Some of you are just getting to know me. I mention it quite often because it’s really a big part of who I am. I’m a PK. I’m a preacher’s kid. My dad, Jack Groat, was the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Marysville, Ohio for 34 years. One of the topics covered in my dad’s confirmation class, which we all in that church took in the seventh grade, one of the topics covered, of course, was prayer. In that class he gave us a three-word definition of prayer to his seven graders. He said prayer is communication with God. Then he said communication involves two things, speaking and listening. Talking is often seen as the most common method of communication, but actually most communication is silent. You might be aware of the fact that there’s an entire school of thought and a theory of human communication out there that says 92 percent of what you and I communicate to each other is non-verbal. Ninety-two percent. Try that out with God today. Say to yourself, “I am going to communicate with God, and 92 percent of what I share with God today will be non-verbal.” Or just ask God one thing, simply this – “God, be present, and I will be still, and I will know that you are God.” By the way, that’s what it says in Psalm 46. that’s where I got it. Be still and know that I am God. Between us as we communicate gestures, tone of voice, grins, grimaces, shrugs, nods, moving away, moving closer, crossing arms and legs, tells us more than words. Communication can be harder when we can’t see signs, like when we use our phone, texts or email. Differences in how we speak, including tone, pitch and volume of voice, can change how our messages are taken in.

I can remember when I was the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Akron, Susie, who was an important leader in that church, a brilliant woman, owned her own business, she would send me these angry emails, and it was so out of character. I thought, “I don’t get it.” So finally, I talked to her about it – “why do you send me these angry emails?” She said, “I’m not angry.” And she wasn’t. She was very busy, and she sent me these terse, short, to-the-point emails. Our communication was much better via email after that. The point is when we we’re not in the room, it matters. I, for decades, have been absolutely obsessed with the whole concept of body language, to the point that I have studied it over the years as scientifically as I can. Thank God, in this congregation I don’t have to go to a bunch of meetings all the time. For 35 years I did that, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m standing in front you as an interim pastor now. I decided one day I didn’t want to do that anymore. Back when I did that, the first thing I had to do was check out everybody’s body language. It’s non-verbal communication, body language, and there are countless positioning and body movements to notice and to read. They communicate information about us without usually us even realizing it.

Writing, reading, music, plays, movies. What am I forgetting? All communication. So now, what I’m trying to do is get you to join me to dive in the communication pool so that we can ask this question. How do we communicate with God? How do we pray? The writer of Psalm 63, which I read earlier, might suggest that when we pray we can begin by being thirsty for God. The psalmist writes, “O God, you are my God, I see you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” This is a prayer prayed by someone in deep need. “My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me.” This morning, we read of the disciples in Luke, flat-out simply saying to Jesus, “Hey, Jesus, teach us how to pray.”

These 13 verses in Luke, which Chris read for us, provide a unit of instruction on prayer. The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and he gives them very few words. These words, of course, we just heard them, are foundation for what later becomes known as the Lord’s Prayer, polished up to look and sound a lot better than Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives them very few words, but what he really wants to teach them – and this is very important – he really wants to teach them about the nature of the one to whom they pray, God. They want to know about the words he’s going to try to teach them about the nature of God. The first thing he teaches them is to think of God, and this is what we would call it – as a loving parent. Think of God as a loving parent. That is a great place to start, and some people stay there, and that’s fine. But – confession time – I don’t really think of God that way anymore. When I pray, I think of God as a loving companion. Of course, that word “companion” literally means “with bread.” My God is an entity I think of as a spiritual presence that wants to break bread with me, a presence that wants to stand by me. So, when the disciples ask for a lesson on prayer, Jesus responds with a lesson on the nature of God.

Luke is the Gospel writer who gives the most emphasis to Jesus’ practice of prayer, Luke, more than any of the other Gospels. In Luke 3, Luke says the spirit came upon Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. When? When Jesus was in prayer. Luke has Jesus withdrawing to desolate places, often in order to pray. In Luke, Jesus prayed before significant turning points in his ministry, like the calling of the disciples, Peter’s confession, and the transfiguration. We can hardly turn the page in the Gospel of Luke without Jesus in prayer. Luke will report Jesus’ prayers at Gethsemane, on the cross, and at table with the disciples. This strange parable of the shameless neighbor that we just heard is about the nature of God, the one to whom we pray. The parable simply is about this. If we agree that a neighbor will answer another neighbor’s annoying request in the middle of the night, then should we not also believe that God answers those who call out to God in need?

Something I’ve always wondered about – I think the secret, one of the secrets to prayer is to know what to ask for. “God, I want a shiny, new, red Chevy Camaro.” I don’t see it. I think one of the secrets – maybe that prayer is, “God, I’m grateful that I can go out and afford to buy the red, shiny Chevy Camaro.” I’m not going to. Going from a prayer petition to gratitude.

One thing needs to be said here. Obviously, we don’t get everything that we ask for simply because we pray for it. I have seen too much to believe that. Too much sickness, too much death. I’ve seen too much. I’ve stood in too many hospital rooms. I’ve stood in too many funeral rooms to believe that we simply get everything that we ask for. This needs to be said. “Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be open for you.” Confession time number two. Before I make this confession, as most of you know, I live in Westerville. It takes about 40 minutes for me to get here on a Sunday morning. This morning something happened that I don’t remember ever happening in two-plus years of being with you. As I was driving northeast on 36 there was a storm. I could see it over here, dark clouds. There was one over here. There was one behind me. There was one ahead of me. And over here, up in the upper left-hand corner of my life at that moment, this most amazing dagger of lightning out in the distance. It was like Hollywood special effects. And I’m about to make a confession. I’m hoping I don’t get zapped. Here goes. “Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you.” Confession time – I don’t believe I will be given everything I ask for. I’ll say that again. Sorry about that, God. I do believe in never giving up the search, never giving up the search for justice, mercy, forgiveness and justice. And I do believe the door is open to all of us. All of us, when we knock.

The famous English scholar C.S. Lewis, he wrote a lot and lectured a lot about prayer. A lot. Here are just a few things he said. He said, “It is much easier to pray for a bore than to go visit him.” Now he was in the 1950s. I thought a lot about this – I would say jerk. It is much easier to pray for a jerk than to go visit him. Can you think of any jerks? We need to find ways to pray for them. C.S. Lewis also said, “For most of us, the prayer in Gethsemane –.” Remember Jesus in Gethsemane? God, take this cup away from me. I can’t do this. I can’t do it. He said that for most of us the prayer in Gethsemane is the only model. C.S. Lewis said moving mountains can wait. Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, when he essentially said, “I can’t do this” – on further review, that prayer can be boiled down to one word. And I guarantee you; everybody needs it from time to time. The Gethsemane prayer boiled down to one word is “help.” OK, let’s go with two words. “Help me.” OK, let’s go with four words, but that’s it. Ready? “God. please help me.” Write that one down and pull it out on your worst days.

The last C.S. Lewis insight on prayer I share this morning is this one, and it’s challenging. It calls into question the traditional understanding of prayers of petition. A prayer of petition simply, of course, is a prayer where we ask God for something. This flies in the face of that. C.S. Lewis said, quote, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the needs flow out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” Close quote. That’s challenging. It doesn’t change God. It changes me. Prayer can change us.

I have led multiple church mission trips all over the country using the most holy of vehicles, the church van. For years, I led trips with 25 high schoolers, and one adult for every five kids. When the day came when we would be leaving, we would gather all the students, all the adults and all the parents, and all the younger brothers and sisters. We would all take hands, I’d have everybody take hands, and we’d make a large, unified, single circle around the van, and we’d pray. I would ask God for safe travels and joy, and then I would open it up. Anyone who wanted to pray out loud could do so. Many of the parents did. Thinking of what C.S. Lewis said, looking back, I don’t know if those van prayers changed God, but I know it changed the people who prayed.

Finishing up here. George Havelka, God rest his soul, George Havelka was a member of a men’s Bible study in my church 30 years ago. I attended this weekly Bible study; it was held in the church, but it was lay-led. The guys would take turns every week, and I was there to support them, to participate, and to grow with them. When it was your turn to lead that morning, it was also your responsibility to pray the opening prayer. One morning, it was George’s turn to lead, and that day, George Havelka prayed a prayer that just might be the best prayer I’ve ever heard. That’s quite a statement for a minister at this point in my career to say. I thought a lot about it, and I wrote it down. This might be the best prayer I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard thousands of prayers. When it was time to start everybody bowed their heads. He didn’t bow his head. He kept it up. His eyes were open. There was a smile on his face. He said, “Let us begin in prayer.” He said, “God, we ain’t much, but we’re all you’ve got. Amen.” I can’t think of a better prayer. God, we ain’t much, but we’re all you’ve got.

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says, depending on your translation because it’s in Greek, “pray constantly.” Pray constantly. Constant communication with God. What Paul was saying was simply this – there are two kinds of prayer, open-eyed prayer and closed-eyed prayer. I go days without praying closed-eyed prayers. Days. I’ve shared with you before and I’ll share with you again. Besides George’s prayer, one of my favorite prayers is from Dag Hammarskjold, late ‘50s, early ‘60s, United Nations. “God, for all the gifts that have been given, thank you. For all the gifts to come, yes.” This is my third and final public confession to you today. I exercise, either walk or ride a bike, just about every morning. Whenever I do, eyes wide open – especially when I’m riding my bike – I pray that prayer. I make sure nobody’s around. It’s important to me to say it out loud. I don’t want anybody else to hear it. And what I love about that prayer – God, for all the gifts that have been given, thank you – that gets me up to that point in my life, everything. And thank you for all the gifts to come. I love that part of it too, because what’s going to happen from God today? Yes. Two kinds of prayer. Open-eyed, closed-eyed. Pray constantly. God, we ain’t much, but we’re all you’ve got. Amen? Amen.