Brief Pastoral Address for National Day of Prayer

Saint Mark's, Watertown

Based on Joel 2:12-13

May 7, 1998

Fellow Christians and fellow Americans:

Today marks our country's forty-seventh celebration of the National Day of Prayer. This makes today a particularly fitting time to evaluate the state of prayer in our nation. And a sober consideration of the situation indicates that the practice of prayer in our nation is not entirely good.

° First of all, although prayer is quite popular, many people are praying to the wrong God. This includes not only Moslems and Mormons, Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses, but also many who call themselves Christians. Their prayers are much like a sick person, calling on the telephone for a doctor, dialing the wrong number, and getting hold of a funeral home instead. Such people can talk all they want, but it's not going to help

° Other people take entirely the wrong attitude toward the Lord in prayer. They pray as if God owed them something. Such people make God out to be some sort of genie, ready to respond to every whim-- rather than the Heavenly Father, who always knows what's best for his children.

° Still other people are concerned with entirely the wrong things in their petitions. They set their minds on material blessings, without a thought toward the virtues of the heart which the Lord would like to render to them. Those people are like a kid in a candy store; "Gimme five of those candy bars, three pieces of cake, and that great big cookie over there"-- and then they wonder why they develop a spiritual stomach ache.

• In contrast, the Scriptures encourage us, according to Joel chapter two, verses twelve and thirteen: `Even now,` declares the LORD, `return to me with all your heart.` You see, it's the true Lord of the Bible: God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit-- calling upon us to approach him in prayer. He, and he alone, is the doctor who can help sick souls.

• `Return with fasting and weeping and mourning.` Rend your heart and not your garments. It's the true Lord: urging empty stomachs, tears, grief, and hearts laid bare in confession before him. He doesn't owe us; we owe him.

• And yet, he is our Heavenly Father who provides for our deepest needs: Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. His love for us is such that he sent his Son Jesus Christ: to extricate us from the crushing calamity of our trespasses. His love for us is such that he has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts: to provide us peaceful protection from our transgression.

You see, that's why we come toward the Lord prayer today. That's why we began with a prayer confessing our sins-- followed by the good news that our sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ. That's why we did continue, and we will continue, with a song of praise to our Lord. And that's why we'll conclude with a prayer petitioning God's further favor-- not so much outwardly, but inwardly; not so much materially, but spiritually.

It's in that way that it's fitting to pray every day! Amen.