Scene
Paul is guiding Timothy in his leadership in the young church. He reminds Timothy that some of
the leaders have made a mess of their faith and names a couple of them, Hymenaeus and
Alexander. He tells Timothy that these have been allowed to venture into the hands of Satan.
And I assume that Paul is warning Timothy to not allow these to influence him and for him to
stay the true path. But how is one to know? What is one to do?
Keep in mind that at Timothy’s time church was not going to a comfortable building in a
wonderful setting such as we have. It was house churches. Folks would gather in a house and
worship and have a meal together to remember Jesus the Christ. The hosts obviously had a lot of
say-so in what this would look like because it was their house. This led, naturally, to there being
many different sets of teachings of what it means to be a member of the Way.
There was no Discipline of the United Methodist Church to fall back on. There was no Apostles’
Creed, there not even a New Testament that they could read (those who could read) and there
were no Gospels for guidance. They had to hammer out what the life and teachings of Jesus
means and there were many competing directions. What is one to do?
The First Thing
Paul tells Timothy that the first thing to do is pray! Now, one might think that this is just a
natural response to what all God has done for us but experience tells a different story. I can tell
you, other than facing some crisis in life; prayer has not come easy for me. And it has been an
on-again off-again practice over the years. Public praying has been just horrible for me and I’ve
avoided it whenever possible. I believe I must have had a family line that reaches back to
Timothy rather than any of the Apostles. What’s this all about?
What Words to Say
The first order of difficulty for me is to know what words to use. I know it probably doesn’t
matter and even groans may be the biblical manner of prayer but it makes a difference to me –
especially in public praying. There is that Ben ego that wants to sound authoritative and correct
– how would I even know. Even though the struggle is not nearly as intense as in the past, it
sticks its ugly head up from time-to-time or in Paul’s words, I venture back into the grasp of
Satan.
What Is Real Prayer
Well, that’s certainly part of the prayer struggle. Another is like the division that takes place in
our faith tradition: those who are not Christian, those who are Christian, and those who are real
Christians. This seems like a very important division of groups for us to make but it seems a
little ridiculous when I consider that everyone is a son or daughter of God.
And so it may be with prayer as well as kinship with the Lord – there are all sorts of prayer and
they are all prayer. Even when I use the worst choice of words it is certainly in the realm of
possibility that my prayer continues to be prayer. In fact, that is the stance I take today and
believe that all prayer is prayer because we have a Mediator.
Paul’s Guidance to Timothy
Rather than separate the various types of prayer that Paul has listed in his letter to Timothy the
Message reads, “The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for
everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be
quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior
God wants us to live.” (I Timothy 2:1-3, The Message, Eugene Peterson) I certainly think that
Peterson captures the spirit of the letter in that we are to pray for everyone in all the various ways
we know how to pray.
In the Clergy Cluster this week Wayne Killian shared how his mother was a Prayer Warrior and
always ended her prayers by praying for those who might forget to pray like Job did for his
children. Carol reminded me that the Reverend John Rutland would end his pastoral prayer each
Sunday asking God to allow his prayer to be the prayer of those who might forget to pray. I get
excited about sharing personal understanding and experience because of moments like these
when I learn something really good.
The place to begin our daily life and decision making throughout the day is PRAYER!
Types of Prayer Suggested by Paul
Supplications are known also as Petitions. We are to make petitions for others as well
as ourselves. This is a prayer where we ask for something for a specific need of another person
or oneself. We often make supplications concerning the health of persons.
The Novena ritual in the Catholic tradition is the process of making the same petition for nine
days. This was a ritual begun in the Middle Ages when a nine day period of hymns and prayers
led up to a Christmas feast, a period which ended with gift giving. Perhaps this would be a way
for us to get Christmas back as a religious holiday rather than gift exchange frenzy.
In contemporary Christianity there is the Daily Prayer for Peace that takes place at 1 p.m. CT at
Independence Temple in Independence, Missouri. (Wikipedia – Web Dictionary 9/19/07)
Prayer
I would have most likely put “prayer” first and made it: prayers of supplication, prayers of
intercession and prayers of thanksgiving. Paul didn’t do it my way and I want to pay attention to
this even though I don’t have any good explanation for his order. If we look back at the
scriptures Paul used we find some interesting things concerning Prayer:
• Some references to praying in the morning: Psalm 5:2, 88:13, 143:8; Isaiah 33:2.
• Praying twice daily: Psalm 88:1
• Praying three times daily: Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10.
• Boldness in prayer: Genesis 18:23-32.
• Praying Loudly: I Kings 18:27 where Elijah teases the Baal prophets to get louder so they
might wake up their god.
• Don’t say a lot but listen to God: Ecclesiastes 5:2. This actually seems to be the core of
prayer in the Hebrew Scriptures.
There are hundreds of other examples that I could have cited, however, the important aspect of
this is to say that Paul’s writing to Timothy about prayer had some guidelines about what it
means. In a few years after these Letters from Paul there would be the teachings from Jesus that
were very similar to those in the Hebrew Scriptures.
It seems to me at least one reason that Paul would place prayer after supplication is this – he
wanted to get most of the wordiness out of the way. We pour out our supplications verbally or
mentally to God and then it comes time to stop making noise and to start listening. Listen!
Intercessions
Intercessions are a time of praying for others. There may be specific needs in our awareness that
we ask for God to help with. This is different from supplications because they included us as
well as others. Intercession is focused outward.
Thanksgivings
Oh, how often I forget to thank God for all I have received. Not only has God provided some of
my prayers but even more than I asked. I don’t think I would have continued on the path of
ministry had God not provided the grace and mercy needed to urge me on.
Conclusion
Paul states that this is the way that Jesus wants us to live – Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions
and Thanksgiving for everyone – I think that means without exception. We are to pray for those
who oppose us. We are to pray for those who would do us harm. We are to pray for those who
lead us and those who lead all other nations. Jesus will come along and tell us to pray for our
enemies – when is the last time you did this?
There is purpose in this praying: “…so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all
godliness and dignity.” So often, I have wondered why I keep praying for our President,
Congressional men and women, and the Courts of this nation as well as State, County and City
leaders. It just seems like an awful waste of time because I don’t see things getting any better
and there is the threat of financial and political catastrophe even within our land. Why is it that
we should pray for such a cause and see only negative results?
Then it hit me between the eyes as scripture often does – Paul didn’t say pray for these things but
pray for all so that we might experience living a quiet, peaceable, godliness life with dignity.
This is what our praying does for us even when we don’t know what our praying may end up
doing for others.
One of the things I loved about Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn, AL, is how it opened its
doors at 7 each morning for Morning Prayers. Wednesday was the day for Community Prayers
and so we often participated. I’ve wondered what it might be to have Morning Prayers every
single day of the year here at New Oregon. Could I be present on such a regular basis? Could I
find enough of our Laity so that we would share responsibility of such a venture? How many
people would ever participate?
I can’t answer these questions but I can tell you that Paul’s guidance to Timothy, in a churchworld
filled with chaos and claims or all sorts, was that the First Thing was to Pray! Pray for all
others so we may live a different way. Amen.