"Prayer as tool, not weapon" - Sermon for Pentecost 13

Sermon:

Text: Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-69

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who calls us to pray.

         This week I saw a preview on tv of a movie coming out soon and then received a Facebook message the next day about the same movie. And I must say, it looks very intriguing and focuses a lot upon something that we need to address more often. Prayer.

         We don’t pray like we should, I fall into the trap too, when I’m home by myself I often forget to pray before meals or at bedtime, or just at other times during the day. I have a little magnet that I keep on my fridge at eye height that I look at quite often when I’m opening it up at meal or snack times, on it there is the standard meal prayer, that helps remind me to at least read through that to give thanks for the food that God gives me.

         But, I often get the sense that most of us only pray on Sunday mornings, and well, we need to do that more often.  And so when I saw the preview for the movie I thought, this looks great! It will address many of the things on prayer I’ve been thinking about. And I really think it will, but one thing bothered me is the title of the movie. “War Room: Prayer is a Powerful Weapon”

         I have a problem with the idea calling Prayer a Weapon. Because weapons never bring life, they only kill, they don’t clothe the naked, they don't heal the sick, they don’t welcome in the outcast. Weapons don’t feed the hungry, Just to clarify that I don’t consider hunting guns or bows as weapons in this situation, they are tools to provide nourishment, I am considering weapons to be those things that end the life of fellow humans.

         And I certainly don’t like the interpretation, or even the idea of the interpretation that prayer is used to end life. By definition a weapon is any device that is used to inflict damage or harm to living beings, and the idea that prayer should be used in the same manner horrifies me.

         Our reading from Ephesians this morning dwells on similar situations and issues. It’s a text I’m sure that we’ve all heard before, putting on the armor of God.

         The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and yes, the sword of the spirit. But, in all of this Paul does not talk about us going out to fight, but simply about defense. This is not so we can overcome, but so that we can withstand the day. We are not the ones that fight, only God and Christ can fight the devil for us.

         Another thing I often hear is about fighting against the world, that we are at war with the world. And again I have problems with choice of words. I do not think we are at war with the world, nor is the world at war with us. I think when we use this war language we do a great disservice to the work of spreading the gospel of Christ, because it becomes not us and them, but a us versus all those we consider outside.

         So, if you go to see the movie War Room, and I do encourage you to go, it is a grand sight better than many movies that are out now days, but please consider this as you go, God did not send Christ to the world to fight the world, but to love the world. All prayer must start there, in love, and all prayer must move that love forward.

         And with that I want to stop looking at what I feel prayer is not, and instead look at what prayer is. There’s a line of our text that I feel is the most important of these items of God that we are called to put on. That’s from verse 15.

         “As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.”

         I love that it’s put like that, it’s not the sandals, or the work boots, or the running shoes, it’s whatever will make you ready. For some that will indeed be work boots, or running shoes or sandals, but they all lead to the true purpose of our life, which is not fighting the world, but proclaiming the gospel of peace.

         And the primary tool, not weapon, we have for doing that is prayer. We can’t all be like Mama Lynn, or Gayle Stroeshein, or our missionaries and go out into the world to love those in need, but we certainly can pray for those in this world.

         We can pray that those who fight may be able to return home in peace, we pray that those who are caught in domestic violence may find the strength to overcome and find safety, we pray that those who are hungry may find nourishment, that those who are thirsty will be quenched, that those who are lost may find God.

         Our Gospel lesson concludes our reading of John chapter 6. In it we finally hear a response to Jesus’ teachings, some are discouraged by Jesus’ response, some even leave. And Jesus turns to those that remain and ask, Do you also wish to go away? And Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

         Theologian Alyce McKenzie asks, “The question arises, if we are not going about with Jesus, then where are we going?”

         That’s what we can pray for, we can pray for those around us, and for us ourselves to hear the words of Jesus and put on the shoes to spread the Gospel of Peace, and to see where Christ sends us.

         We pray that we may turn the other cheek, that swords may be turned into plowshares. We pray that in the busyness of life, in the midst of warfare language and fighting imagery wherever we turn, in movies, in games, in books, in the news, in the language that we use ourselves to try to get out of the cycle of violence, we pray that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding can be found, and those who have at times turned away may still see that their God loves them, and that Christ still comes to them, not with weapons of war, but, like the father in the prodigal son, running with arms wide open ready to embrace and welcome them back.

         We pray, and in the words of our hymn, we carry everything to God in prayer, all the anger we have, all the fear we have, all the joy we have, all the grief we have, all to God in prayer. That is what we are called to do, to pray, to pray for those who go out to spread the gospel, and to pray that we too have the strength to do so.

         and so, let us pray,

God of all mercy and grace,

Help us to pray. Help us to not be overcome by the world, but to put on your armor, help us to see that your sword is not a weapon, but love, love that calls us in, that welcomes us, that forgives us. and help us to pray that the world hears this too. There is too much violence and warfare in this world, help us to pray for it's end and for peace for all.