"The Purpose of Prayer" a sermon on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 & Luke 22:39-46

1 Samuel 3:1-10
Luke 22:39-46
“The Purpose of Prayer”
Preached April 6, 2025

Whenever I teach Confirmation, we talk about what prayer is…and what prayer isn’t. Prayer is one of the basics, the foundation of our Christian faith, but whether we are young children giving the generic “Pray” answer during the Children’s Moment, teenagers exploring their faith in confirmation, or adults well into their years of faith…all of us could benefit from returning to the “basics” of prayer.

First today, we are going to talk about what prayer - and God - isn’t.

God is not a vending machine. And prayer is not the perfect dollar we enter with the code to get the outcome we want. Put that smooth dollar bill in, enter the code, get the formula for prayer “right” and God grants our wishes.

In that same vein, God is not a genie. Rub the lamp just right and viola! Three wishes granted.

We probably treat God and prayer this way more often than we want to admit. Subconsciously we may think, how do we get our prayer to “work”? How do we get God to grant us what we ask for? This may have to do with the rampant heresy of the prosperity Gospel in our culture. That falsely tells us that if we live the right way, do the right things, pray the right way - then God will reward us with health, wealth, prosperity. And if our prayers were not answered…perhaps we need to point the finger back at ourselves, tweak the way we live, change our prayer formula… But this isn’t how God desires us to interact in prayer. There is not a magic prayer to get the outcome we desire.

There are a lot of formulas for prayer out there. And there are a lot of people who will jump at the chance to tell you the “right” way to pray. If formulas such as “ACTS - Adoration, Confession Thanksgiving, Supplication” or formulas of written out prayers or litanies or anything like that help you pray - awesome. And I always say there is no ONE right way to pray - whatever helps you talk to God, whatever helps you have a MUTUAL relationship with God - that is the right way for you to pray.

For Vending Machines and Genies - those are transactional interactions. Not a loving, mutual relationship. For that’s what God - and prayer is - a means to be in Relationship with the God who is Divine Relationship. God, our three-in-one God who is in perfect relationship with God’s self, desires a loving relationship with us, with you, with me, as individual people - isn’t that amazing? God wants to talk to you. God wants you to talk to God. God wants mutuality, for you to be open before and to God’s self and for God to make God’s self known to you.

Prayer is the vehicle through which we do that. Prayer can be a formula. Prayer can be extemporaneous. Prayer can be breathing. Prayer can be looking at the world through the heart’s eyes. Prayer can be so many things - prayer is intentionally connecting with God.

So with this understanding of prayer, let us turn to two ATTITUDES of prayer that I believe can be very helpful in living lives that are steeped in prayer and pleasing to God. And they come directly from our prayers prayed in our two Scriptures this morning.

The first from 1 Samuel:

“Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’...And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’”

Here I Am, Lord. I am listening.

God wants to talk to us. God wants to call us to serve and love God and one another. In order for God to talk to us…we have to be listening. We have to offer up, “Here I am, Lord!” Often so many of our prayers are oriented toward asking God to grant our prayers. There is a big mindshift change in order to pray, “Here I am, Speak to me, Use me.” How often do we pray to serve? Instead of asking Christ to take care of everyone, how often do we pray for opportunities to feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, help those in need? I would venture to guess that our “ “may I receive” prayers out number our “may I serve” prayers. Because it’s harder. It’s harder to step up and out in prayer. To not just be benefactors of God’s generosity, but stewards of God’s generosity - helping share it with others, being the answered prayer of God to others. When we say “Here I am, Lord! I have heard your call.” We are saying to God - use me to answer other’s prayers. And if we really think about that…isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it a divine and impactful opportunity? You could be the answer to someone else’s prayer. Let God know in prayer your willingness to be used for this divine and holy purpose. “Here I am, Lord.”

Our second attitude of prayer comes from the lips of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.”

Not my will but yours be done.

This prayer is about relinquishing control. Realizing that we are not God. Even Jesus, in a very human moment, bent his will to his heavenly Father’s. Now, I have a confession for you. I often think that my will, and my way, is best. Surely those of us who have prayed for healing for a loved one think that that is OBVIOUSLY the best will. We might say, “not your will but mine” begrudgingly. In a “I guess if you want to do it your way, Lord. But have you considered my will? I think my way is really good. So let’s go with my way.”

I will admit that sometimes, I even think that my way is better than God’s way. I often think my way is more life-giving. Because I have put God and God’s will in a box - a box that it does not belong in. Sometimes I think I even fear God’s will. Because I fear when things don't go my way. I think, “What if God’s will is for me to suffer?” As if my God is not Life and Joy itself. I think, “What if God’s will is harder?” As if God did not say, “My burden is easy and my yoke is light.” I think, if we’re being really honest, we often fear God’s will. Because we are creatures who like to be in control. And we also have images of a wrathful and cruel God - that are just not true. God does not cause suffering. God is with us in suffering. God does not give us trials to test us. God walks with us through the flames. God does not cause the dark night of the soul - but God uses it to make God’s self known to us. When we recognize this, we can be more open, and less afraid of what God asks of us.

Now, what God asks us for may be hard. It may cause us to grow. It may cause us to step outside our comfort zone. It may ask us to sacrifice. It may ask us to give. And we view all those things as “negative” in our world. And when we accept God’s will, when we listen for what God has in store for us, when we say “Not my will God but yours. Here I am, use me!” We are also opening ourselves up to abundant life. Abundant joy. More relationships. More love. More community. Let’s stop diminishing what God has in store for us by living in fear of God’s will - let’s start saying, please God! Please God YOUR will. For your will is an abundant life for me! Life overflowing in Love. Life that goes beyond the life of this world. Life that is more - more than any will of any human in this world, including our own will.

There are two prayers I would like to lift up as examples of praying “Here I am, Lord” and “Not my will but yours.”

One comes from our Wesleyan tradition, The Covenant Prayer, often prayed on New Year’s Day. Today, I am going to skip the antiquated language and offer a modern paraphrase written by a United Methodist colleague that still gets to the heart of the prayer

“I am not my own self-made, self-reliant human being.
In truth, O God, I am Yours.
Make me into what You will.
Make me a neighbor with those whom You will.
Guide me on the easy path for You.
Guide me on the rocky road for You.
Whether I am to step up for You or step aside for You;
Whether I am to be lifted high for You or brought low for You;
Whether I become full or empty, with all things or with nothing;
I give all that I have and all that I am for You.
So be it.
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. Amen.”

In this prayer, we offer up our whole lives, in abundant seasons, in empty seasons, on the easy path, or the rocky path - we offer up our whole selves to God. And it ends with a recognition of the mutual relationship which God desires of us.

Another pray, that gets to the heart of the attitude of prayer I am urging us to cultivate is our Today, Tomorrow, Together Campaign prayer: “God, what do you want to do through me?”

When I first heard this prayer my reaction was something like, “Wow! We better be careful with that prayer! It could be dangerous!”

Again, why was that my gut reaction? Perhaps because I fear what God will ask of me. I fear being asked to widen the circle. I fear being asked to change my mind. I fear being asked to step out in love. I fear relinquishing control of my will to God’s. I want you to hear this not as an indictment of you if you’ve felt or thought similar things but as an opportunity to extend yourself grace - even the preacher is sometimes afraid to relinquish her will to God! And again, why? This reaction, this fear, isn’t in line with my view of an All Loving and All Merciful God. But the fear of God’s will is in line with a world that tells us that Me, Myself, and I come first. In a world that tells us to store up wealth in barns for tomorrow. In a world that tells us to dig in deep and never move from our positions. In a world that tells us that our own comfort is paramount over love of our neighbors…

So yes, praying “Here I am.”
Praying “Not my will be yours.”
Praying “God, what do you want to do through me?”

These are big, bold, dangerous prayers - not dangerous to us - but dangerous to the way of life that is not reflective of God’s vision for us and for the world.

During my theology interview for ordination in the United Methodist church, there was a minister interviewing me who disagreed with a sentence I wrote - a single sentence in 40 plus pages of paperwork - on the Biblical story of the binding of Isaac. I called it a text of terror and because of that he was worried that I didn’t have an understanding og obedience to God. In an hour long interview, we spent the majority of it on what obedience to God is and what it looks like.

And finally, in a moment of frustration I just told him - “I will be obedient to God - and God will never ask me or anyone else to kill a child!”

And that’s the whole point of that Bible story, in my opinion, it conveys that God is NOT a God who demands violence. God is a God who will always make a way for Life and Love and Mercy. That story reminds me that obedience to God is life-giving, not death-wielding.

If we view God as a God who demands more, more, more until we have nothing left. If we view God as a God who punishes us in order to teach. If we view God as a God who demands violence to be satisfied. If we view God as a God we think we have to “trick” - or use the right formula - in order for that God to grant our prayers…then yeah, I can see why we would be afraid to pray these big, bold, audacious prayers. And this is CERTAINLY not the God I believe in. BUT. I think the fear of this God, this God that is not my God, is there. This God is a God that is preached by many but it is not the God who was revealed to us in Jesus of Nazareth. That is a God of Love. Of mutual relationship. Or Grace and Mercy.

If we pray these big, audacious prayers…If we have the attitude of prayer of “Here I am” and “Not my will but yours”...What’s the “worse” that could happen?

The answer? That God will ask us, nudge us, lead us…to better love God and neighbor. And, again, this may be HARD (giving up ideas/beliefs/opinions that hurt others, being more generous (with prayers/presence/gifts/service/witness), helping more… so yes, God may ask something of us that may “hurt” but in the growing pains kind of way, becoming more holy and loving kind of way…

So in conclusion: Let’s be big, bold, and audacious in our prayers. Lets realize that the “fear” of prayer is not a fear that comes from who God is and what God will ask of us - but a fear of the disruption of our lives…but we live lives that need to be disrupted - in order to make room for more Love.

And so let us pray:
Here I am, Lord.
Not my will but yours.
God, what do you want to do through me?

Amen.

Call To Worship inspired by John 14:23-29

Leader: Through our words:
People: Let your Love be known.
L: Through our actions:
P: Let your Love be known.
L: Through how we treat others:
P: Let your Love be known.
L: Through how we obey Your commandments.
P: Let your Love be known.
L: Through our worship today:
P: Let your Love be known.
All: Amen.

Call to Worship based on Revelation 21:1-6 & "All Shall Be Well"

Leader: The home of God will be among mortals.
People: All shall be well.
L: God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and Death will be no more.
P: All shall be well.
L: God declares, “I am making all things new.”
P: And all manner of things shall be well.
L: May we place all our hope in our eternal, re-creating God.
All: Let us worship - Amen!

Call to Worship based on "Take My Life and Let It Be"

Leader: Lord, take my life -
People: And let it be consecrated to thee.
L: Take my moments and my days -
P: Let them flow in ceaseless praise!
L: Take my hands -
P: Let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
L: Take my feet
P: let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
L: Take all of us, Lord -
P: Let us be, ever only, all for Thee.
All: Amen.

Call to Worship on Prayer

Leader: Today we will pray:
People: Here I am, Lord.
Leader: Today we will pray:
People: Not my will, but Yours.
Leader: Today we will pray:
People: God, what do you want to do through me?
Leader: Today we will pray:
People: We will pray to, out of, and for Love.
Leader: Let us pray:
All: God, be with us in this time of worship. Amen.

"Grounded in Gratitude" a sermon on Colossians 2:6-7, 3:15-17 & Luke 12:22-34

Colossians 2:6-7, 3:15-17
Luke 12:22-34
“Grounded in Gratitude”
Preached Sunday, March 23, 2025 at Boardman United Methodist Church

Today we are celebrating Gratitude Sunday.

This is a part of our Today, Tomorrow, Together Capital Campaign as we express gratitude for the faith, church, and community we have received. AND, it is important to our faith to regularly talk about, express, and practice gratitude.

And so in order to talk about gratitude…I am first going to talk about worry and anxiety. You may have wondered at the Gospel lesson, talking about worry, on this day themed for gratitude. It is important that we talk about what keeps us from gratitude - for anxiety and worry are the antithesis of gratitude and thanksgiving. Anxiety is worrying over what could be; fearing what is not yet; fixating on what is not present, what is missing. Gratitude fosters a sense of appreciation of what is; cultivating thanksgiving for what’s here in the present; celebrating what is right in front of us.

(Disclaimer about sometimes anxiety is also in the chemical make-ups of our brain.)

When we’re worried about what the future holds or what today has in store for us, we are not grateful for what we currently have. When we’re worried that the future will not be like the past...we’re not giving gratitude to God for all that God has already done for us...and all that God can and will do for us. Worry and gratitude are opposites.

So now let’s look at some conflicting statistics.

In a 2015 PEW Research survey, it stated that 80 percent of Americans said they felt a deep sense of gratitude every day. A more recent study I found from 2023 conducted by OnePoll has a similar statistic: 83% of Americans experience gratitude daily.

Given this, our anxiety levels should be low. But that’s not the case.

“The 2024 results of the American Psychiatric Association’s annual mental health poll show that U.S. adults are feeling increasingly anxious. In 2024, 43% of adults say they feel more anxious than they did the previous year, up from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022. Adults are particularly anxious about current events (70%) — especially the economy (77%), the 2024 U.S. election (73%), and gun violence (69%).”

This morning’s scripture actually says that worrying cannot add a single hour to your life - and we know it’s actually bad for your health! The stress and strain that anxiety puts on our body and can actually shorten our lifespans.

Actually, let's pause here. As I wrote this sermon and I wrote that last line I noticed a tightness in my chest. My shoulders were scrunched up to my ears. My jaw was clenched. Perhaps sitting in the pews now, you are noticing a similar sensation.

Put your feet on the ground. Let your weight settle into your seat. Take a deep breath in, and out. Do three breaths. Shrug your shoulders, roll your neck, release your jaw. Think of one thing you are grateful for.

Okay. With hopefully more looseness in your body and soul, let’s turn our attention back to gratitude.

Some researchers and people with opinions online say that the percent of Americans experiencing gratitude is too high. After all, it’s self-reported. I am not going to make that claim but I will make this claim:

We may THINK we are grateful. But. We are very bad at expressing gratitude and without the expression of gratitude, we are not actually practicing the ethic of gratitude.

According to that OnePoll survey, only 40% write down what they are grateful for. And only 25% verbally express their gratitude.

Studies have been done, one by the National Library of Medicine, that show that some ways of expressing gratitude are more helpful than others. To sum up: being explicit in your gratitude, writing it out in letter or long form, and somehow expressing it versus just thinking it is more beneficial.

Christian author and theologian Diana Butler Bass wrote a whole book on the subversive power of gratitude, she says this: “Gratitude is, however, more than just an emotion. It is also a disposition that can be chosen and cultivated, an outlook toward life that manifests itself in actions—it is an ethic.”

Research backs up that gratitude is an ethic. That gratitude, when truly felt and put into practice, looks like actions and a way of life. Greater Good magazine says that “Grateful people have been shown to be more helpful, kind, supportive, and altruistic.” One study showed that those who kept gratitude journals were more likely to be empathic and offer more help than those who wrote about struggles or even neutral events. The Templeton Giving Survey found that people who say that they practice gratitude daily, donate more money and volunteer hours a year than those who don’t.

How are we practicing the ethic of gratitude? It starts with explicitly expressing gratitude about specific things.

Here are some examples to get the most out of our gratitude, to truly let gratitude change our hearts, minds, and souls. To let it be the antidote to worry. To let it be the seed to praising God and storing our treasure in heavenly things.

So here are those examples from my life.

It’s one thing to say, “I am grateful for my family.”
It’s another thing to say, “I am grateful for the way Winnie smiles at me in the morning. I am grateful for the way Agnes wants to cuddle with me. I am grateful for my husband who has chosen to make these girls his number one priority for this stage of our lives.”


It’s one thing to say, “I am grateful to live close to my parents.”
It’s another thing to say, “I am grateful that on a random Tuesday I can call up my dad and invite him to the playground and then watch my daughter and him play together.”


It’s one thing to say, “I am grateful for those who taught me the faith.”
It’s another thing to say, “I am grateful to my parents for bringing me to church. I am grateful to George and Bob and Don for showing me what being a faithful pastor looks like. I am grateful to Jen who showed me what it means for a women to be in the pulpit. I am grateful to her and Jeremiah who first told me, “I see gifts for ministry in you.” I am grateful to Bill for the countless camp sermons. I am grateful to Cherie for taking me under her wing and working with me through the growing pains of becoming a pastor. I am grateful….the list could continue.”

It’s one thing to say, “I am grateful for this church.”
It’s another thing to say, “I am grateful for the people, especially the women, who graciously and joyfully sit by my daughter for the beginning of worship. I am grateful for those individuals who delight in watching the wonder and excitement of children coming forward for Communion. I am grateful for those who stop by my office to wrestle with theological opinions. I am grateful for when I go to the nursing home or make a phone call to pray with someone, thinking I will be blessing them - and I leave that interaction feeling absolutely floored by the way they just blessed me, the way they shared with me, the way they prayed for ME. I am grateful for the countless volunteers who serve this church by giving of their prayers, presence, service, gifts, and witness. I am grateful…for you.”


You know, I’d get even more specific on that last one. I would say your names. I would give a reason for each and every one of you. I could give a reason for every week I’ve been here - a reason to be thankful. But we’d be here all day and I don’t want to put any of you on the spot.

What I do want to do is inspire you to really reflect on what you are grateful for. In your life and in the church. And then I want you to get really specific about that thing. And then I want you to express it - to write it, to say it out loud, to share it.

That’s the only way that gratitude moves from a brief, passing feeling, to something that actually changes us - and then, because we are changed, we live out the ethic in all we say and do.

Gratitude is the soil in which we grow as Christians, as disciples, as people of love, of enough, of generosity, of community. Butler-Bass says, “We are safer and happier when we care for each other in community, when we do things for each other.”

We are called to be completely grounded in gratitude so that the Spirit can bear fruit in this life.

By practicing gratitude we are saying that ALL that we have is a gift from God. Nothing is completely ours, nothing is earned.
By practicing gratitude we are saying that God is inherently good, as is this world and our lives, and we marvel at this and praise God for that.
By practicing gratitude we are saying that living out our faith means building a bigger table to invite more in, not a wall to keep others out.
By practicing gratitude we are saying that we are called to show our gratitude through generosity, in all the ways that we can, because through it we recognize that ALL people, everyone we share life with, is a beloved child of God, equally loved, equally worthy…

This morning, I would like to invite you to an opportunity to practice gratitude.

In your bulletins is an insert of colored cardstock. After the sermon, the ushers will pass out pens. Please write in pen. If you’ve gotten ahead of yourself and wrote on it with those little pew pencils, you’re encouraged to go over it in pen. During the special music, fill out the prompts on the card. The responses are anonymous. There is no need to write your name on it. After the service there will be a basket in the Narthex, please return your card and pen there. These will be displayed at least next Sunday through Easter if not a little more. We will encourage you every Sunday to take time to read other’s statements of gratitude and love for this church, our church.

If you are online and wish to participate, post your responses in the comments.

These are the two prompts:

I am grateful for…
What I love most about my church is…

You’ve heard examples of gratitude from our children during the children’s sermon and in this sermon. I would encourage you to be as specific and as precise as you want.

Hold tight to those instructions, let’s wrap up this sermon by hearing once again, the words of encouragement from Colossians today.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving…And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Amen.

Call to Worship based on "I Love To Tell the Story"

L: We gather today to tell the story.
P: I love to tell the story -
L: of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory and love.
P: I love to tell the story -
L: for it’s done so much for me.
P: I love to tell the story -
L: We are hungering and thirsting to hear!
P: I love to tell the story -
L: of Jesus and his love.
All: Let us tell the story! Amen.