During a Time of High Alert, a Moment to Look at the Lord's Prayer, Sermon for Feb 3, 2019

Rev. George Miller
Feb 3, 2019
Matthew 6:7-18

Currently we are living during a time of anxiety, being on high alert.

Our illusion of safety has been soiled and Eden’s Garden of orange groves, golf courses, and pristine lakes has been shattered by gunshots into the bodies of 5 local women.

Today we’re supposed to hear words of prayer, deliverance, and forgiveness from someone who lived 2,000 years ago.

But how could Jesus speak to us and address issues such as guns, border control, and government shutdowns?

Yes, Jesus may not have lived during a time of guns, but he did live in a world of swords, daggers, and crosses.

He lived in a time of walled off cities.

He lived in a place occupied by the enemy who made their presence known everyday in the temple, in the courtyards, and in the marketplace.

When Jesus taught of daily bread he was not addressing a quick run to Publix, or dashing off to Dunkin’, or meeting your best friend at Panera.

He was referring to the reality that for some people, bread may be the only thing they got to eat all day.

When he referred to the kingdom he was making a political statement because he was not speaking of Rome’s rule or Caesar’s reign, but speaking about God’s kingdom.

The God who gave them land, gave them a promise, and gave them commandments.

When Jesus referred to evil, it was all too real. Those who would strike you on the right cheek or try to take your coat. The demon possessed who were kept chained in the graveyards.

The Roman soldiers who marched down the streets.

Especially as a Jew, Jesus knew the narrative of evil all too well.

How Cain killed his brother Abel over God’s preference for barbeque.

How the Pharaoh had male babies tossed into the Nile.

How Queen Esther bravely risked her own life to save her people from annihilation.

How his own birth caused the murder of innocent children and led his family to flee to Egypt.

Jesus is no naïve waif or out of touch commentator who lived off of a trust fund, or assumed that anyone who was hungry could simply take out a loan.

Jesus was real; he was in touch, in sync with the people and with what was truly going on in his city.

And yet…in the face of fear, in spite of political unrest, in spite of weapons being everywhere you looked…

…Jesus chose hope. He chose trust. He chose relationship.

And when Jesus saw the people, when he saw the crowds of imperfect folk, he made his way up the mountaintop; he sat on the green, green grass.

He looked at all of them- imperfect, scared, wounded, sinful, smudged…

…and he held up the heavenly mirror to them, and he called them blessed.

And then he taught them about issues of anger and oaths and enemies.

And then he taught them how to pray, how to pray to God as if they truly, really knew God and trusted that God truly, really knew them.

Not only that, but he encouraged them to do something brand new- to approach God as Father.

As Papa.

As Daddy…

Jesus instructed them to pray as if they were related to one another as sisters and brothers.

Jesus told them to pray as if God was their heavenly parent.

Jesus encouraged them to ask for the very things any child has the right to expect-

The right to be fed.

The right to be forgiven when they do wrong.

The right to be kept safe.

To be kept safe from-
the bad guys
the boogie men
the creature under the bed
the evil step-mothers
the monsters
the demons
the thing that’s in the closet.

Today’s prayer is a prayer of dependency. It is a way of admitting that we cannot do it alone, that we need help, that we are not weak or wrong for seeking the most basic of things.

It is also a prayer of relationship. A prayer that says we are in this together, we are interconnected, we are united, we are citizens of the same kingdom and children of the same Poppa.

It is a prayer that does not claim to stop the evil or to fill the belly, but it is a prayer that reminds us we are not alone, we are not forgotten, and that we are worthy of receiving what we need.

We cannot undo the events that took place last week. We cannot immediately silence the fears that fill us.

But we can come together as one, we can take our journey up that mountain, and we call upon our Father, and we can request what we need, and know that we will be heard.

And sometimes in a world full of anxiety and fear, that can be “enough.”

Amen.