Inexhaustible                                                                                           

Luke 11: 1 – 13                                                                                       

Makemie Presbyterian Church                                                                  

October 3, 2010

World Communion Sunday

            11Jesus was praying in a certain place & after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”                                                                                                                    

²He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”                                                                            

⁵And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend & you go to him at midnight & say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived & I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked & my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up & give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up & give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up & give him whatever he needs. ⁹“So I say to you, Ask & it will be given you; search & you will find; knock & the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, & everyone who searches finds & for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”                                                                                      

This ends our reading.

                Today is World Communion Sunday & all around the world, more than… well we were sitting at breakfast the other morning & I asked John, “How do you say, 2000 million?” And he said, “Well, we in the civilized world say, `2 billion.’” In our world there are over 6 billion people and so today 2 billion who are Christians will eat the bread & drink the cup of our Savior; until he comes again. And I’m working overtime to remember its meal that feeds our faith; not the logistics of how everyone will make it back to their seats.

But how different the sacrament will be! Some will have sound theological reasons for receiving communion in their pews; while others have equally good reasons for kneeling at an altar rail. Some have come to expect grape juice in the cup while others expect wine. Some are used to pulling chunks of bread off a big loaf held by someone else’s hands -- while others wait for someone to place a wafer in their hands.

Some won’t worry about the crumbs of bread that fall to the ground but others are so horrified to see it there that they drop to their knees like a monk to sweep them up into their hand until they can find a proper place to dispose of them.

When I was of age to take communion; I still waited for one year because I had never really paid attention to how it was done, since it didn’t concern me. That’s how it was back in the day, children weren’t allowed to receive communion. But now I was of age & able but I still waited-- because I was afraid of doing it wrong. Did you take the little cup with the right hand or the left one? Did you eat the bread or save it to dip? Did you reach out for the tray or let it come to you?

I don’t know what I thought would happen if I did it wrong. Would the preacher stop in the middle of the communion service, focus that look on me & say, “What do you think you’re doing?” So I sat there for about a year & when I finally took the plunge I found out there were all kinds of right ways to do it.

Some people held out their hands, other people closed their eyes & opened their mouths; people dipped & sipped – there was even little kids who grabbed chunks of the bread. Some people crossed their arms over their chests & got a blessing instead. The point was we were all there. The point is we are all here.

As many ways as we understand the meal that is set before us & as many ways as we come to it that will be done, today -- it takes us to the part of the story we never tire of – about how God’s son loved us so much – he put himself in harm’s way for us. About how on the night he died he commanded us to love – and offered us food for the journey – asking us to trust that no matter what happens to us our lives are in God’s good hands. Not safe hands, not comfortable hands, Good hands.

This then is the meal we share to remember that meal. It happened a long time ago & is happening right now as each of us find our place around this old Oak table.

I mean look how many we are; not 10, not 100, not 1000, not 1 million, but over 2 billion gathered together today and for what? Not to debate, or caucus or pass resolutions – but to feed our hunger for God.

Which, I submit, is what  we have most in common – that we are hungry for God. That we are willing to be fed –even if that means doing communion blind – or discovering how many right ways there are to do it. We eat at the threshold of the one God. 

And how nice of the lectionary -- the set scripture readings for each Sunday, to give us the passage Jim just read of the Lord’s Prayer. At least it’s almost the Lord’s Prayer – you heard it – the one we’re more used to saying comes from Matthew’s gospel.

But if Luke’s gospel was the only one we had every time we gathered we would say

 Father

Kingdom come

Bless each day our daily bread

Forgive us our sins as we forgive everyone indebted to us

And do not bring us into the time of trial.

It’s kind of like walking down a flight of stairs & finding out there isn’t as many steps as we thought – so that at the bottom our legs are still moving. And what about the

Our Father who art in heaven – didn’t they know this is called the “our father?’ And what about – “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – isn’t that the point?

There is a lot of difference between this prayer & the one most of us say. Just like there are a lot of differences between this prayer & the one in Matthew.

Which one is right?

According to Luke that’s what the disciples wanted – they wanted a right prayer or at least a right way of praying that would set them apart as Jesus’ disciples. It wasn’t as if they didn’t already pray.

They were watching Jesus pray – Luke says, it was Jesus practice. Seeing him do it, made the disciples want to do it. But they wanted to do it right, they wanted to do it his way. So one of them asked him saying, “Lord teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Since this is Luke, I never expected Jesus to give a straight answer. He usually is a lot more – I don’t know – rabbinic, Socratic…

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the law?”

“Teacher, who is my neighbor?”

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…”

So it’s a little surprising to hear Jesus get right to the point. He doesn’t say ”What do you think?” He doesn’t say, “Just let God know what’s on your heart.”

Instead he teaches them a set prayer – slightly longer than a toot! Count it up & see if I’m not right. To mark them as his own forever.

My guess is they were a little underwhelmed at first. Couldn’t it have been just a little longer – a little more distinctive? Shouldn’t it have said something about Jesus in there? What about salvation from sin? Or the part about God’s only son?

In any praying match with John’s disciples, Jesus team was going to get done at lot sooner than John’s. They were going to spend a lot of the time standing at the bottom of the stairs while John’s guys continued to pray.

Jesus knew something was on their minds because he followed up the prayer with a teaching (of course).

Keep that up he says; that & the prayer will teach you everything you need to know. Don’t ever worry about bothering God, Jesus says. It’s never too late & it’s never too early. Pray this prayer & what you ask will be given. Pray this prayer & the door will be opened. Pray this prayer & there will be a fish on your line every time! Not a snake, not a scorpion, a fish!

And we begin with “Father,” because none of us are an only child. I made that part entirely up.

So look up what Jesus really said in your study Bible, look at the footnotes as well because the footnotes go with any honest translation. In my Bible these are tiny microscopic a’s, b’s & c’s. They remind me how many ancient manuscripts of Luke’s text of this prayer exist.

The prayer worked, I guess. Jesus disciples prayed it so often that a whole little garden of Lord’s Prayers, cropped up. All of them right, apparently, all of them written down for the children & the children’s children, with some rich & significant differences. For instance, “Father” – some ancient authorities read, “our Father.” “Your kingdom come” microscopic footnote “b” – a few ancient sources read, “Your Holy Spirit come upon us.” Other ancient authorities add, “your will be done on earth as in heaven.” And the sentence “Give us this day our daily bread” – microscopic footnote c – or “our bread for tomorrow.” 

So, we’re allowed to ask for two days of grace? Isn’t there something in Exodus about that? When I looked that word up, that “tomorrow” I found it could also mean “end time bread” – “kingdom come bread.” Really? Give us today our tomorrow bread?

And as I puzzled over this for a couple of days it was as if someone took the binoculars out of my hand & turned them around. I was no longer seeing hungry people asking God for a piece of bread today but seeing loving people knocking on the door asking God for fruit of the table with tomorrow bread – “my kingdom come” “my will be done” “ask & it will be given” “search & you will find” Knock & the door will be opened.”

The prayer is inexhaustible. There are so many ways to pray it, there are Luke’s way & Matthew’s way, the Catholic way, the Presbyterian way, the King James way, the Message way – the today way – the tomorrow way. Any one of them a revelation. It is a cup let down into the well of living water.

It is the meal that marks us as Christ’s own forever. It is the “our father” we know exists; even with all of our glorious & sometimes intractable differences. The point is all around the world we are gathered for this inexhaustible meal. Billions gathered together, broken & whole – juice & wine, sipped & dipped, real presence & real remembrance – sometimes just watching for fear of getting it wrong.

The right way to do this is to do it over & over again, thanking God for giving us exactly the bread we need; for all who ask, receives & who searches finds & everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

So it’s completely up to you – but I don’t think a lot here needs fixing; that the Lord’s Prayer needs fixing. I kind of like colliding the “forgive us our sins, trespasses, debtors” part because it always reminds me; I’m not an only kid. In the same way the meal. We come to this table in so many different ways that somebody is bound to miss something; cloth napkins, grandma’s silver, Mrs. Jones honey-wheat communion bread. Yet for every one of those absences, there is this inexhaustible presence.

All of these people doing the same thing in so many different ways & in our midst – always the One who taught us how; perhaps amazed by our inventiveness – for the door is open, the table is set, let all who are hungry for God’s tomorrow, come today.