Proper 12 C + Earth as in heaven + 7.27.25
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Hosea 1:2-10; Psalm 85; Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19); Luke 11:1-13)
Good
morning. As we begin, let us hear from the First Nations version of this
first part of Luke 11:
(Luke 11 First
Nations Version, verses 2-4)
Creator Sets
Free (Jesus) smiled and said to them, “When you send your voice to the Great
Spirit, here is how you should pray: “O Great Spirit, our Father from above,
your name is sacred and holy. “Bring your good road to us, where the beauty of
your ways in the spirit-world above is reflected in the earth below.
“Provide for
us day by day—the elk, the buffalo, and the salmon. The corn, the squash, and
the wild rice. All the good things we need for each day.
“Release us from the things we have done wrong
in the same way we release others for the things done wrong to us. And guide us
away from the things that tempt us to stray from your good road.”[1]
I found this version a refreshing take on Jesus’ words today,
which otherwise can feel so familiar as almost to lose their meaning from daily
repetition.
John Dominic Crossan says that “The Greatest Prayer,” as his
book is titled, is a revolutionary and profoundly socially important
prayer. It is not simply a private interchange between an individual and
God. He mentions that the keywords “name,” “kingdom,” and “will” point to
heaven, and “food,” “debt,” and “temptation” point to earth. To have a good
relationship with earth—with our food, debt, and temptation- we must try to
order our lives according to God’s will in heaven. In this sense, Crossan
sees heaven as less a place in the future than a way to live into God’s will
here on earth. Crossan says that this prayer is not only about a petition
to God to do something for us—to provide us food, or forgive us sins, or
protect us, it is also about empowering us to live into a more just
distribution of food in our world, to forgive each other’s debts literally (and
here is where Crossan prefers “debts” to “sins” in his translation) to allow
for economic justice and to empower us to avoid the temptation, which Crossan
sees primarily as a temptation to commit violence.
This whole interpretation is based on a sense that Abba, the
word Paul uses, a much more intimate word associated with the Father, is not a
distant imperial leader but a kind, loving, and just householder, who provides
justly, if not always equally, to everyone in the household.[2]
We often see these power dynamics in the daily news- the
unequal distribution of justice. There is so much going on in our world. ICE
Raids, starvation in Gaza, war still going on in Gaza/Israel and Ukraine, and the
personal health struggles of many in our community. Often, we want to do
something. We want to make a practical difference. And we are frequently led to
look for ways to attend to physical needs. And it is fantastic when that
happens.
The other day, I dropped off diapers and wipes at the 805 Undocufund
pantry, and it was a glorious community effort to help those in need.
Often, we get calls at the church to assist. And we are happy
to do so as we can. But I usually have to remind myself of something.
Sometimes the best way to help each other is to pray. For
example, this week I called a lady who had left me a message. Her son’s father
was in the hospital, and she needed assistance, which we were happy to help
with. But she also needed prayer. So, we stopped and prayed. I also offered
material assistance and referrals, which I hope will help. However, the thing
we can do that other social service agencies can’t always do is be there for
the people spiritually.
We should always take the opportunity to pray. I heard one
colleague speak about this. She says that whenever someone comes to her with a
need, she quickly takes the opportunity to pray for them. Similarly, another
colleague says that when new families come, he asks how he can pray for them
before asking how they wish to integrate into the church ministries.
Prayer works in us to help center us and also keeps us
engaged in the world. Someone (Aleese) from my sermon brainstorming group says,
“This prayer… teaches me a way of prayer in two distinct parts: the first gets
me in on God’s world. The second gets God in on my world.”
As the First Nations Reading says, we pray to stay on the
good road. God wants to provide good things to us. The world often wants to
pull us into evil, wickedness, and other things that are not good for us. So
much so that Jesus even calls us “evil” in this passage. As one co-reader of
the scripture said, “all that is not God,” and while this is a pejorative word,
the truth is that we are not God. That is why we need God so desperately. And
Hosea even names his children “not pitied” and “not my people” – the translations
of the Hebrew names mentioned in the text. But just as Hosea’s children’s names
are changed to “pitied” and “my people,” we also experience change if we trust
God in prayer. Because, as Crossan says, we are inviting the ways of heaven and
God into earth.
In the gospel passage for today, Jesus’s image seems to have
us knock on God’s door, and that is what we do in prayer. We knock, knock,
knock on heaven’s door. In addition, we
have another image in the scriptures: Jesus standing and knocking at the door
of our hearts. This reminds me of a passage from Revelation Chapter 3: “Listen!
I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I
will come in and eat with you, and you with me (Rev 3:20 NRSV).” Are we
listening for Jesus’ knock on the door, even as we pray and knock on his door?
This week, I heard a prayer: “Allow us to turn down the noise
of our lives enough to hear you knocking at the door.”[3]
Let us listen for the knock of Jesus, and pray. Let us knock on heaven’s door in prayer.
Because, as the Rolling Stones said
“You can't
always get what you want
But if you try sometimes.
Well, you just might find
You get what you need.”[4]
If we keep knocking on God’s door in prayer, we won’t always
get the answers we want. But if we try sometimes, we will find that at the end
of the day, our heavenly parent gives us fish, bread, eggs, justice, or
whatever it is that we actually need.
Amen.
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