July 24-25, 2010
9th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 11:1-13
Salem Lutheran Church
Sycamore, Illinois
"Ask and you shall receive…"
It was a few months ago that our staff gathered over at the home of one of our homebound members to help celebrate her 75th birthday. We brought in lunch and gathered at tables in her front room and we visited and we shared birthday cake together... Now I can remember this from other years in May that the Junior High marching band would be marching up and down the street of this particular member --- practicing their routine --- learning to better walk and play at the same time. You can't help but pause and smile to listen and watch as they go. Only this is what happened this year. Judy Bergeson, from our staff, had an idea. I watched in wonder as she jumped from her chair and out the front door and chased that marching band down the street. She caught up with the director and asked if they would come back and play "Happy Birthday." It turns out the band didn't know Happy Birthday. But they came back anyway and stood at the edge of the driveway and played every song in their repertoire.
"Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you."
Now I have never seen anyone chase down a marching band before and for that matter, it wouldn't occur to me to do so. But to paraphrase our Gospel for today…if the marching band director would turn his entire band around to play for a homebound woman's 75th birthday lunch --- simply because someone asked --- how much more will God give you and me whom he knows and loves as his own!?!
Now you should know that I did ask permission to tell the marching band story today …. Judy said "yes, of course…." And then she went on to say, "But it was just the right thing to do." I don't know about that; I mean this wasn't necessarily a question of right or wrong. But it was about love and kindness and generosity and those things are always right.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but here is what I expect is true today. Very few of us have the kind of relationship with the world that we would chase down a marching band. Hardly any of us would do that. But don't you see? In today's Gospel Jesus is not telling us we have to go running down the street after a stranger to do this. Rather, he speaks of a posture, an inimitable sense of confident expectation that a child has when asking a loving parent ---- that is what Jesus is calling us to now as we turn to God in prayer. To live into that kind of deep trust in God who already knows and loves us. And if our requests are borne of love and kindness and generosity in behalf of God's own hurting world, all the better.
Unfortunately, I expect we often forget this. Indeed, all too often, it seems to me, we often do not even think to ask in the first place. Truly, how often do we think something can't or won't happen anyway so why even bother? Or how frequently do I believe that I don't really deserve the best of God's gifts so I won't begin to risk to put my hopes out there. On the other hand, will things always work out as we hope and pray? No, probably not, for the human body is fragile and the world is broken and time in this life is limited --- but still, who's to say what might happen if only we were to ask? Ask and it will be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you. If I'm not even bothering to knock, it's no wonder no one is answering.
Indeed, as I was thinking about prayer in these past days, I got to wondering, what would happen if we started asking. What would happen if the 300 or so people who showed up here for worship every week began to pray fervently for peace? I mean, every day --- and like we meant it? Or for the end to domestic violence in this community? Or that no child in Sycamore would go to bed hungry, no not once. What do you think would happen if together we were to start pounding on God's door and asking? Well, something would start to change, I can guarantee you that. Those fervent conversations with God would start to change us, to start with, and wonder of wonders, as our hearts and imaginations are awakened and result in the hard work of God's people I am certain that the world would start to change as well. And along the way? We'd begin to see marvelous miracles of coincidence that we could never have thought to ask for. Now maybe I'm aiming way too low… but just for starters, I'm going to suggest that you and I together pray that hunger would be put an end in this community: something whose face we see every day of the week in this place through our own food pantry. I'm going to suggest that we pray every day… together and apart… starting today. You'll find in your bulletin insert a list of prayers to start with… use them, adapt them, write your own… just start praying with me that hunger here might come to an end and then let's see what happens next.
So back to that marching band story. Judy chased them down with a specific request. Would you come back and play "Happy Birthday?" They didn't know the song to play it… but they came back and gave so much more than we could have imagined or hoped for. We got a whole mini concert and a 75 year old had a story to tell for weeks and I would bet every one of those middle school children went home and told their parents what they had done that day. Because one person asked. So again I wonder, what would happen if ten or a hundred or 300 of us started asking? Will we get what we ask for? Maybe and maybe we'll get a whole lot more. Indeed, I think it's time we all start chasing down marching bands. It's time we all start simply asking. And then let's just see what God will do. Amen.
