Today we begin a new sermon series where we will journey with prayers, attributed to four remarkable Christians. We are journeying with these prayers because there is nothing more essential for Christian life than prayer. A good friend once told me that prayer is like air for the soul.[1] Prayer is the essence that empowers our being. Without prayer the life of faith will suffer, for prayer is the road that leads us to the will of God. The more we travel through this road the closer we come to full alignment with God’s supreme will. We must travel this road often. For the more we do it the more we see our need, and the more we desire to be conformed to the perfect image of Christ. In prayer, we find our way to God and commune with the divine. And the good news is that through prayer we are changed from the inside out, growing in the life of faithfulness and in fellowship with God.
We live in a world that desperately needs individuals attuned to the will of God. The broken realities we see all around us, in this continued global pandemic, school fights, natural disasters, world hunger, wars, and so much more do not call for new forms of government intervention. These and all the other challenges that break our hearts call for individuals who are steeped in the life of prayer. By prayer I do not mean rote words said out of obligation, but deep transformative connection with God. The writer and theologian Richard Foster remind us that when we open ourselves to a life of prayer, we experience change. He said, “Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.”[2] And this transformation can seem ludicrous to others, but the way God works in our lives is unique. I remember the words of Deitrick Bonhoeffer who said, “I can never know beforehand how God’s image should appear in others. That image always manifests a completely new and unique form that comes solely from God’s free and sovereign creation. To me the sight may seem strange, even ungodly. But God creates every [person] in the likeness of his Son, the Crucified.”[3]
The Apostle Paul understood and witness the transformative power of prayer in his life. You may remember Paul, who persecuted the church, but on his encounter with Jesus, on the road to Damascus, Paul was forever changed. Paul’s transformation was so extreme that he was unrecognizable to his friends and foes. Paul’s words to us are empowered not by personal will but a life of prayer. The Apostle tells us, “Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad!” The truth expressed by the Apostle in these words is impossible to accomplish without prayer. I am not convinced that anyone can sustain a state of constant gladness, an inner peace that surpasses all understanding, and a life free from anxiety without much prayer. Those of us who have ever lost our temper before eating breakfast know that it takes a power beyond our own to enable, support, and sustain lives that overflow with peace.
Lasting peace can only come from God. And there is an integral connection between a life of prayer and a life of peace. The work of prayer and the work of peace are not passive, they call us to engage the world beyond ourselves. Jesus told his followers, “you are the light of the world… let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.”[4] Last week we heard that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are seeking participation in the work of God, so that the realities of heaven become visible on earth. The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis leads us in the same direction: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” Peace is not something that comes from us, it is God’s gift to us. Jesus himself tells us, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives.”[5]
Francis of Assisi understood the work of peace to be directly connected go the life of prayer and faith. He would often tell his followers, “As you announce peace with your mouth,
