Hymns: Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Incline Your
Ear, O Lord, to Me
His Eye is
on the Sparrow
James 5:13-20
5:13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any
cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
5:14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders
of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name
of the Lord.
5:15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord
will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for
one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful
and effective.
5:17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed
fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not
rain on the earth.
5:18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the
earth yielded its harvest.
5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders
from the truth and is brought back by another,
5:20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from
wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of
sins.
Happy Sunday to you! I
am Darci Strutt McQuiston, one of the Lay Servants from the United Methodist
Church up on the hill from here. It is
my joy to be with you today.
The ideas I’m pulling from this scripture on prayer are:
We need to ask
We need to pray
We need to believe
We need to ask
5:14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders
of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name
of the Lord.
I read a spiritual writing this week that just happened to
talk about healing. It advised the
person praying to not just pray for the healing they thought the person needed,
but to ask the person directly what they felt they needed or wait for them to
ask. The author said sometimes what we
think needs to be healed may a lesson the person would grow from and taking it
from them isn’t what they would choose.
We shouldn’t put what we think is right on another person. Their healing is their choice.
I remembered Jesus had displayed that thinking.
Mark 10:48 - 52
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried
out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stopped and said, "Call
him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart;
rise, he is calling you." And
throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want
me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Master, let me
receive my sight." And Jesus said
to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately
he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Wasn’t it obvious that the blind man would want his sight
restored? Yet Jesus had him be specific
about what type of healing he wanted.
The sick came to him. He healed
at the request of those who came. There were times when someone came to him on
the behalf of someone they loved, but he waited to be asked.
Of course, there are also Jesus direct words in Matthew on
asking.
Mat 7:7 -11
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one
who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which
of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a
snake? If you, then, though you are
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
It is a reminder we need to ask and be specific about what we
need. The need to ask forces us to be
self-aware of what our needs are. That
awareness can become the beginning to our healing.
We need to pray
5:15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord
will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for
one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful
and effective.
We are a community of believers. The illness in our neighbor affects the
community. Praying for one another helps
us as a community to be healed. The
Bible is clear about the need to care for each other as if we were caring for
ourselves because we are. This scripture
reminds us that such prayers are powerful and effective.
We have a prayer chain at our church. I’ve been a member since I moved to Hudson in
’89. Praying for members and friends of
our congregation is a way I can strengthen my connection both to them and to
God. Prayer always strengthens my
relationship to God as well as to the person I’m praying for. It allows me to become a connection between
the two with healing energy flowing from one end to the other. I have been on the receiving end of prayer
and I remember it helping me feel less alone in my struggle. I saw
those prayers as an act of love for me.
We need to believe
5:17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed
fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not
rain on the earth.
5:18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the
earth yielded its harvest.
Elijah laid it all on the line for God. He risked his reputation and, given that many
in his shoes had been killed, he risked his life. He believed and acted on that belief with his
prayers. His result wasn’t a quick one
either. It was three years and six
months before his faith saw results.
I pulled out a couple other scriptures that spoke to this.
Matthew 9:27 -30a
And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed
him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." When he entered the house, the blind men came
to him; and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do
this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying,
"According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened.
Mark 5:25 - 34
And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve
years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that
she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, and
came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his
garments, I shall be made well." And
immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed
of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in
himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the
crowd, and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to him, "You see
the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had been done to
her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the
whole truth. And he said to her,
"Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of
your disease."
This scripture from Mark strengthens my belief that prayer allows
us to be a connection between the person with the need and God. Jesus felt healing power go through him to
the woman. Her belief in his connection
to God was so strong that she knew he didn’t need to focus on her at all. Just touching Jesus was enough for her.
It is hard when it feels prayer isn’t answered or isn’t answered
in the way we wish it would be.
Sometimes I think we need to step back and check in. Have we taken time to discern what we are
asking for with prayer? Are we praying
for what we think others need instead of letting them seek what they discern
they need? Are our prayers in alignment
with God’s being as we understand it through scripture?
The final verses of James feel somewhat out of place but if
we remember these are the final lines of the book they make more sense. Their place in his book show their
importance. Healing was physical but also
spiritual and the healing of our relationship to God was the most important.
5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders
from the truth and is brought back by another,
5:20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from
wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of
sins.
Ultimately healing has to do with having a restored relationship
with God. Jesus combined forgiveness of
sins with healing. At times his healing
was demonstrating his power to forgive sins.
Prayer is our way of connecting to God either directly through our prayers
or through intercessory prayer by members of the community.
Prayer is powerful. Communication
is vital for relationship. The
relationship between our community and God is strengthened by
communication. Be clear about what you discern
you need and bring those needs to your faith community. Your love for each other is strengthened as a
result. Pray when you’re troubled and
pray when you’re cheerful.
Just pray!
Amen
