Teach Us to Pray

The disciples watched Jesus in prayer, saw Him absorbed in prayer, and said to Him: Lord, teach us to pray.  They wanted what He had, they wanted to experience what they saw in Him -- the love, peace, and joy suffused on His face.  It had been said of Moses that after he had spent time in God's presence, he had to wear a veil over his face until the shekinah glory -- the light of God's presence-- diminished.  The people could not gaze on his face at first because of the glory therein.  When Moses went into the tent of meeting, the people waited at the entrance of their tents until he came out: "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend" (Ex. 33:11).

(Interestingly, though Moses would return to the camp, "Joshua, son of Nun, did not leave the tent."
There is no further commentary on that line of Scripture, but it was Joshua/Yeshua/Jesus who was destined to lead the people into the Promised Land, not Moses.)

Did the apostles see on the face of Jesus the glory of the Lord -- the shekinah glory?  Is that what moved them to ask, "Lord, teach us to pray"?  They, too, wanted to enter the tent of God's Presence and speak to Him 'face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.'  It seems to me that if we had no other goal in life than to speak with God face to face, it would be enough!

And Jesus said to them, in effect:  Begin by acknowledging Who it is to Whom you speak -- Our Father who art in heaven.....

I think maybe very few of us actually begin our prayer by acknowledging Who it is to whom we speak.  It is as if we were appearing at City Hall or some official office and speaking to a representative of the city....or in this case, a Representative of Official Heaven: "Dear God, whoever You may be, I'd like to speak with you about a matter of some concern....I wonder if You might be able to assist me....."

How many of us begin our prayer by crying out, Abba!  Father!  Father of my spirit; Father of my soul!  Creator of all that I am and Finisher of all that I want to be!  Goal of my life on earth! 

The only reason we pray is to have communion with the Living Presence of God -- and it's a dialog, "as a man speaks with his friend" -- not a monolog.

Last week, some of us were mentioning how hard it is when people call us on the phone and talk for 2 hours about nothing.  We recognize that these people are very lonely, that they have no one to talk to, and that they need a listening ear -- so we listen!  But this is not how 'a man speaks with his friend, face to face.'  There is no common interest in this conversation; it is more like someone trying to process his/her life issues in front of a listening ear.  And certainly, there is a place for a listening ear; that's why people go to psychiatrists and psychologists.  But it is not prayer.

Prayer is finding common ground between ourselves and our Father in heaven.  It is seeing from His perspective, not just our own.  That's the way friends talk to one another.  Sometimes they argue -- but the Jews taught us all about arguing with God -- and He never seemed to mind it at all.  When we get to the point that we can truly say, "Our Father Who art in heaven....." and truly know that He is "Father," we are ready to pray.  We have found our common ground and are ready to enter the Tent of Meeting and to receive the glory of His Presence all over us.