The Bridge: How and Why we Pray

I went to grandfather mountain last week. On top of the mountain, there is a bridge called the Mile High Bridge. It is terrifying. They call it the mile high bridge because it is exactly one mile from sea level to the altitude of the bridge. One mile UP. There was a high wind on the afternoon that we walked across. A high wind, a swinging bridge, and me, trying not to look down.

When my babies were little and they cried in bed at night, I would immediately get up and get them whatever they needed. It was instinct. I didn't stop to think. But now my youngest will be nine in October. And sometimes, he will yell from his bed, "Hey, mom! Can I have a drink of water?" sometimes, I do just get it for him, but lately, I have taken to saying, "Sure, you can have a drink of water. Just get up and there is a glass in the bathroom."

"But I want you to get it for me. I'm tired."

"Well, I'm tired too," I say, and then the interaction doesn't get much better from there.

Now, you may think that I'm selfish and sometimes I truly am. But I also know that it would be better for Max to learn to do some things himself. I don't want him, at age 30, to roll over in bed and ask his spouse to get him a drink of water. I want him to be the kind of guy who offers to get her one.

Today, Jesus talks to us about praying. And he says some pretty insightful stuff. He tells a story of a man who is traveling at night. In Israel, especially during the hotter months, this kind of travel was not uncommon. The sand and heat were simply too much to bear during the day so a person was more comfortable traveling at night. And, of course, there were no drive-throughs or gas stations, so the traveler would eventually have to rely on the generosity of strangers in order to eat or rest.

A traveler arrives at the home of a local but the person has no food. So the local man comes to the door of a friends house and it is midnight. He has to ask his friend for bread in order to feed the stranger who has come to his house. Now many homes in Jesus' day were just one room. All cooking, cleaning, and sleeping were done in one space. So when the friend knocks at the door, he is waking up the man's entire family. But Jesus tells us that the friend must be persistent. He must keep knocking and if he does, eventually, the owner of the house will come out and feed him, if only just to get him to stop with the knocking.

So God will answer our prayers if we just keep asking. 

But most of us think of God as some kind of vending machine. If I pray for health and a successful career, then I should get what I ask for or something is not working, either God does not exist or God is not listening or God fundamentally does not care. If I ask for a drink of water, well then, God has better get me one and fast. And if God does not respond with speed, we figure that God is just not there.

In 1870, a creative engineer by the name of John Roebling dreamed of building a bridge that would connect New York to Long Island. All the engineers of his day thought he was crazy but John managed to convince his son Washington, also an engineer, to tackle the project with him. They hired a crew and began. After only a few months, there was a terrible accident on site and John was killed. His son, Washington, was severely injured and suffered brain damage. Washington could only move one finger. The rest of his body was paralyzed and he could not speak.

Engineers across the world criticized John and his son for tackling such a project. But Washington would not stop pursuing his fathers dream. He figured out how to communicate with his wife by tapping his finger on her arm. His wife listened with a kind of patience that was amazing. Using his direction, she rehired the crew and they continued the project. It took Washington 13 years of asking his wife to complete this and that detail until the bridge was finally finished in 1883. The Brooklyn Bridge stands today as a model of persistence, a tribute to a man and his father, two men who would not give up hope.

Jesus says Ask and your will receive. I looked up the koine Greek. It is a present imperative, which could also be loosely translated as keep on asking or keep on knocking or keep on seeking. Remember that God does not act like fast food. God is trying to develop a relationship with you. God is trying to build a bridge between you and the divine, so that you may know him. The purpose prayer is not to get what you want. The purpose of prayer is to come to know God.

Sometimes, we do get an answer and that answer is no.  If God does not do exactly what you asked for, it does not mean that you are not loved. Jesus asked God to take this cup away from him on the night before he was crucified. And God answered Jesus' prayer but the answer was NO. God did not take the cup from him. God asked him to suffer and die for us. And even now, two thousand years later, we are still discovering the nature of that kind of love and sacrifice. Gods answer had a perspective to it that would only be revealed years later. Though God answered no in that moment in the garden, his greater answer to Jesus and to all of us is yes. God is building something in you and for you, a bridge to the heart of the divine. And God wants you to pray constantly and for everything but with the understanding that God's answers sometimes take time to hear and understand. 

Next time to envision your prayer life, think of it more as a bridge than as a vending machine. And remember that there is a living being much more intelligent and loving than yourself on the other end of that bridge and that God can see things much more clearly, things present and things to come. The answers will come but the most important thing is that you build and fortify that bridge.

True Freedom

This month marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Gettysberg. Almost exactly one hundred and fifty years ago, on July 2, 1863, Major William Worthington Goldsborough was put in charge of the Confederate's 2nd Maryland infantry because their commander was injured. William was a printer by trade. His brother Charles served as a surgeon of the Union's Fifth Maryland Infantry. He held his ground that day on the craggy slopes of Culp's Hill. 

The next morning, Goldsborough was ordered to lead his troops into a devastating hail of enemy fire. He obeyed. But before he left, he told one of his comrades that it was "nothing less than murder to send men into that slaughter pen." Two-thirds of Goldsborough's men were killed and a musket ripped into the left side of his chest, passed through his lung, and exited his back. Goldsborough was terribly wounded. After months in the hospital, he became a prisoner of war. He was locked in a crude stockade for 45 days where he was subjected to brutalities and three of his friends died of starvation.

Goldsborough would live until the age of 70. On his deathbed, he said to his wife, "Dont bury me among the damned Yankees here."

Do you see the Bible on the altar? This is not our normal gospel book. This Bible is on loan to us from Don Neifert. It was printed in 1771. In those years, Anglican churches would have had box pews, communion only very seldom and the clergy would be proud of sermons that could last for an hour or more. In today's service, we are worshipping using the words that would have been spoken at a communion service in 1776. Rich and beautiful, these words still speak to us today. Let them wash over you and remind you of our rich heritage as a nation. 

Back in 1776, the enemy of this country was not ourselves but Great Britain. We were desperate to announce our independence, our ability to govern ourselves, to be free. We were tired of paying taxes to people who never walked on our soil, tired of being governed by another.

    

This country's history is forged on the battlefield. It is a great, tragic and beautiful history of men and women who died serving the cause of freedom. We have had many enemies in our history. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, most human beings have enemies, people who threaten us in some way and want to cause us harm. It is easy for us to pray for this country that we adore. I am so grateful to live here as I know that all of you are.

But what is not easy is what Jesus asks of us today. Jesus asks us to pray for our enemies. He even asks us to love them. And, like Goldsborough, most of us are willing to fight for freedom and even die for a cause, but we are not able to love our enemies. Goldsborough's own brother was a Union doctor and yet he could not stand the thought of being buried next to him. Even on his deathbed, he was consumed with anger.

Why does Jesus ask us to pray for our enemies? What could possibly come of doing that? Does it mean that we are to condone evil or allow injustice to exist because we are called to love our enemies? How could he ask us to do something so non-sensical?

Do you remember the story of the Garden of Eden? Things were perfect for us there until we took that fruit that was not freely given to us. In that garden, we had a kind of freedom and peace that was beyond anything we have known since. But once we took what was not ours, our lives became full of violence and animosity. One of the first things that happened after the fall was the murder of Abel. Cain and Abel were brothers, born both of Eve. But when Cain became jealous of his brother Abel, he killed his own brother. His brother became his enemy and the march of conflict and hatred began.

So long as we are unable to forgive, the march of violence continues. True freedom comes when we can forgive our enemies. Although Goldsborough was released from prison, he was never free. On his deathbed, he was still running from his enemies, from his own brother. He could never be free because he could never forgive.

But how can we as a country forgive some of the atrocities that have occurred in our history? I do not know if we can ever forgive as a country, but I do know that we can forgive as individuals. And on this point, Jesus is very specific. He asks us to love our enemies and pray for them.

If we are going to begin the almost impossible task of loving our enemies, the only way to start is to pray for them. Pray for those who use you and persecute you. Just pray for them.

If you sit down to pray every day and you only pray for those who are sick or those who you love, you are not doing what Jesus asks of you. He is very clear that we are asked to pray for those who hate us. 

I have a list that I read every day. It is long. It is full of people who have asked me to pray for them. But it took me years before I began to put on that list the names of people who trouble me, enemies of my county and people who have wronged me. And every day, when I speak their names, it is hard. I get a catch in my throat. I studder. But day in and day out, I pray.

You see, when we sit down and pray for those who have hurt us the worst, for our enemies both abroad and at home, we return, for just a brief moment, to Eden. Be perfect, Jesus tells us, as God is perfect and as you once were perfect before all this mess occurred. You were not meant for violence or war or hatred, those are the expressions of our fallen world. Sometimes they are the least inadequate solutions. But no matter how angry you are or how unfair your life has become, you can pray. And in prayer, you can unite yourself to God in forgiveness. For the sake of your own soul, you must learn to forgive.

I want you to take a moment and think in your mind of who your enemies are. (silence) Who are they, both at home and abroad? Have you thought of them? Name them. Picture them. These are the people that you must remember in prayer. 

I do wonder what might take place if every American were to pray for his or her enemies. Pray for the opposing political party, pray for whatever part of the government you feel fails you, pray for close friends and family who have wounded you deeply, pray for terrorists who threaten our safety as a nation and brutal dictators abroad. Pray for them all, not to condone their behavior but simply because Jesus told us to do it. And when we pray, we open ourselves up to a miracle. And, perhaps most importantly, we become truly free again.