✠ Psalmody: Isaiah 48:20b; Psalm 66:1–2; Liturgical Text; 1 Corinthians 5:7b, 5:8a, c; Psalm 66:8–9, 20; Psalm 96:2
✠ Lection: Numbers 21:4–9; James 1:22–27; John 16:23b–30
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beloved disciples of Jesus, hear his words, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you…Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” By these words we may see many things, many aspects about asking, about praying, that the Father give that for which we ask. Just as Cantate last week was another way of beckoning us, full of resurrection joy, to sing, so today, Rogate, is another way of telling us, full of resurrection joy in having been reconciled to the Father through the Son, to pray, for that is literally what today’s name means. Pray, y’all. It’s the Lord Jesus proclaiming these words by the apostle John to all who follow Him, the Christ. Let us consider why the Redeemer and Lover of our souls, the One through Whom all things were made and are made anew, speaks these words meant to lead us into deeper, more sincere and trusting prayer.
The young plants now in our vegetable gardens, the new flowers in the beds lining our homes, and the perennial growth from yesteryear that we hope will spring up again, all clamber toward heaven as they ask the Father of Lights to rain down his goodness upon them. In this way, the living things in His creation have a posture of prayer, looking to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness and to the rain that does not return to Him void lest without either they bow down into the dust. We are wise to follow suit, to posture ourselves in humble petition. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more. Thus, as creation’s new life again springs forth in this season looking to, calling upon the God of heaven to give what is needed, Christians do the same, for we are more in need than the tender zucchini plant or the new coneflower seedling.
We have a voice unknown by the rest of creation. Yes, lions roar and oaks creek in the wind, but mind and voice have been given only to those created in God’s image. With voice we sing. With voice we pray. Christians pray. It is what is required of us, not merely as demand, but as necessity, just as much as eating, sleeping, and breathing. Prayer constitutes significant portions of the Divine Service, not only in the focused moments of the collects, Lord’s Prayer, and Prayer of the Church, but throughout as we learn here how to pray without ceasing, to have the very mind of Christ. Such an exhortation doesn’t imply monastic-style living where so many hours upon the knees hinder the other hours of helpful service and delight with neighbor, with those whom God has given to us to live life with. A healthy Christian is one who, indeed, has designated, intentional, focused daily prayer, which likely includes the Lord’s Prayer along with other blessed examples handed down to us by the faithful who have come before us. But that healthy Christian also prays to God, having Him on the mind and the heart throughout every day’s events, from wake to slumber, from the rising of the sun to its setting, no matter where our steps take us.
Let us further understand and respect the need for prayer, and consider the different kinds in which we regularly engage or hear of guided opportunity for our intentions. Consider what is happening or what is being sought by our prayers and we see one kind of prayer is us asking God to take something away, be it pain (of its various sorts), be it a trial, be it a person toward whom we have ill feelings, because we know that if we remain in close proximity, sin is crouching at the door and will likely have its way with us in our fallen weakness. Christians pray God to take sin away from us, to lead us not into temptation, for we know, see, and feel sins effects on us and on those near us often through our own thoughts, words, and deeds. Our Father desires to hear such humble prayers as we ask for His intervention into the things that tempt us to sin; that tempt us to doubt Him, for doubting Him lies at the root of every sin we commit. Sin seeks to separate; to separate us from one another; to separate us from our one true Head. Pray the Lord to take away all things that hinder us from being united better in faith and ever nearer to Christ.
Yet, we not only pray for God to remove, but also to give; to give what is needed, and, yes, most of us certainly have wants that we’re not shy to ask Him for. The eyes of all look unto Thee, O Lord. He satisfies the desires, the true, godly desires, of every living thing. All fauna, all flora, all people look to the Lord for daily bread, for all that is needed to sustain this body and life. God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. We pray not only for the sustenance of daily life, but also for hearts that realize from Whom it faithfully comes. Thus, it is immeasurably good to pray the Lord’s Prayer multiple times a day as we seek, with all life around us, to be given what is needed from above.
Christian prayer is not only focused on self though, for things to be taken away from us, for things to be given to us. The heart redeemed unto life everlasting by the crucified and risen Lord abounds in His goodness; in Him Who was selfless even unto death while bearing you, His neighbors’ burdens. Jesus’ love for fellow man is a hallmark of His kingdom, of His religion that He has instituted among us by grace. We must not think that our greatest, and most certainly not our only, benefit toward our neighbor is what we can muster up by our own power and give of our limited, earthly resources. Most certainly, the Scriptures testify that, within the scope of ability that the Lord has given to each of us, we are to put to use His gifts in our lives to the benefit of others. Our minds, hands, feet benefit others much, yet have their obvious limits. Prayer, an unlimited resource entrusted to each one of us, extends far beyond those limits as we intercede for one another before the throne of God, before Him Who never sleeps nor slumbers. He never hungers nor thirsts nor is weakened by lack. He lacks nothing. Thus, calling upon His aid, His mercy, His love to shine upon others for Christ’s sake is one of the most powerful gifts given to us. We tend to think that as we age and our bodies are able to do less, to handle less, to endure less, that we somehow become less important, less useful in the midst of a multitude that has a constant supply of new, vigorous, strong physical life abounding. Yet, it is in our later years, when we are forced to slow down and contemplate more, meditate more, we are also then able to pray more, to pray harder. The blessed prayers of the elderly saints among us accomplish more than our earthbound minds can comprehend. Young and old alike, take up the mighty gift of prayer for others, especially for those of this house of faith and of your family’s house. Pray regularly for those on our list, leaving the opportunity not only for the altar on Sunday, but for the altar of your heart in prayer during the week. By this, we may do much for one another.
A final type of prayer to consider that Christians regularly engage in is the one of thanksgiving and praise. The startling moments in life of clear and drastic deliverance or provision are what often move our hearts and tongues to give thanks that goodness, fortune, and blessing have befallen us, to lift the voice upon the words, “Thank you, Lord.” May our great God and Savior enkindle our hearts so that our thanksgiving not be so infrequent but doused upon our days just as His gift of life and Spirit was doused upon our heads at Baptism. What stands in our way of such increased thanksgiving is a lack of belief that any and every good gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Our wicked, unappreciative hearts assume too much about this life. In such a truly dire wilderness, where we even corrupt the good things that He gives, it is only by His every-second divine providence that anything good comes about for us, including breaths, strides, heartbeats, and blinks, and those are gifts only in our person. Let us pray that the Lord open our eyes even beyond that to all that surrounds us, especially the gift of fellow believers, so that we may ask that He also take from them what is harmful and give what is needful, that we may together say or sing, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!” May the Mighty One Who has risen from the dead and reconciled us to the Father, ever liven our hearts with the full joy of praying to Him!
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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