Sermon Title: "When in Doubt, Pray! "
Date: September 27, 2009
Minister: Rev. Susan Bjork

Lesson:  James 5:13-18

I had every intention of preaching on a text other than a portion of the Letter of James, since I preached on James last month.  However, I just couldn’t resist.  I really love this book.  Actually, I really like James because it deals with the practice of our spirituality and offers some thoughtful wisdom on how to live a life of faith both as individuals and as a church community.

Today’s portion of James deals specifically with the topic of prayer.  What role does prayer have in the lives of individuals?  And, what role does prayer have in the communal lives of churches?

These are good questions.  And I don’t know if this is true or not, but I have a hunch that maybe prayer is something we in the church sometimes take for granted or at least don’t really talk about all that often.  And do we reflect upon the theological significance of prayer, even though we actually practice prayer a lot?

After all, we know we ought to pray.  And we do pray.  We pray in worship every Sunday.  In this church we pray to open our service; we offer the Lord’s Prayer; we share our concerns and our joys and pray for each other and for our loved ones; we pray to dedicate our offering gifts to God.  Our music, itself, is an offering of prayer.  We do a lot of praying in the context of worship.

And for many of us, prayer is a daily part of life.  Perhaps, we offer our prayers before meals or we pray throughout the day for others and for ourselves.  We ask others to pray for us and for our loved ones.  For many people, prayer is an important part of life.

So for this, James would be happy!  He would be glad to see that prayer is a core part of our lives both individually and communally.  This, after all, is what he wanted to get across to his readers: that prayer should be central to our lives as individuals and as communities of faith.

James essentially argues that we should pray always.  In our joy, we should pray.  In our sorrow, we should pray.  In health, we should pray.  In suffering, we should pray.  In times of doubt as in times of assurance, we should pray.  We should pray alone; we should pray in community.  We should pray aloud and in silence.  We should pray for ourselves as well as for others.  We should have others pray for us.  In other words, if we are in doubt about what we should be doing at any given moment, James would say, pray!

You know, it was common in first century Jewish and Christian communities to hold up famous prophets as examples of righteousness or role models in the faith.  And James uses Elijah as his role model in this portion of his letter. 

Perhaps you recall the story of Elijah, especially if you were present for the Children’s Musical last Spring.  But if not, the part that James is concerned with is that as a good and faithful prophet of Yahweh, Elijah’s prayers were “powerful and effective,” to use James’ words.  James was inspired by Elijah because he stood up to the ruling party of his day who did not worship the God of the Israelites.  And the story goes that Yahweh, who saw Elijah’s faithfulness, answered Elijah’s prayers for the rain to return to the land after a long drought.  And, as you may recall, the return of the rain coincided with the restoration of the Israelites to Yahweh.

Now, as I mentioned, it was common to look up to the prophets of old for inspiration.  But, arguably what James says about Elijah might have been seen by some as a little bold.  He basically takes Elijah down from the prophet pedestal and says; ‘we’re no different from Elijah.’  Elijah was a human being just like us (a true statement).  So why shouldn’t we pray boldly, and honestly, and fervently, just as Elijah did?  The fact that Elijah was a famous, righteous prophet doesn’t make him any closer to God than any one of us.  If God listened to Elijah, why won’t God listen to us? 

This was a bold statement for some to hear.  But I think what James is getting at, at least in part, is that we are to be honest in our prayers…that our prayers should be an authentic expression of ourselves paired with the recognition that God receives them.  James calls his readers to be honest in their confessions and open about their short-comings because that is when God’s forgiveness and healing can begin.  When we release ourselves of our mistakes and give them over to God; that is when transformative grace can find its way in.  When we say all that we have to say, cry out all that is pent up inside us and leave enough room to listen into the silence; that is when the still small voice of God may find us.

And this is the hard part, especially with those really hard prayers, prayers for those we love who suffer from illness, perhaps; or maybe prayers for those we care about but who we don’t know how to help; or prayers for ourselves when we don’t know what to do next:  When we have prayed all that we can pray; given over all that we can give over to God; and released all the anger, anxiety, and pain, what do we do?  How do we listen into the silence for God to speak to us?

You see, prayer is a dialogue.  But I think sometimes we’re better at the monologue.  Perhaps it is easier for us to do all the talking and it is harder for us to listen for the voice of God who speaks in many ways, sometimes more subtly and more silently than we’d like.

I think sometimes we yearn for God to answer us with a thunder-clap or a sudden epiphany.  We want the dramatic return of the rain that Elijah got.  Sometimes we want God to answer our prayers in the way we want them answered and on the timeline we’ve set for them to be answered and when they’re not, perhaps we sometimes feel that those prayers go entirely unanswered.  This is the hard part of prayer.  Listening into the silence, is the hard part of prayer.  God’s apparent silence, in the midst of our difficulties, our suffering, and our pain, is the hard part of prayer.

So, I wonder if perhaps we need to practice listening.  I wonder if we need to practice listening deeply to God, opening our hearts to transformative grace; practice deeply listening to each other, valuing our neighbor’s thoughts and feelings, just as they are, without trying to change them; and maybe we need to practice deeply listening to ourselves, learning to understand our own feelings and experiences, recognizing where we have experienced joy, what has caused us pain, and where we have caused others pain.  Perhaps part of practicing the honest prayer James asks of us is to practice honest listening. 

Now, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that James is talking about prayer not only in the context of our individual, private lives, but also in the context of the faith community, specifically.  Practicing honest prayer in the life of the community is vital to this.

You see, praying for others, praying with others, being honest about our shortcomings and our suffering with each other, asking for healing, and asking for forgiveness strengthens the community.  Prayer for our neighbors affirms our neighbors.  It is a way of standing in solidarity with them and saying “I hear your feelings and experiences; I value them as I value you, and I have compassion for you.” 

In this passage, James speaks of both physical healing as well as spiritual healing one form of which is forgiveness.  He links them together because in many ways, they are linked, especially in the context of the faith community.  We may not be able to cure our neighbor’s physical ailments, but when we recognize our neighbor’s honesty and respond honestly to them, some healing can be found.

One of the best books I read in seminary was a memoir by Arthur Frank who is a sociology professor at the University of Calgary called At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness.  Frank writes with the social insight of his profession, but the book is predominantly a reflection on his own personal experiences with two illnesses, the first a sudden heart attack at the age of 39 that turned his world upside down.  And the second, a long journey through a diagnosis of cancer, chemotherapy, and his road to recovery.

One of the many insights I took away from this book was that the experience of suffering can be a very isolating experience.  Frank writes of being suddenly out of synch with the rest of the world when his pain kept him awake at night and unable to work during the day.  He longed for the normalcy of his old day to day routine.  He writes of the roller coaster of emotions he experienced, which made him feel out of sorts and out of favor with visitors who wanted to cheer him up usually because they were uncomfortable with his mood swings.  And some of his friends who were frightened by his suffering disappeared from his life.

Perhaps some of you have had similar experiences in your lives.

What is inspiring, however, is that even though the experience of suffering can be world-shrinking and isolating; the community of faith can serve as a world-expanding and integrating agent.

Honesty in expressing our experiences, honesty in listening to the experiences of others, honesty in our prayers, and honesty in our openness to God’s transformative love can be a part of this.

Frank writes of the affirmation he experienced from friends who really valued his feelings and experiences and I want to share with you one brief passage.  He writes:

“Those who best affirmed my experience were often people who had been through critical illness themselves or with someone close.  We did not necessarily talk a great deal about specific experiences, but these friends seemed able to look at me clearly and to accept what they saw.  They rarely tried to cheer me up, but being with them usually did cheer me.”

He goes on to say, “Human suffering becomes bearable when we share it.  When we know that someone recognizes our pain, we can let go of it.  The power of recognition to reduce suffering cannot be explained, but it seems fundamental to our humanity.”

Though he doesn’t talk about it in terms of prayer, Frank’s experience speaks to the power of authentic, honest communication within the community in coping with suffering.  And I would argue that honest prayer is part of this.

And so we come back to James’ call to us to pray; to pray as individuals as well as in community, in our joy and in our suffering; in our assurance and in our doubt, we pray.

Pray not only with your voice, but with your listening ear.  Pray with your songs and with your silence.  Pray with your actions.  Pray with your body.  Pray with your presence to your neighbor in need.

Pray honestly; pray fervently; pray loudly; pray softly; shout your prayers; whisper them too; open your heart; listen for that still small voice; and receive the fresh, gentle rain of God’s love that soaks the soil of your soul making possible a new harvest of grace and peace, and of healing in your life. 

In the name of Jesus Christ who prayed honestly and purposefully, teaching his followers to do the same, Amen.