Grace and Peace to you from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Eugene Peterson, who wrote the new translation, The Message, tells a marvelous story about the world “Abba”. He was on his way from Rome to Tel Aviv in Israel when the plane came in from Israel at the Rome airport. A little 3 year old boy spotted his father coming in from the plane and ran to him yelling “Abba, Abba, Abba”. He had his arms outstretched, inviting his father to pick him up and cuddle and embrace him. He said: “Suddenly, it dawned on me that there is an amazing intimacy about the privilege of calling God “Father”.
Abba actually is a more intimate term. It is like our English word Mommy or Daddy. There is only one person in the world you use that word with and it has great power. When I was negotiating to go to my third parish, the word got out in my second, St. John, Fairfield, that the school district was advertising for a new home-ec teacher. Since Debbie was the only Home Ed teacher in the district, people quickly figured out that it could only mean one thing. On Sunday morning the worshippers confronted me and after worship I confessed that we were contemplating a new call. People loved us there, and everyone got very upset. My oldest Sam came up to me and reached out and threw his arms around me and said, “Daddy”. He was crying, his heart breaking and he just needed to be consoled. “Daddy”, he cried. “Daddy”.
Certain life experiences come back to you when you pray in the Spirit to help you understand specific verses of scripture. For example, in Romans 8:26 and 27 St. Paul writes: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God”.
The word “sighs” that the NRSV translates can also be translated as groanings. I like the world groanubgs better because it implies that there are times when we simply pour out our emotions to God unable to articulate them or nail our feelings down with words. You can only become so vulnerable like that with someone you trust absolutely. Absolute trust comes from a reservoir of experience. We trust God completely because like a good Mom or a good Dad, God has always been there for us.
So, how do we get close to God? How do we create that intimacy that will run out to God with hands uplifted and with groanings deep with pain?
I think the first thing is to build on what you have already been given. Each of us has vivid experiences of God intervening in our lives. I know, for instance, that God brought Debbie and me together. God saved me one time in Amsterdam when I should have been killed by a speeding tram car. God spoke to me with visual images to visit countless number of parishioners who needed pastoral care and when I was mad at God and estranged from God for several years after my first marriage broke up that my Mother prayed for me when I could not. You have to make your own list, but it won’t be long until you see how vivid your experience of God’s presence has actually been.
As St. Paul says in Romans, the Spirit knows what we need and keeps us linked to God even when we can’t or won’t. Isn’t it marvelous to know that God values us so much his Spirit hovers over us and dwells in us even when we re unaware of it. Yet, inevitable, being aware of God and connected to God conscientiously and intentionally is a richer experience. How do we solidify our connection? The psychological term is to habituate – make a habit of our contact. How do we make prayer a habit?
In 1990, wearing a seat belt became a law in Pennsylvania where I was then living. I had seat belts in my car but I often forgot to use them especially on short trips from my house. We had always belted in the kids, in safety seats, but my buckling up was intermittent.
Developing a habit is a combination of cognitive decision and getting your body, mind and spirit accustomed to an act. It is like learning to play tennis, or form the g major chord on a guitar or the piano. The action has to wear a grove in your brain, your body, your whole self. It takes awhile to happen. It takes repetition. It requires intention, but it does get easier and easier and more automatic very quickly.
I would never dream now of driving my car unbelted. If I’m in a hurry, I may start the car but I never get more then 100 yards from where I’ve parked until I have the belt on. It doesn’t feel right anymore. When I don’t belt, I feel naked, I feel wrong. I feel unprotected. I have developed a life saving habit.
I would never dream of eating a meal either without praying first. It just wouldn’t feel right. The thing is to restructure your life, so that you don’t feel right either until you’ve belted yourself in prayer.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Who We Are