It Is Friday…
And it is January, but…
Is it really January? It seems like a rather rainy, dreary March day out there!
I have been wondering if we should omit part of the Prayer of the Church from our Hymnal… that part in there…
I think I have wondered about this each January… each February… and on until May.
You know what I am referring to?
It asks God to give us “good and seasonable weather”.
I will take the good (and this is relative… yeah, there is this problem pastor I know who lives too close to Mankato who I swear prays for snow all the time! Even in July! We blame him… )
Yes, we pray for good weather, but not the seasonable… not January weather…
I don’t want the seasonable!
Oh, well, Thy Will be done, Lord….
So yeah, how does prayer work?
Well, it is a good work. It is a result of God’s gift of faith to us. It is how we respond to God.
God does also give to us even if we do not ask, but might withhold also if we do not ask.
And no, people’s salvation is not dependent upon our prayers, although God includes us in their salvation by granting our requests for their salvation.
Confusing?
Well, when you were a kid, were not adult’s ways and means, doings and motivations unfathomable to us?
Same with what and why God does what He does when He does it! He says His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.
But He PROMISES to hear our prayers and to answer them.
It is just the WHEN and the HOW that we have to just trust Him on (with).
The answer can be one of 3 things:
- No
- Yes
- Later (like in heaven even)
So, but… if He doesn’t rely on, or doesn’t need our prayers to accomplish what He will do—if He knows what we need, if He put into motion all things to accomplish (yes, even our good for the bad) then why do we need to—why would we pray at all?
Can’t we just trust Him to accomplish all the good in each moment of our existence?
Yes… and this relying, this trusting is also a form of prayer. At times that is all we can… that is all we are… have left to do!
To lean heavily upon Jesus…
But we still are commanded to pray. For our sakes we ask.
It is an exercise in “right communication” with Him. It is an act of faith. A right response of faith.
This right way to talk—to ask is only learned by daily doing it, but from the Scriptures. We learn from them how God talks—how He thinks and does things.
So according to the Scriptures, we so ask Him. Check out the letter from James for more on this. Jesus says a bit about it too [Matthew 7:7-12].
But prayer takes many forms. A church father called singing hymns praying twice.
And it is wrongly taught too—let met tell you. As if we can twist God’s arm. As if we can trick Him into giving to us—or bribing Him with some quest or promise of better behavior!
Some think when it is said that we are to pray without ceasing [1 Thessalonians 5:17] it means without interruption in our day! How could we do that? What we do will suffer, or our prayer will suffer. That is not what it means. It means to not give up. Monica prayed for 17 for her son Augustine, before he became St. Augustine!
Also, emotional prayers from the guts are not better or listened to by God more than formal prayers done collectively (that is what a collect is, BTW) in church. Any prayer prayed in faith
God will hear and answer. So, don’t go to sleep during the prayer of the church on Sunday. That is not the pastor’s prayer—it is the prayer of the church—of and by and from you guys. So, focus on the words. Hear them and picture what they are saying, and direct the requests to God. You are on duty to offer them to God each Lord’s Day!
The reason for that prayer is to cover those things we neglect in our own. I mean, who remembers to pray for our President, or Governor?
All in all, though we ultimately pray “Thy Will Be Done”. He knows best. But we ask and put it into His hands to best answer and work it out.
Be assured! He hears and answers. Always. Go back and read your catechism on the 3rd chief part.
So… Let us pray….
Now, I’ll bet many have prayed that this week would be over! It is…
It is Friday….
…and Sunday, is only 2 days away…
This coming Sunday – First after Epiphany – January 11th 2026
Old Testament – Isaiah 61:1-3
Epistle – Romans 12:1-5
Gospel – Luke 2:41-52
Psalm – 50
Sermon – WE ARE HELD CAPTIVE BY OUR OWN DOING
Based on Old Testament reading
Prayers: For a lasting peace in our world and in our cities—especially Minneapolis! That a lasting one would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the People of Russia and the Ukraine. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures. For those who are being persecuted and murdered because they call upon the name of Jesus—especially in Africa. For the end of violence in our cities and that our schools and congregations would be protected from those who wish them harm. For our families that parents would courageously discipline their children and raise them in the fear of the Lord, teaching them about salvation in Jesus alone.
Reflection on Prayer from Luther:
“It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night.”
Luther, pp. 193, vol. 43 of Luther’s Works, American Edition