Encountering the Heart in Prayer

Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 33:12-15, 18-22
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Luke 12:32-40

Tim Christoffersen
St. Timothy's
August 8, 2004

Two weeks ago Steven spoke about prayer. He told us the best definition of prayer had come to him so long ago that he did not remember the source.  If I remember correctly, the words were “prayer is the human response to God’s presence.”

            Words from today’s lessons also focus us unmistakably on prayer. Like Steven’s memory of the definition of prayer, there are two verses today that have become part of me over the years.  I reflect on their content and meaning from time to time and they are never far from my conscious awareness.

            One is from the first verse in the reading from Hebrews.  In the New International Version it reads: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Most of us remember the RSV version we heard this morning: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

            We do not “see” God in the literal sense of with our eyes. We can only approach God in trust with a faithful heart. We leap into a deeper world we do not see.  We know in our heart that God is present and hears our prayer. So we pray “with the conviction of things not seen” and “certain of what we do not see.” In prayer we know that God has created us and that our life here on earth is truly a gift.

            I have two good friends from college.  They are both doctors and have been married to each other since medical school.  Dorothy comes from a family of physicists and mathematicians.  She finished first in her medical school class. She is also an articulate atheist.  We have had wonderful encounters where, you might say; we don’t “see” each other.  For Dorothy, what you don’t see does not exist.  From her perspective, belief in God is just a crutch for an individual that just happens to also have the positive attribute of making society a little more civilized.  But if you don’t see it, for Dorothy it isn’t there.  In a strange way, her faith that there is no God is the same faith that I have in God’s presence in our lives.  She doesn’t ‘see’ that God is not there and I don’t ‘see’ that God is there. Both of us have leapt into a deeper world where we cannot ‘see.’

            But there is another sense in which we might say we “see”, or perhaps sense, God’s presence.  For me, music is sometimes the medium through which I feel an opening to God’s presence.  It might be a hymn that has a deep connection with my past.  For a few moments I suddenly realize or “see” that I live in my own narrow world on a day to day basis and that God’s world is so much beyond my own little world.

            For some an encounter with a stranger might be the medium through which you sense God’s presence.  The story of the Good Samaritan is instructive.  The priest and the Levite who passed by the wounded man on the other side of the road clearly did not encounter God’s presence.  But I suspect the wounded man and perhaps even the Samaritan sensed God’s presence in their encounter with each other.  I know some doctors whose faith is affirmed by the medical miracles they encounter and for which they have no rational or medical explanation.

            I know for me there have been moments when I have been overwhelmed by God’s presence in visits with hospice patients.  I remember one encounter where I was present when a wayward son and his dying mother were both able to transcend their personal histories and open their hearts to each other.  The son had had a deeply religious experience that had turned his wayward life completely around. He was able to share his story in a way that his mother could understand and the expressions of love and understanding they were able to exchange was truly the presence of God.

            The other verse that focuses us on prayer is Jesus’ words from the reading in Luke:  “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.”  The setting of this verse in Luke is apocalyptic.  In the preceding verses, Jesus has been speaking to the disciples and telling them of the trials that they will face because they are his followers.  He says to them “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.  But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.”

            In the parable of the Rich Fool that immediately follows, he reminds them that piling up an abundance of possessions means nothing if your life is suddenly taken from you.  This theme leads to the instructions to “sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

            Most of us are comfortable neither with the apocalyptic language nor with being told to sell our possessions and give to the poor.  My personal challenge starts well before reaching this stage.  I find my concerns with my daily life and work often overwhelm my time of prayer and my awareness of God’s presence in my life.  When I suddenly realize I have gone days without prayer, I cannot escape the awareness that my heart is in the daily affairs of life and not in prayer and not in living my life in awareness of God’s presence. Words from Shakespeare make the point well: “Why so large a cost, having so short a lease, dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?...within be fed, without be rich no more.”

            When we moved to Rossmoor last fall, I had to confront my attachment to possessions.  In my case, it was my books.  For years, we had two rooms where we had book shelves.  The agreement surrounding the move was only one room for books.  That meant I had to part with about 1/3 of my treasured book collection.  Talk about where your treasure is!  But I managed to shrink the collection and when it was over I actually felt pretty good at being less attached to my books.

            The purses in heaven contain spiritual treasures. Love and our relationships with others are among those spiritual treasures that I believe we take with us.  The love and concern in those relationships may be with family members, or friends or strangers.  The new friend of the Good Samaritan was certainly a stranger. I believe God shapes us through our relationships with others.  I find it is hard to be selfless toward another person without an awareness of God’s love for us.  Most of us are naturally too selfish to do it on the strength of just our own character.

            When we act toward others with an awareness of God’s presence in our lives, this is prayer.  As Steven said two weeks ago, prayer is the human response to God’s presence. 

            Words of the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, also sum it up pretty well.  “Prayer is a death to every identity that does not come from God.”

Amen.