HOUSE OF PRAYER
Homily for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity
The Rev. Marq Toombs+ Curate
Epistle. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Gospel. Luke 19:41-47
The Collect. Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Once upon a time, a congregation I pastored found herself in the middle of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad storm (to put it mildly). An old mentor put me in touch with a seasoned minister who had ‘been there and done that’. So I told him about our situation and asked for his advice and counsel. In response he told me this story.
He said that once, when he was a Methodist pastor, he attended a meeting to tackle some heavy issues facing the congregational. Towards the end of the meeting, after all the debating and arguing was done, someone stood up and said, “I think we should take some time to pray about all these things.” And someone else groaned, “Ah…so it’s come to that.”
So it’s come to that. Isn’t that how it goes? Prayer is often treated like an afterthought. A last ditch effort when we’ve exhausted all other options and ideas. Prayer is even seen as a bit of a nuisance, something that slows us down and keeps us from doing all these things that need to be done. Prayer is often considered to be okay yet unnecessary.
And yet, prayer should be our delight. A privilege at the top of our things to do. The first thing we do before we take any steps or make any effort – not the last. A priority.
The Collect for today assumes that we are a people who want to pray to the Lord with pleasure, and a people who want to please the Lord with our prayers. We ask the Lord first to let his merciful ears be open to our prayers, then to make us ask such things as please him.
Not our will, but your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Why do we pray like this? We pray like this because St Benedict’s Anglican Church is a part of the Church catholic, and the Church catholic is the House of Prayer for all nations.
The House of Prayer motif was not fabricated by Jesus. It has its roots in the Old Testament. In the historical book of the kings and in the prophetic book of Isaiah.
When the House of God was dedicated, King Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said,
“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”
Solomon goes on to pray for all sorts and conditions of men: weather, military, crops, social justice, et al.
By the way, this is the same kind of things our Mother Church encourages us to pray for in the 1928 BCP.
(See pages 35-46 and pages 594-600 after the Family Prayers.)
Solomon also prayed for all peoples — for Jews and Gentiles:
For Jews. “listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive…”
For Gentiles. “And when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”
According to King Solomon’s prayer, God’s temple was intended to be a House of Prayer for all nations. For Jews and Gentiles, for citizens and foreigners, for all people. Here people would meet God, find forgiveness, and other blessings in their times of need.
According to Isaiah’s prophetic word, God’s temple was intended to be a House of Prayer for all nations.
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
The Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
God’s House was to be a House of Prayer for all nations.
But did you notice that some conditions apply?
In order to take advantage and reap the benefits of the House of Prayer, people had to join themselves to the Lord sacramentally, serve him, love his Holy Name, and obey his word.
Doesn’t that sound familiar? I hope so, because that’s how we became part of God’s House of Prayer!
Note the promises: In return, the Lord will bring them up higher and make them joyful and accept their sacrifices on his altar.
Not to boast in ourselves, but to give glory to God, this happens to us in this parish every Lord’s day! (We ascend, with joy, and offer our sacrifices on the altar.)
Echoing the Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus states: My House will be a House of Prayer for all nations. (This is a subtle way of saying that he is God.)
Notice that there is a liturgical aspect and a missional aspect. It’s both/and not either/or.
Liturgical, because God’s House is for prayer, and praise and participation in the life of God. Missional, because God’s House is for all nations. All people-groups, Jews and Gentiles, immigrants and citizens, male and female, sinners and saints, nearby and far away.
All are Welcome.
So, when Jesus visited the temple at Jerusalem and saw how the people had resisted the Spirit and rejected their King, righteous grief flooded his heart and filled his eyes with tears.
But when Jesus visited the temple and saw how the priests had turned God’s house into a marketplace for consumers, righteous anger burned in his spirit. He flipped over tables and cast out the sellers and traders – just as he had driven out Adam and Eve from the garden-temple in Eden; just as he had sent Israel in exile and cast them out of the land of milk and honey.
Why? Because they twisted and turned God’s House of Prayer into a House of Pay-to-Play.
What Jesus found was a chamber of commerce. A stock yard. A shopping center. An entertainment venue. A concert hall. A movie theater. A consumer-driven market.
Whatever else it was, it was anything but a House of Prayer for all Nations.
And they are not the only people ever to do that. Christian churches all over the world, throughout history, even in our corner of the world, even in this town, have done the same things.
Sadly, it seems that there are fewer and fewer churches that can legitimately be known as the House of Prayer. Most churches want to be known for other things.
They want to make a name for themselves as the place where you can live free, make a difference, experience power, feel the love, connect with others, discover your gifts, find your purpose, renew your mind, reach your potential, enjoy your best life now.
Far too many Churches are about you, you, you.
It seems that you can be anything and everything you want to be, just don’t be the thing God called you to be: the House of Prayer.
As history shows us, sooner or later Jesus comes to visit. His weeping is for the spiritual condition of cities, but his wrath is for the spiritual corruption of his House.
Jesus casts out those who pervert the liturgical and the missional character of God’s House.
Jesus casts out those who neglect the doxological and the relational aspects of God’s House.
Jesus casts out those who distort the vertical and the horizontal nature of God’s House.
Story from a Conversation one of my seminary professors at Trinity Hall Irish Pub:
“It is astonishing how much Christians in America have accomplished — with so little prayer.” (Dr Sinclair B. Ferguson)
He’s not wrong.
Sadly, many American Christians learned a long time ago that it’s not how much you can pray that matters – it’s how much you can pay.
(Side-note: A retired minister and former elder once told me that “it all comes to dollars and cents.” It being the success or failure of a ministry.)
But Jesus has a different vision for his Church. It is the House of Prayer for all nations. Notice that Jesus did not say his Church would be a House of Praise music, or a House of Preaching, but a House of Prayer. Why? Because without prayer those things are nothing but noise.
The Church of Christ is the House of Prayer for all people.
The Church catholic is a living, breathing, flesh and blood, body and soul sanctuary of the true and living God.
The Church catholic is God’s holy building, designed by his Heart, constructed by his Hand with living stones, sprinkled with blood of Jesus, washed by the water of baptism, shaped with the Word of Truth, indwelt by the Spirit of glory and grace.
The Church catholic, local and regional, national and global, is the House of Prayer for all nations. She is the center of God’s worship and mission in this world. Outside this Holy Temple there is no ordinary means of salvation. Outside this House of Prayer there is no true worship in spirit and in truth.
The Church catholic is the temple of the Holy Spirit – the Church is the place and the people in which God dwells. Here is where we present ourselves, our souls and our bodies, as living sacrifices; here we offer our alms and oblations; here we offer the sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that confess his name, and the prayers of our hearts that declare his glory; here we commune with the true and living God; here we seek his Face and find it.
The Church catholic, in all its expressions and iterations on earth, makes up countless outposts of Heaven on Earth. Wherever she is found in this world, Heaven and Earth come together for glory of God and the life of the world.
The Church catholic is the House of Prayer for all people.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ never asks us to do anything that he wouldn’t do. So, he doesn’t just tell us to be the House of Prayer, he shows how to be the House of Prayer in the flesh in the real world.
Jesus prayed after his baptism in the Jordan river and the Spirit descended upon him.
Jesus prayed during his trials in the wilderness when he was tempted by the devil.
Jesus prayed on the mount of transfiguration and the appearance of his face was changed and his clothes became dazzling white.
Jesus prayed alone in lonely places. He prayed publicly with others in public spaces.
Jesus prayed to his Father in times of sorrow and in times of joy.
Jesus prayed for newborn babies and little children; he prayed for sick women and dead men; he prayed of the demon-possessed and the downcast; he prayed for friends and foes.
Jesus prayed at the temple and called it a house of prayer for all nations.
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, with loud cries and tears, “not my will, but thy will be done.”
Jesus prayed for forgiveness of sins on the cross, not for himself, but for us — for you and me and those who sinned against him. “Father, forgive them – for they know not what they do.”
Last, but not least, Jesus prayed from the cross “My God why?!” — and when he came to the end of his life, he prayed, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Now, if Jesus, who is God in the flesh, felt compelled by love for his Father and the needs of his life, to commune with him like this, and to pray without ceasing, and to cultivate a living conversation with him, how much more should we devote ourselves to prayer?
Brothers and Sisters, let us make every effort to pray and become a House of Prayer for all nations.
