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Do you know how to pray?

Today we’re going to look at a story about Jesus teaching his disciples. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. He gave them one prayer that they could use as a model for every prayer they would ever pray.

Before we read this story, I want you to think about letters to Santa. Did you ever write a letter to Santa when you were a kid? There are lots of funny ones out there.

What letters to Santa teach us about how to/not to pray…

Dear Santa –

You are so awesome! I love you. You look so cute with your round tummy in that fuzzy red suit. I loved sitting in your lap and how your soft white beard tickled my face. You smell like cinnamon.

I know you live in the North Pole and all. And I know you can see everything. My mom told me about the sticks and ashes. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds bad. I’m trying to be really really good this year. I am not even sticking out my tongue at Mrs. Crabapple when she has her back turned. Even though you know she’s grouchy. I’ll bet she got sticks and ashes when she was a kid.

This year, I need a new car. Not a real car. One of those super-shiny Barbie cars. That’s big enough for a 7 year old. I could drive it around my driveway, but I promise not to drive it in the street. And if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like one of those Bedazzled purse kits. My friend has one, and she is soooo cool.

I’m going to try to come see you again soon so we can talk more about it. I hope you have a good day. I hope my little brother doesn’t pull your beard too hard next time.

I love you,

Mimi

The reason I bring this up is that sometimes our prayers sound like this letter to Santa Claus.

There are some really good things in this letter –

• Praising Santa Claus – telling him how much she loves him.


• Feeling intimate with Santa Claus – telling him how she likes sitting in his lap and feeling his beard.


• Asking him for “desires.”


• Wanting to talk to him some more.

But you can probably see that there are some not-so-good things in this letter. And sometimes we see some of these attitudes in our prayers.

• Trying to be good so Santa will reward her.


• Thinking she’s better than she is (she’s still saying how awful Mrs. Crabapple is ;-)…


• Focusing on getting things.

Jesus teaches his disciples about kingdom life. (Matthew 5-7)

In the story we are about to read, Jesus has been teaching his disciples and others about life in the kingdom of God. He says some really hard things, like

Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

And then he tells them about people who like to show off and pretend like they’re super-spiritual. Here’s how Sally Lloyd-Jones puts it in the Jesus Storybook Bible:

In those days, there were some Extra-Super-Holy-People (at least that’s what they thought), and they were called ‘Pharisees.’ Every day, they would stand out there in the middle of the street and pray out loud in big Extra-Super-Holy Voices. They really weren’t praying so much as just showing off. They used special words that were so clever; no one understood what they meant.

Jesus starts his lesson on prayer to the disciples by saying something like this – this is NOT a direct quote, but this is what he wants to get across…

“Look – don’t be like that. Be yourself. This kingdom life is how you respond because God loves you and you are grateful to him. It’s not about showing off and getting other people to think you’re a super-Christian.

As far as prayer goes, he’s saying, “You don’t have to use special words, and the last thing I want is for you to show off when you pray. Go get in a closet if you have to (some moms have to, right? J), but don’t pray so people will think you’re great.”

Read Matthew 6:1-8.

Shhh! It’s a secret!

As we said, Jesus begins this lesson on prayer with a strong warning. The main word here is SECRET.

I knew a guy in high school who became a Christian, and he could not shut up about it. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. In his case, he was just so excited about the change in his life that he wanted to talk with people everywhere all the time about it.

Then I knew another guy who became a Christian, but he always talked about how much money he started giving away (and he did – he was very wealthy, and he started giving parts of his huge allowance to Habitat for Humanity). He would tell people about how long he prayed and how long his quiet times were. It was really just a little obnoxious.

So when Jesus is saying, live a righteous life, but be SECRET about it, it doesn’t mean we can’t talk about him or share with others. It just means that we need to be especially careful about some of the practices we do.

• Don’t give a lot of money to the church and ask them to name a building after you.


• Don’t tell everyone what you gave up for Lent or that you are just so tired because you are fasting and praying.

Read Matthew 6:5-8

After warning the disciples about not “practicing their righteousness in front of others,” Jesus starts teaching them about how to pray. Again, he’s telling them not to try to be “Extra–Super-Holy-People.”

Here’s how Sally Lloyd-Jones puts it in the Jesus Storybook Bible:

“When you pray, don’t pray like those Extra-Super-Holy-People. They think that if they say lots of words, God will hear them. But it’s not because you’re so clever, or good, or so important, that God will listen to you. God listens to you because he loves you.”

Jesus tells his disciples –

• Don’t make your prayer into a babbling speech, where you’re just saying lots and lots of words so you’ll sound super-smart and important.


• Don’t make your prayer into a public exhibition where everyone is going to look because you’re shouting.


• Don’t be like an actor in a play who is just performing for an audience.

And Jesus tells them something that’s really sad. People who pray like that have already gotten their whole reward. Their whole reward is just the attention that people give them. If you could choose between the attention people would give and God’s attention, which do you really want?

Jesus is trying to tell them,

God can hear you, and he can understand you. He’s listening. He already knows your heart, because God knows everything. You don’t have to impress him. In fact, prayer is as much about you paying attention to God as it is about God paying attention to you.

Start with the right stance: by looking up to God: vv. 9

Jesus wants his disciples – and that’s us — to begin our prayers with a stance. Think about any of the sports in the Olympics — swimmers on the podium, runners poised for the relay — they all have a stance that they begin with. It communicates — I’m ready to run this race. It is focused on one thing; it has a goal in mind.

To get in the proper stance for prayer, we begin by calling out to “our Father.”

Jesus is speaking in a language the disciples used, Aramaic. The word he uses for “Father” is closer to our word for “Daddy.” It is a tender, personal term, suggesting an intimate and close relationship.

But he’s not just any Dad. He’s the Dad in heaven. He’s above and beyond. He knows EVERYTHING. He has ALL the power. He has perspective and power. That is important – he understands the WHOLE STORY when we only understand little bits of it.

So the first part of prayer is getting in the stance – calling out to God as Father, and knowing that he is in heaven, which means he has a power and perspective we don’t have.

Now, what do we ask for?

Name the goal: HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME: Matthew 6:10

What in the world does it mean to “hallow” his name? It’s an old word. The only time we ever use it is in the Lord’s Prayer and at “Hallow-een.”

Hallow means Holy – it is a verb that means “to make holy.”

And I know now you’re going to be wondering what Halloween has to do with holiness, so a little rabbit trail…

Halloween is from the Old English, “All Hallow’s Eve,” which was the night before the day the old church celebrated – “All Hallow’s Day,” which was also known as “All Saints Day.” It was the day in the church to remember those who had passed away, who had been finally and fully made holy.

Jesus tells his disciples to begin by asking God to make his name holy. But isn’t God’s name already “holy” ?