Becoming Disciples Through: Prayer

Prayer is one of the ways that we support the Body of Christ that is the church.

1. Caveat: in our vows, we talk about supporting the ministries of the United Methodist Church… but if we are thinking about this as a path to discipleship, and not merely supporting the institution of the church, then we can expand that concept a little bit.
2. The first letter of John reminds us that this isn’t about some institutional church – this is about claiming the fact that we are now God’s children – we belong to God! That is the message also from the gospel of John – Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who watches over the flock. We have nothing to fear, we know that we are in God’s hands. So how will we act as children of God in the world? What do we do?
3. What if we practice these things: our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness as we work to strengthen the Body of Christ that IS the church and in doing so become disciples and members of that body? That sounds a bit more appealing, doesn’t it?

What do we mean by prayer

1. Ask! What do you think prayer is? What comes to mind when you hear it?
2. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul asks us to pray without ceasing. When I think about what else we do without ceasing – my mind goes to breathing.
3. Breathing, for centuries, has been thought of as a wonderful companion to prayer, and a great way of physically understanding prayer.
4. So I looked up some things about breathing.
   1. most of us breath unconsciously – and most of us breath the wrong way –
   at least if we are to get the most out of our breaths.
   2. If you watch a baby breathe, you will notice they breathe deep from
   their bellies, rather than the shallow chest breathing that most of us
   have grown accustomed to. I found a couple of guesses as to why our
   breathing changes, and some people think that it’s because we are taught
   to suck in our bellies and puff out our chests to look skinnier… in any
   case – most of us have to relearn how to breathe.
   3. Athletes, musicians, practicers of meditation and yoga – and yes even pray-ers benefit from relearning how to breathe.
   4. Diaphragmatic breathing technique: exhaling and inhaling) correctly is critical in maintaining the appropriate level of oxygen for energy, keeping the correct pH levels in our body, and maintaining the correct carbon dioxide level for bodily functions” (about.com)
   5. in other words – breathing correctly helps us to live better – it calms our spirits, allows us to accomplish more, gives us more energy and power…
   6. and so does prayer. Prayer is not so much about communicating our will to God, but about aligning ourselves with God’s will. It is about building a relationship in which we live within God. When we pray deeply our spirits are calmed and our fears are dissolved, we accomplish more of God’s will in the world, and we are strengthened through the Holy Spirit to do and speak the things of God.
5. We breathe in and out… and we pray in and out and as unconscious as we think both prayer and breathing might be – we have to practice it in order to grow, change and thrive.

How do we practice prayer?

1. You practice by doing…
   1. As swimmers learn Diaphragmatic breathing, they first practice sitting or standing still… then they practice with breathing while walking – every right step, or every left step… then they practice every fourth step.. then they practice breathing this way while they move their arms…
2. “Although there are some people who can talk to anyone, anywhere (like my dad`), most people make small talk initially. This changes as their relationship develops. Sometimes this happens very quickly, other times it takes time. In all cases it takes effort…
3. Now, I don’t want to make it seem like we are all terrible at praying and have to start from the ground up. In fact, Richard Foster reminds us that: . . . Countless people pray far more than they know. Often they have such a stained-glass image of prayer that they fail to recognize what they are experiencing as prayer and so condemn themselves for not praying.”
   1. in fact, we pray in different ways all of the time. Just as deep breathing is not limited to learning how to swim, but is a skill that we adapt and take into every facet of our lives, so is prayer. As we continue to practice prayer with one another, we learn both that many of the things we area already doing are prayerful, but we also learn how to incorporate prayer into other parts of our being.

We know what prayer is, we know how to practice it: by doing… now – what should we be praying for?

1. if we were to look at all of the Hebrew and greek words for prayer we would find meanings like: seek, ask, desire, question, grieve, complain, intercede, bow, beg, demand, wish, meditate, ponder, contemplate, search, draw near, worship, visit
2. We began today by thinking about committing to prayer in order to support the Body of Christ.
   1. First, I think we need to think of ourselves as members of the body. What are our needs? What are our struggles and frustrations? Bring those to God!
   2. We think about the members of the body: who is ill, who is hurting? The stronger the body of Christ, the more God’s will can be accomplished.
   3. What members of the body are missing? Who are the people in our community that are not working and supporting the body? Do we have hands that aren’t giving? Do we have ears that aren’t listening? We need to pray for those who are already members but who aren’t active or have forgotten their way.
   4. What parts of our body are working but need encouragement? Pray just as fervently for the leaders among you as you do for those who aren’t active.
   5. What is the larger body that our congregation is a part of? We can likewise pray for other churches in our community, in our district, for the United Methodist church and the church worldwide.
   6. What is the purpose of the Body? What is the ministry of the Body of Christ? We can pray for direction and discernment. We can pray for the courage to practice the ministry God has given us. We can celebrate with thanksgiving what God has already accomplished in the world.
3. All of those things are exhaling. We are praying for and strengthening and accomplishing the work of God in the world through our prayer. But we also have to remember to breathe deeply and to listen. Let yourself be filled up with God so that you can be strengthened and encouraged to go back out there and do it all over again. Amen and Amen.