I don't know how many of you pay particular attention to technology but I do
every day.
I take a glance at the summary that appears every day on my Droid phone.
and I ran across an interesting story this week.
It actually marked a kind of milestone that I think all of us probably expected to come
We just didn't realize that would come so quickly.
It turns out that one of the most popular social networking sites on the web
hit a huge milestone this week
as they realized their five hundred millionth
subscriber
that's half a billion people
half a billion people subscribing to this particular online networking web site.
Now to put that in perspective, if it were a nation-
half a billion people subscribers would make it the third largest nation.
The third largest
after China and India
if it were indeed going to be a nation.
That's a gigantic number of people
and that number of people in the frenzy over the social networking website I think reflects a
much deeper need within ourselves
to remain connected
with one another.
Sites like that
allow people to quickly share their thoughts and keep
connections with friends and family around the world it turns out.
Let me ask another question.
How many of you are carrying a cell phone
right now?
Probably the majority of us. I hope you remembered to turn it off
when church began.
That's not my reason for asking that question though.
Think back to ten or fifteen years ago
When cell phones were not a necessity but a luxury.
Cell phones now allow us
to stay in contact with one another
very simply.
All of that
highlights that need that we have to remain connected
with one another.
In the gospel this morning
the disciples are realizing this very profound need
for not just staying connected with one another,
but with God
in prayer.
And they've been watching.
They've been noticing John the Baptist's disciples praying.
And they must pray regularly apparently.
And they asked Jesus a simple but beautiful question. Lord can you teach us how to pray?
Jesus' response has
come to be known as what we call
The Lord's Prayer. The our father.
One of our most treasured prayers and one of the prayers that can be shared
no matter what brand of Christianity we happen to fall under.
It's a prayer that unites us and it's a prayer that's easy for us to remember because
we've probably been learning it
since we were very young.
I want to spend some time this morning unpacking
this powerful and beautiful prayer.
Because although we’ve known it from a time when we were very young,
I think sometimes because we are so familiar with something
we can downplay its significance.
In order to do this I need to go back to second grade and sister Mary Francis and
religious education at Saint Thomas
in Saginaw.
She taught us a great acronym
four letters A.C.T.S.
ACTS, when it comes to prayer.
ACTS outlines the four different kinds of prayer
that are contained with the Lord's Prayer.
The letter “A” in that acronym
stands for
Adoration.
God you are so great.
You are the source of all being.
That's what an adoration prayer means. And we echo that
when we say our father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name.
A reminder that all we have all we are
comes from God.
God created us.
Because we are the creature and he is the creator
we also owe God our adoration and thankfulness for giving us this gift of life he
has given to us.
but also for the wonders he has created within that world.
The beginning of that prayer places things in proper perspective.
GOD is GOD. And we are not.
God is our savior. We are not our
own saviors.
The lord's prayer helps us to remember that.
The “C” in the acronym ACTS is for contrition
Oh there's a word that makes us uncomfortable
because none of us likes to admit to God
or to one another that
we messed up.
But that's exactly what a prayer of contrition
reminds us.
That we messed up and we need forgiveness of God and the forgiveness of one another.
And we need to be forgiving people.
In Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer (the one that we pray to get most often)
We say forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those that
trespass against us.
Notice how that's phrased. It's kind of a measuring stick.
Not only do we realize the need for forgiveness from God
but also
Jesus reminds us that we need to be forgiving
toward one another.
And in a certain way
our forgiveness toward one another will be a measuring stick
for the forgiveness that God
extends to us.
But it's important for us to pause on a regular basis and think;
What have I done or not done?
What have I said or not said?
…that might hurt the people close to me?
…or the people sitting next to me?
How will it affect my relationship with God?
When we come to that realization we also
realize that we must ask for forgiveness.
That's the contrition part of prayer.
So we have "A" adoration and "C" contrition.
“T” is for thanksgiving. Now there's one we’re more comfortable with.
We have a holiday in November that's all about thanksgiving right?
That should be adequate. One time a year, right?
WRONG
What is it that we have to be thankful for?
"Give us this day our daily bread."
What is it that we have to be thankful for?
We have that daily bread.
We have the talent in our hands.
The love in our hearts. The wisdom in our minds.
We did not manufacture that. We are not the source of those things.
God is the source of those. We are their caretakers. We are their stewards.
and so it's necessary for us to remember those great blessings God has shared with us to pause in
thanksgiving
And then finally the "S" in the acronym
So "A" we get adoration,
C is contrition, T is thanksgiving
"S" stands for
"supplication."
That's the kind of prayer we're most familiar with.
Supplication. To ask something for ourselves or for someone else.
Sometimes when things are tough and we're not feeling well, we'll ask a friend a family member
“to pray for me?”
And sometimes when we realize that things are not going well for another we will say
I have
been keeping you
in my prayers.
Hopefully those are prayers of supplication.
Thy Kingdom come
thy will be done.
Not my kingdom.
Not our kingdom.
Not my will.
Not our will.
But God's kingdom.
and God's will.
When we’re asking for that,
think of what it is we’re asking for?
We're asking for God's kingdom to be present here and now.
We're asking for a reality that strips away all the ways that we
differentiate one from another.
Based on gender, social class, language, skin color
all of the other ways that we divide one from another.
God's kingdom instead
unites.
that's a radical
challenging
powerful thing
to pray for.
but that's the unfolding reality. It's in our midst of that unfolding reality
that is a part of our prayer whenever we pray
the Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer is so beautiful because it wraps together all of those four kinds of
prayer.
Adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication.
And does it so beautifully and so simply.
As Saint Therese said,
I would much rather pray one our father slowly and well
than one hundred
quickly and without care.
That's because of the beauty of the significance contained in this prayer
that Jesus teaches the disciples.
they want to remain connected with one another and they want to remain connected with God.
So do we
This prayer provides us one way, one means, one Avenue.
Jesus also offers us another beautiful way to remain connected
with one another
through this Eucharist we share together
before we come to receive this Eucharist we will pray the Lord's Prayer
together
Asking God.
Thanking God.
Praising God.
and realizing
in the end that we're not worthy of so great a gift.
And he calls us forward
to be connected
with one another
and with him.
and the great body of Christ.