August 4 - Friendship Day

Lesson: Matthew 6.9

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Barry Bailey of Fort Worth, TX relates a humorous but telling story.

A man and his daughter got on a hotel elevator and headed up. Part way up, the elevator stopped, and on walked an absolutely gorgeous woman. She pushed the button for her floor, and the elevator started up again.

Suddenly, she turned around and slapped the father very hard. About the same time the elevator reached her floor, and she got off.

The little girl turned to her father and said, She didn't like you, did she? I guess not, her father replied as he stroked his red cheek. She certainly did slap me hard.

The little girl said, Don't feel bad, dad. I didn't like her either. She stepped on my toe, so I pinched her.

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1. Misunderstandings occur.
1. The woman was working on common assumptions.
1. She expected the man to act as she thought he would.
2. She did not expect the child to act as she did.
2. We need to be careful in our prayer life to avoid misunderstandings.
2. At the same time we ought to be knowledgeable as to how the pieces of prayer fit together to create and integrated whole that we can fully assemble and use.

Charlie Brown

One of the "Peanuts" comic strips gives a graphic portrayal of that it feels like to be in the "pits," the "dumps," the "deep."

Lucy and Charlie Brown are engaged in "heavy, deep, and real" conversation about the meaning of life.

Lucy says that,

"Life is like a deck chair. Some people place it so they can see there they are going. Some people place it so they can see there they have been. And some people place it so they can see where they are now".

Charlie thinks about Lucy's soliloquy, then replies,

"I can't even get mine unfolded."

2. What happens when we can't get prayer unfolded.
1. Over the next several weeks we will examine each petition in the Lord's Prayer.
2. This will enable us to reflect on what is being said and how it can be said t our best advantage.

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MAIN BODY:

1. The first phrase is not a petition but the person to whom we turn to in prayer.

"Our Father who art in heaven."

1. There is one concern that we ought to address with this phrase.
1. It may not be your concern.
2. It is a concern in some areas.
3. The concern is with the use of the word, "Father" to describe God.

Perhaps one of the most controversial hymnals produced is the New Century Hymnal from Pilgrim Press, the publishing arm of the United Church of Christ.

Here is a sample.

"By whatever name we call you Fashioner of spheres, you are grander, so much wiser than our minds perceive. Labels limit understanding, God, you have no peers. So, we question - changing, growing - wanting to believe. New Century Hymnal (Pilgrim Press: New York 1997) 1997 No. 560, "By Whatever Name We Call You."

"Strong mother God, working night and day, planning all the wonders of creation, setting each equation, genius at play . . . ."Old, aching God, gray with endless care, calmly piercing evil's new disguises, glad of good surprises, wiser than despair . . ."Young, growing God, eager, on the move, saying no to falsehood and unkindness, crying out for justice, giving all you have . . ." (New Century Hymnal (Pilgrim Press: New York) 1997 No.11 "Bring Many Names"

A KUDZU Cartoon the Rev. Will Bedone, by Doug Marlette remunerates:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound...
That saved a stunted self-concept like me...
I once was stressed out,
But now am empowered...
Was visually challenged,
But now I see.

The good Rev. thinks: "Actually, I never felt the lyrics to Amazing Grace needed updating.

2. We need to get to know who we are talking about.

A little girl came to her mother with the age-old question, Mother, what is God like? ⁽¹⁾

Her mother hesitated. Ask your father, she said. Her father also hesitated.

Later, among her childish possessions, her mother found this scrap of paper on which were these words in free verse:

I asked my mother what God was like.

She did not know.

Then I asked my father, who knows more than anyone else in the world, what God was like.

He did not know.

I think if I had lived as long as my mother and father,

I would know something about God.

3. Perhaps the experience of Ansel Adams might help us.

ONE MAN'S TESTIMONY ⁽²⁾--Photographer Ansel Adams was a fidgety child who had difficulty adjusting to traditional schools. His father decided to teach him at home, and the next years were extremely fruitful. Learning experiences were always tapped into the young boy's intrinsic interests and ranged from playing the piano to visiting an exposition.

Years later, after he had become internationally known for his creative photography, Adams paid tribute to the courage of a father who was willing to take risks, to listen to that "different drummer" unique to each child. In his autobiography, Adams wrote:

"I am certain he established the positive direction of my life that otherwise, given my native hyperactivity, could have been confused and catastrophic. I trace who I am and the direction of my development to those years of growing up in our house on the dunes, propelled especially by an internal spark tenderly kept alive and glowing by my father."

2. Think of God in the terms in which Ansel Adams describes his father.
1. The description fits
2. I like the image of God as Father.
3. If we remove it or dilute it or distort it we will have lost something precious and greatly beneficial.
3. As you consider the concept of God as Father read the following questions and meditate on the suggested scripture passages that help to answer the questions.
1. Where do we discover and learn to love God, our selves, and one another?

^3:1See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. ³And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3, NRSVA).

1. In 1 Corinthians 13.4-8a, substitute the word God for Love.
2. This will help you gain a clearer view of God and God's love.

⁴Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ^8aLove never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, NRSVA).

2. To whom do we turn for compassion?

²⁰So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²²But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate, (Luke 15:20-24, NRSVA).

3. What resources are available to acquire and grow a sound faith

¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going." ⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" ⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him," (John 14:1-7, NRSVA)

4. Where does one discover the source of consolation to provide support in time of need, great or small?

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, ⁴who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. ⁶If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation, (2 Corinthians 1:3-7, NRSVA)

5. How is it possible to describe and acquire a reasonable and buoyant hope?

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, (1 Peter 1:3-5, NRSVA)

6. From what source is an individual enabled to acquire grace to help in time of need?

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, (2 Thessalonians 2:16, NRSVA).

¹⁴Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:13-16, (NRSVA).

7. How does one become an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ?

¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" ¹⁶it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him, (Romans 8:14-17, NRSVA)

8. Now when you consider that God is a father and we are his children, how then ought we to pray?

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CONCLUSION:

Barry P. Boulware of Kansas City, Missouri, relates the following story.

One day a father went to visit his son's preschool. It was a day when dads could come to visit. But when he got there, he was shocked to discover that only a handful of fathers had come to be with their children.

Later on that morning, all the children were sitting on the floor in a circle. The teacher asked the children to tell the group something about their fathers, something that was special.

One little boy said, Well, my daddy is a lawyer. He makes a lot of money and we live in a big house.

Another child said, My father is very smart. He teaches at the college and a lot of important people know him.

Finally it was time for this father's son to say something special about his dad. The little boy looked up at his father, then he looked around the circle of his friends, and then he just smiled and proudly said, My dad ... my dad is here!

1. Our Dad is here. Amen!

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Additional and unused illustrative material

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The almost 16-year-old son of a minister was about to get his driver's license and came to his father to ask for a car of his own as a birthday present. The father considered this for a bit, and then said that he would get his son a car if the son would meet three conditions: keep his grades up to at least a B average; read the Bible each day; and get a haircut.

The son soon presented his father with a good report card, and said that he had been faithfully reading the Bible each day. You know, Dad, those men in the Bible all had long hair, he commented. That's right, added the father, and they all walked everywhere they went.

###

Hearing a southern accent, Ann Weems was reminded of the time she was in Wisconsin leading a worship service at an Interim Ministers' Conference. Before supper that first night, a man with a southern accent came up to her and asked, Where are you from? When she responded, Nashville, he smiled and said he had known it.

Who are your people? he asked.

Ann recalls the surge of memories which swept over her. She saw faces and names and even smelled some of the sweet aromas associated with home. She had answered the question before: when she went to college in Memphis and when she had married and her name changed.

I knew what it meant: To whom do you belong? Ann writes. It is an ancient question. It's a means of identification, a claiming of ties. It can instantly open doors or shut them in your face.

My father is Tom Barr, Ann replied.

His face lit up with a look of recognition. He told the people with him, She's one of us! She's Tom Barr's daughter. They gathered around and led her to their table, talking about people they knew twenty-five years ago in Nashville.

We dashed back in time and it felt right, Ann recalled. I belonged. I was accepted. I know who my people are.

--Ann Weems, Family Faith Stories (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985), 18-19.

###

He worked his sons so hard. In midsummer, when the corn had grown too high to plow, most farmers laid it by and went fishing. My father never knew when it was time to go fishing. When our corn was beyond the point of cultivation, my father sharpened a hoe for each of his sons and sent us to the field.

One August morning I was hoeing and hating in a terrible combination. There was one thing I was sure of: My father couldn't love me and at the same time ask me to do this awful task. My plans were laid. When the noontime sun reached its zenith I would declare my freedom.

At the dinner table I announced my intention: Papa, I'm not going to hoe corn for anyone this afternoon. It's too hot. He smiled and said simply, Is that so? (which meant that I was going to hoe corn).

That afternoon found me hoeing corn. About a third of the way up the row, I stopped, cropped my hoe, took out my handkerchief and wiped the sweat and the tears. Then I looked up the row. The weeds were thick and heavy. I knew my father didn't love me.
Then I saw him. My father! Hoeing corn down my row and in his arthritic hands I knew that every stroke of that hoe meant a streak of pain.

Soon we met in the middle of the field. Papa and I sat down. It was one of those moments in my life that will stretch into eternity.

-Thanks to Wesley Taylor, Tualatin United Methodist Church, Tualatin, Oregon.

1. Source unknown

2. Teresa Amabile, GROWING UP CREATIVE (Crown)

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