Grace Congregational UCC

“When Jesus Prays...”
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-43a

February 18, 2007 - Kim M. Henning

Right out of seminary, Fay and I were called to serve a beautiful congregation in Lake View, Iowa. Shortly after our arrival, the high school football coach approached me and asked if I would offer a prayer for his football team before the start of each game.

I could hardly say no. An opportunity to pray? I had always dreamed of the church be a ‘bridge-builder’ and I assumed some high school football players had no connection at all with the church. I accepted the invitation and expressed my gratitude.

But then came the daunting task. What do you pray... in the name of Jesus Christ when some before you ‘believe...’ and others before you think ‘you’re just spouting air?’ It was awkward. What is a person to pray for when you know that God is as present with the opponent’s team as God is present with our team? What is a person to pray for.... when football players in shoulder pads have been hyped by their coaches to crush their opponent?

Jesus, one day, invited three disciples to pray with him. I’m not sure what you think of when you think of prayer. Do you think, ‘I hope he keeps it short?’ Or do you think of that memorized bedtime prayer your mother taught you as a child and continue to pray 35 years later?

Prayer. Do you pray that great Jewish prayer that is ever and always prayed, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Prayer? Is it saved for special occasions? The wedding–before we eat? Or the time the doctor walks into the hospital room and says, “I’m sorry, we’ve done all that we can do and I know for you that is not enough.”

Jesus took with him, one day, Peter and James and John and they set off to pray. Whatever image of prayer you have, this one should be saved in your memory bank.

Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain to pray. They pray, perhaps, for the human crises they know and have seen. They pray, perhaps, the psalms that are always the best prayers. While Peter, James and John are praying, they notice something happening to Jesus like they had never seen before:

“the appearance of his face changed.......

His clothes became dazzling white.

Then they noticed that Jesus was not alone,

they saw Moses and Elijah talking with him....

they appeared in glory.... and they were talking about Jesus’ departure.

And then....and then....a cloud came and overshadowed that place where they were praying. And as sure as I’m speaking to you right now, they heard a voice from that cloud that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

That was quite a prayer.

They saw a dramatic change in Jesus’ appearance—we call it the ‘transfiguration.’ Literally, he changed before their eyes. Flesh and blood Jesus, became Spirit. Hungry and thirsty Jesus, became dazzling white. Weeping/laughing Jesus in prayer becomes more, much more than human..... if you can believe it!

When Jesus prays..... Spirit happens.

And so it seems that the story says to us that life is only half-lived....your life, my life if life begins and ends with the checkbook, the credit card and what do we need to buy next.

Paul Bunyon says that you can do more after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.

Prayer is fundamental life. Karl Barth once said something like ‘the human being is never so powerful as when she clasps her hands and bows her head.’

When Jesus prays on the mountain, those three disciples tell us that Jesus was visited by Moses and Elijah and they were preparing him for his departure. Moses. Do you remember? Moses heard the voice of God in a burning bush that did not burn away. Moses heard from God that God is the great, “I am” – God is power beyond power, life beyond life. And Elijah? Elijah, the great prophet recognized the presence of God, according to the biblical story ‘in sheer silence.’ And today, as Jesus prays, Moses and Elijah prepare him for his departure.

Perhaps we should take our cue from this prayer----There is more to preparing for our departures than meeting with a lawyer and signing a will and taking care of those funeral arrangements.

When Jesus prays, he knows that his ultimate life is not here on earth. The ultimate is to know God and be with God.

Today we we read from the 9^th chapter of Luke, where Jesus says to Peter, James, and John, ‘Let’s pray......’ Whenever scripture is read..... it seems that we can always learn a lot if we look at the context, if we look at what comes before, what comes after. Rarely–rarely does a story just happen. Usually a story is informed by what comes before or what comes after.....

Curious to the story of the Transfiguration..... the story earlier in Luke, chapter 9 is the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Think about this. I don’t have a corner on the truth. But think about his. Jesus just performed a great, great miracle, five thousand are fed with five loaves of bread and two fish. If ever Jesus’ popularity soared, it must have been then. If ever Jesus’ numbers went through the chart, it must have been then.

Seemingly recognizing the vanity of pride, ego, Jesus invites Peter, James and John to go with him and pray. A central task of prayer....is always to keep the Center in the center. The center, of course, is God. And should ever we be tempted to think, ‘how great I am’ or ‘am I not God’s best gift to humanity’----it is time, it really is time to pray.

Today, Jesus invites Peter—James—John to go to a mountain with him....to pray.....

There were times....many times, when Jesus goes off to pray alone. Today, Jesus invites Peter, James, and John to go with him. Did Jesus invite Peter, James, and John....so that they might see the bigger picture of life? Did Jesus invite Peter, James, and John..... so that these former fishermen might understand what life is really about?

I’d like to push the biblical text a little bit. Today, Jesus invites you and me to go to a mountain with him. Come away.....from the sound of cars and trucks and beeping horns; Come away from those newspaper circulars that are stuffed into the Sunday paper..... and understand what life is really about.

Come and pray that God might overwhelm you with the heaviness of glory so that you and I might be called to do great things. At the end of January, we sent out a newsletter and we sent out an audacious, outrageous dream that we might raise $10,000 during Lent for the Domestic Violence Center and that crises of starvation in Darfur.

Pray with me....

Pray with me....because without God we can do nothing, and without God life is nothing.

Pray with me.... for the glory of God to be heavy upon us,

Pray with me.... that God might use our ordinary human lives to do something extra-ordinary or maybe even more..... for God.