Wine is a gift, a blessing.  As the miracle plays out Jesus is called to remedy this catastrophe.  He does so in great abundance.  As one who is full of grace and truth, he fills the six stone water jars full.  That is a lot of wine – 120-180 gallons of wine.  The blessing is restored and it is even better wine than before.  But what deeper message does this miracle story teach us?  What is revealed about the character of Jesus?

            I think grace is revealed here.  It echoes the beginning of John.  “From his fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace.”  From the fullness of Jesus to the fullness of water jars filled with wine we have received grace.  We have seen grace.  We have heard grace.  We have experienced grace.  What then is our response to grace?

            I think that is where the third week of our sermon series fits.  We have been studying prayer.  We have already heard about prayers of adoration and confession.  Now this week we move to the T of the acronym ACTS.  We move on to thanksgiving.  I think that is our response to grace.  The fullness of God revealed in Jesus.  The fullness of Jesus revealed in miraculous signs and an abundance of wine.  The response, I hope, to that wine was thanksgiving.  The fullness of grace which we receive through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The response to that grace is thanksgiving.

            If you have ever traveled to an impoverished country you have likely seen very visible thankfulness.  It is in those places where I often see deep need, that the local people see great blessings and are filled with extreme thankfulness.  In January of 2010 I had the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua and Honduras.  As our group from South Canyon prepares to travel to Nicaragua, I have been reliving some of my memories from my trip.  In homes with dirt floors and boarded up windows, people were thankful for shelter.  In homes with very little income, they were thankful for food and more than willing to share that with their guests.  As a guest you typically eat first and the family eats whatever is leftover.  In places with no electricity, they were thankful for their one solar powered light, which provided them with a few hours of light after the sun had set.  Thankfulness is at the center of their lives.  Gratitude to God for everything.  Thanksgiving is at the core of who they are, whose they are, and what they have been given.  I think those are three areas that we can be thankful for as well.

            Thanksgiving for who we are.  Through the waters of baptism we have been given an identity.  We are called children of God.  We are loved, beloved children of God.  In those same waters we were promised forgiveness from our sins, deliverance from death and the devil, and life eternal.  We were given grace upon grace.  As our text from Isaiah states, “God rejoices over you;” “the Lord delights in you.”  God delights to call us sons and daughters.  Just like our earthly parents, God wants the very best for each of us. 

            Thanksgiving for whose we are.  We are a community of believers.  We are brought together by the common beliefs of Christianity, by the common belief in God the creator of the universe.  We are brought together by the one who first created and claimed us.  We are people who have been saved by the blood of the one Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Thanksgiving for what we have been given.  We have been given food, clothing, shelter – the basic necessities of this life.  We have been given family and friends who love and care for us.  We have been given blessings of medicine, technology, travel, and education.  Ultimately, we have been cared for by the one who first loved us.

Today I am going to invite you to share with a neighbor what you are most thankful for.  So, take a moment and share what you are thankful for and then listen to what your neighbor is thankful for.  If you don’t know the person sitting next to you make sure you introduce yourself, too.  The listening here is just as important as the sharing.  I would invite you to remember what your neighbor is thankful for and at some point offer prayer on behalf of that person, thanking God for the opportunity to worship with them, and giving thanks to the creator for whatever they are most thankful for.

We each have much to be thankful for, but we must remember to direct our thanks to the one who most deserves it.  We must let God know just how thankful we are for who we are, whose we are, and what we have been given.  Our prayer life is the perfect way to share that thanksgiving with God.  It is the perfect way to let God know that we are filled with thanksgiving for all that we have so graciously been given.  Amen.

Prayer: Adoration

Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12

Today we begin a sermon series on prayer.  More specifically over the next four weeks we will be focusing on four different types of prayer or four different parts of a prayer.  You can remember them by remembering the word ACTS: Adoration; Confession; Thanksgiving; and Supplication.  This week we will focus on the A: Adoration.

Adoration.  Adoration means to give homage or to worship something or someone.  Adoration is a profound love or admiration. It is an act of worship, praise, or honor.  Today is Epiphany.  Adoration is what the celebration of Epiphany is all about.  Today we celebrate the magi, the wisemen, who followed the star to the place where the baby lay.  They came to pay homage and honor to the holy family.  They came to bow down and worship this newborn babe.  They came to adore the one whom the star shone down upon.

These characters from the East didn’t just come alone, empty handed.  They came bearing gifts.  Isaiah states, “They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”  I am sure over the past few weeks you have went several places bearing gifts.  You have visited family and friends, taken gifts to school or work, and shared things with those you love.  As we celebrate the season of Epiphany, I want you to think about another gift you have to give.  That is the gift of prayer.  This is a gift we are all capable of sharing.

Now, I am sure the idea of prayer makes some of you uncomfortable.  You immediately think of long eloquent prayers that are said in front of large groups of people.  Yes, that is prayer.  But, prayer is also much more than that.  Let me share a quote about prayer that appeared on my Facebook this week.  Father Richard Rohr writes, “[Prayer] is not a technique for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for entry into heaven.  It is much more like practicing heaven now.”  Prayer is practice and just like anything else we do it also takes practice.  Prayer can be silent meditation alone in your room or in your car.  Prayer can be one word long and whispered.  Prayer can be spoken or sung.  Prayer can be memorized and recited at the table before a meal.  Prayer can take on many different styles and forms.  The ways to pray are endless.  Let me share a few ideas.

Pray for others.  There are many people in our congregation, both members and friends and family, that are in need of our prayers.  The list of prayer requests on the back of your bulletin is created by people submitting the prayer request form that is in the lifelines.  Each week you could commit to taking your bulletin home and holding those people in prayer.  Maybe that means reading through them as you eat your breakfast or before you go to bed.  Or, once our new photo directories come you could commit to paging through it and praying for all the families on a page for one week.  We all could use some prayer.

Did you know there is also an email prayer chain at South Canyon?  Sometimes when people fill out this prayer request form they ask for their loved one to be placed on the prayer chain.  From there Lorys sends an email to people at South Canyon who are committed to receiving these emails and offering prayer on behalf of others.  The list of people that Lorys sends those emails to is very short.  If you would like to be included in this ministry you can let her know or sign up in the Koinonia Room.

Pray publicly. Maybe you feel called to lead our congregation in prayer.  That is the role of the assisting minister in worship.  Each week someone leads us in the mission prayer and the prayers of intercession.  Yes, the prayers are written out for you, but it is still an important ministry for those voices to lead us in prayer.  We are always looking for new people to share their gifts through this ministry.  Let us know if you are interested.

Pray through Scripture.  Adoration is a common theme in scripture.  Not only in the texts today, but in other places as well.  Throughout the Psalms we find themes of adoration, praise and honor.  Those words can be read as your own personal prayer.  Phrases like “praise the Lord” and “I will sing praises to your name” are very repetitive in Scripture.  Check the index of your Bible for some ideas or just start paging through the Psalms.  Let those words be your own as you give adoration and praise to God for who God is.

Pray through song.  When I ponder the word adoration this time of the year especially, I think of the Christmas carol “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.”  The chorus invites us to adoration.  The chorus invites us to come and adore Christ the King.  Other songs that come to my mind are “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” and “Father, I adore You.”  The song we will join in singing after the sermon, “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness,” is full of praise and adoration.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, I enjoy music.  These songs and many others are filled with adoration.  They, in themselves, are a way to pray.  Music is prayer.  Although this is debated, some claim that St. Augustine even said, “Singing is like praying twice.”  So, I would invite you to sing boldly today.  I don’t care if you are perfect at it or not.  Sing and as you sing think of those words as prayer.  Notice the feelings and emotions that come with each verse of the songs.  Pay attention to verses that are about adoration and praise.

As you pray for others and for yourself, in whatever way you choose to, let your prayer begin and be rooted in adoration and praise.    When we pray prayers of thanksgiving, often when things are going well, it seems easier to give praise and adoration to God.  I would suggest that even in situations of declining health, difficult divorce, financial hardship, and impending death, it is important to offer praise and adoration to God the source of our being.  It is important to center ourselves and remind ourselves who it is we are praying to.  In doing so we remember that no matter what we may be facing there is a God, our God, that is facing it with us.  Giving our praise and love to God comes first.  From that the rest of our prayer flows.  On this celebration of Epiphany, may our gift, the gift of prayer, proclaim the praise of the Lord.  Amen.