Ten Special Words

Ten Special Words
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
Sixteenth Day of Pentecost
Year B

A man travelled to Calcutta to learn more about faith, and he had the opportunity to meet with mother Theresa, she said that she would pray for him, but what did she want him to pray for? He said that he came here for clarity – so that was his prayer to see more clearly. She told him that there are a lot of times in life when we wont see very clearly. As a matter of fact, most days we wont see things clearly, and yet we need to go forward. I wont pray for clarity – I will pray for trust. I will pray that in the midst of all of the confusion – you will still decide to trust God anyway I think in life, most of us are like that man. We are waiting for things to finally make sense. For all of the answers to come. We are waiting for God to finally come clean and to tell us what all of life is all about – why we go through all that we go through. And when we don’t get the answers that we have been looking for – then there must be something wrong with God – prayers don’t really work, there is no real reason to have any faith. When we hear those stories about how prayer has worked for others – we take it personal – maybe we are not doing it right. Maybe we don’t know how to pray. Maybe we don’t understand this whole prayer thing.
Well, we are at the end of our study of the book of James. Our book of practical wisdom. And all throughout the book, we have had the same advice. Prayer is an important part of the life of an faithful person. We are to pray in the midst of all circumstances. Pray not for clarity, but for trust. Trust God in all circumstances. Our verse for today begins with a three step process for trusting in God. If you need something pray for it, If you are happy then sing about it and if you are sick go the elders and ask them to pray for you. That is good advice for all of us to remember – when you need something you should do what? When you are happy you should do what? When you are sick what should you do?
That last piece of advice has always got me. I first read this advice as a young adult in a bible study at my cousin’s Pentecostal church. And if you know anything about Pentecostals – they love to pray. The pray about everything. But not always in a positive way if I must say so myself. So I have always had this image of being very dubious about that advice. Who are these elders anyway – and why would they have so much power to pray for me – when I couldn’t pray for myself. I would think that they wold judge me and call me a bad person, which is why my prayers didn’t work. There was a story in the tribune last week of a woman who had members of her church arrested for praying on her front yard. She was sick, and another member of the church did vow that it was because she was a sinner in need of prayer. So she and the pastor came to the front yard and prayed. The police were called, but the lady came back again, and the second time was arrested. Perhaps the lady was following the advice of james to pray – but James doesn’t say that our prayers work because of our judgement of others.
Who is worthy of being called an elder anyway. If you look on the picture in the bulletin – those are the elders – the jewish elders. In the United Methodist Church the pastors are the elders, in other denominations they are lay people who have been entrusted to be leaders of the church. For some reason, in our humanness, we think that James is saying that the elders are special people with special powers. They are people that have been specially trained to do their job. They are people who may have a right to judge us. Theyare people up there somewhere.
But if you read further in James, it does not say that at all. Their power comes not from training or a special connection. Their power comes from being a part of the community of Christ. He says therefore confess you sins to one another, pray or one another. He uses Elijah as an example, that he was a faithful man that prayed that it not rain, and his prayer was answered. He prayed that it rained and the heavens opened up.
We tend to think that you have to have some special training for God to answer your prayers. But that it not so. God will answer the prayer of any sincere person. You don’t have to use special words, or have special intentions, or special gifts. Just use the words you have, the thoughts that you have, the faith that you have, the trust that when you pray you are being heard, and your prayers will work.
John Wesley says that everything in life is in answer to someone’s prayer. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Just because they are faithful. Whether you have gone to church everyday of your life – or made a deathbed confession you are the same in the eyes of God. And god responds to us all just the same. It is our faithfulness that is powerful, not our ego. Prayer is not the right words, and it is not even the right spirit, it is the right relationship. And the only relationship that we can ever hope to have with God is a relationship of trust. Prayer is not our clarity about life, it is our willingness to trust the will of God for our lives.
A famous muslim holy woman was once asked how she go to be so holy. How did she come to know God. She replied that she was willing to lose all that she had attained in the will of God. How do you know God – she was asked. You want to know God – I know God without knowing how to know him.
There is nothing that you could ever say to God that will be just the right words. There is no way that you can ever speak for God. There is no way to ever be able to see clearly who God is or what God is exactly doing in the world. But it doesn’t really matter. The prayers of the righteous are still powerful and effective. Because God loves us enough to listen, no matter what we have to say or how we say it.
As we leave the book of James - let us remember his advice. When you need something pray, when we feel joy sing, when you are sick come to the elders.
All of us together are the elders of the church – the faithful. Our strength is in how we work and trust together for ourselves, the church, and the world. Let us pray…..