July 27, 2025 · Rev. Derek van Gulden · Luke 11:1-13
Prayer is a conversation with God, says Rev. Derek van Gulden, but sometimes the words won't come. Years ago in Kenya, a priest named Simon sent him out to help with the maize harvest instead; this spring, during an evening of chanting in the sanctuary, the words finally returned. The congregation is invited to add a word or two to a shared prayer.
Transcript
People of God. Would you join me in a moment of prayer? Gracious and holy God, this morning I ask you to move the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts by your love, and help me this day not to be the instrument of my own or anyone else's oppression, but to find ways to be an instrument of peace in every step, in every breath, in every moment of every day. Amen.
So you're witnessing a rarity in my life that I actually wrote a sermon today. Don't worry, it's in twelve point font. No, I did it because as I sit with the scripture at the beginning of the week and pray with it and meditate with it, and then listen to it and meditate with those people in our Bible. Study our Lectio divina and hear what they hear. And then sitting in silence again myself. There are two things that really jumped out at me that I did not want to forget.
Today's scripture is talking about prayer. I know some people say, well, I don't know how to pray. And I don't know this, and I don't know that. And you have to be in a church. You have to be a holy person.
Prayer is a conversation. Now, this is my theology. Prayer is a conversation with God where you can sit anywhere. Don't do it. Driving. It's also a great thing to do when you walk. If you ever travel and you get stuck waiting for a plane or a bus or someone else walking, prayer is wonderful. Where with every step you just say a word or two to God and you'll be amazed how long that how quick that three day delay, three hour delay goes.
I don't know about you because I can only speak for myself, but there have been times in my life where I get stuck, where I go to pray and I just freeze up. It's like I don't even know where to start the conversation, where to begin. And sometimes it's in times when I'm in a place or a day that's just been so stressful, I just can't get it out. And sometimes it just happens.
So I want to share with you really quick. I love that part in Philippians. Through prayer and supplication, lay everything at God's feet. Talk to God and let God know what's on your mind. So these words came back to me this week On Monday. On Wednesday. Friday and yesterday.
And it was told to me my. By a dear friend of mine, Simon, who's a Anglican priest in the Anglican Church of Kenya. And I visited Simon every time I went back to Kenya. And one of the times I went, he asked me to lead a prayer during a worship or when we were visiting somebody. And I just kind of froze and he noticed and he went and led the prayer. And afterwards he said, what happened? I said, I, I have no words. I don't know what's happened. I feel like I can't pray.
And he looked up in the. It wasn't really a village. It was a place where there were six houses. Not really what. We have those grand houses, but houses. And it was one family, three generations. And they were all together. They had whatever livestock they had. They had about four hectares of tea growing and about eight hectares of corn maze, and the kids were going out into the maize field to start to harvest some of it. Because it's a staple in their world. They make everything with corn. And Simon looked at me and he said, well, if you can't do that, then why don't you go out and help with the harvest? Go now. Maybe by being busy in harvesting grain that God has blessed us with, you might find a way to pray again and have a conversation with God. And I can remember him putting his hand on my back and pushing me out the door. He says, go, go now.
It's one of those things I tend to remember, not always, but when I'm in a place where I'm stuck, stuck, or feel I'm unable to have a conversation with God, even to ask for something simple like, Dear God, help me to pray back after Easter. That happened. I know for me, sometimes the build up through lent and then Easter is very busy. And normally Sarah and I will take the week after Easter off and just go somewhere and decompress. And we didn't this year and I don't remember why. But I found myself stuck the Sunday after Easter when we were praying in church. I had no words. And those words from Simon came back to me that evening. Well, if you can't go out and help harvest the corn, and maybe by doing that and being busy harvesting the gift from God that God has blessed this community with. You might find a word or two.
Now, Easter was in April this year in New England. I don't know if anybody's got corn growing or even planted yet, but I have the opportunity to come to this amazing, this amazing opportunity to pray that Jillian did four Sundays in a row, four Thursdays in a row. I missed the first one. And I heard from people how much it really moved them. So I came to the second one, and I sat right where you're sitting right there. And I sat down before she started, and I just put my hands on my legs and sat there. And through this, Jillian was chanting and walking around the space. And I never figured out where she was because it just seemed to envelop this whole sanctuary. And I went to raise my hands to pray. And it was as if a magnet was holding him to my thighs. I could not lift my hands at all. They would not come up. Which brings on a little anxiety, because I like to pray with my hands either in front of my face or different ways. But they wouldn't move at all for like a half hour.
And then all of a sudden. I just said, God, please give me the words. And it was like someone turned the magnet off and my hands just floated up. And I'm sure I was crying at the time because I noticed my makeup had run afterwards, but I could tell because my face was wet. And I can remember putting my hands in front of my face and the words just poured out silently. And I could breathe again. And I felt light again. And I heard Simon once again say, if you can go out and help with the harvest of the corn, go now. Go. Maybe being busy doing something physical, like harvesting this beautiful gift that God has blessed this community with. You might find a word or two. Now go. Leave.
In this scripture today, you hear one of the disciples asking Jesus how to pray. When I read that earlier this week on Monday, when I started doing these things, I thought, well, that's pretty simple. We asked Jesus and he responded to the disciple and told them how to pray. Now, within the Christian faith that became the Lord's Prayer. I'm not sure if that's what Jesus intended, because we don't know. We can guess. We can study it. But those words have meaning for so many people throughout the world.
When you get stuck, listen to Paul's letter to the Philippians. Listen to that part. Rejoice in God always. I will say again, rejoice, for God is near. Lay everything in front of God in prayer and supplication.
I don't think there's any trick to praying. As I said, I believe you can do it anywhere. I keep a special place in the parsonage, a room that has. Well, it's got one window, but that's it. And I go in there and I sit quietly and I pray or I meditate. Sometimes to me they seem, wow, I wish I could put that on paper because they sound so good. But in that moment, it's me having a conversation with God. It doesn't stop there. When I visit somebody at home or in the hospital, I have those conversations or we do together. I believe the first thing we need to do is simply ask Jesus, remind me how to pray or God. And I truly believe that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will be with you, will guide your heart. In a peace that is beyond anything we can imagine.
So to end with today, each of you may or may not have gotten a little index card of Multicolors. The color doesn't matter. I invite you at some point. You don't have to do it right now. Of course, we didn't give you anything to write with. But if you can write down a word or two or three, or even a phrase that you would add to a prayer today, it can be anything that you're moved to say. We're going to collect them. And during the week, and with the help of our prayer group, we meet on Friday, we're going to take everybody's words and we are going to meld them together and create an amazing prayer. You will hear some of them when I do prayers because a few people already emailed them into me. But write what you feel called to write, even if it's just one word. Amen.