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Prayer-Sunday-2005
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 29th May 2005
Revd. Matthew Vernon
When Brother Bruno was at prayer one night he was disturbed by the croaking of a bullfrog.
All his attempts to disregard the sound were unsuccessful
• so he shouted form his window,
• "Quiet!" I'm praying."
Now Brother Bruno was a saint so his command was instantly obeyed.
Every living creature held its voice
• to create a silence that would be favorable to prayer.
But now another sound intruded on Bruno's worship –
• an inner voice that said,
• "May be God is as pleased with the croaking of that frog
• as with the chanting of your psalms."
"What could please the ears of God in the croak of a frog?" was Bruno's scornful reply.
But the voice refused to give up.
• "Why would you think God invented the sound?"
Bruno decided to find out why.
He leaned out of this window and ordered, "Sing!"
The bullfrog's measured croaking filled the air
• as did the ludicrous accompaniment of all the frogs in the vicinity.
And as Bruno attended to the sound, their voices ceased to jar
• for he discovered that,
• if he stopped resisting them,
• they actually enrich the silence of the night.
With that discovery Bruno's heart became harmonious with the universe
• and, for the first time in his life,
• he understood what it means to pray.
In last week's sermon I talked about the mystery of God;
• that God is greater than our language and words.
• that there are limits to what we can say or know about God.
• and all our ways of describing God ultimately fail.
This is because God is God
• and we can only use human metaphors for God
• like "our Father in heaven"
• or "The Lord's my shepherd".
I ended the sermon saying by referring to the mystical tradition within Christianity.
In this mystical tradition,
• the soul moves beyond images and language for God
• into the darkness that is beyond understanding.
Language takes you to certain point,
• but then language fails and there is silence.
Today I'll try to speak about that silence and about prayer.
Talking about silence is bound to fail.
But we have no choice, since language defines us.
Often we think that prayer is about asking God for things;
• about us talking and God listening.
If anything, prayer is more about God talking and us listening.
And deeper still, you may know the story of the old man who would sit motionless in church for hours on end.
One day a priest asked him what God talked to him about.
"God doesn't talk. He just listens" was his reply.
"Well, then what do you talk to him about?"
"I don't talk either. I just listen."
I sometimes think God must get bored with our prayers –
• especially if God knows what we are going to pray for already.
It's like the story of a pious old man who prayed five times a day
• while his business partner never set foot in church.
On his 80th birthday he prayed,
• "O God! Since I was young, not a day have I allowed to pass without coming to church in the morning and saying my prayers a the five times.
• "Not a single move, not one decision, important or trifling, did I make without first invoking your Name.
• "And now, in my old age, I have doubled my exercises of piety and pray to you ceaselessly, night and day.
• "Yet here I am, poor as a church mouse.
"But look at my business partner.
• "He drinks and gambles,
• "and, even at his advanced age, consorts with woman of questionable character,
• "yet he's rolling in wealth.
• "I wonder if a single prayer has ever crossed his lips.
"Now, Lord, I do not ask that he be punished, for that would be unchristian.
• "But please tell me:
• "Why, why, why have you let him prosper and why do you treat me thus?"
"Because," said God in reply,
• "you are such a monumental bore!"
Languages and words are very important for prayer.
• "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done."
• "Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden."
God does want to hear our concerns;
• the things we carry on our hearts and minds.
But there comes a point where we move beyond language into silence.
Our modern world provides so much entertainment:
• films; TV; books; the internet; email.
These are good things.
But it's possible to fill every minute of every day with noise.
We can avoid silence altogether.
Which is a shame.
Because it's only in silence that we can meet God without distraction.
There are many ways to experience God:
• beautiful music; the natural world; art; people.
But in silence we meet God's mysterious and silent presence face to face.
Our hearts become joined to the Creator's heart.
In silence we don't think about God or talk to God –
• we can just be with the Divine,
• where our restless hearts find peace.
What is silence?
Is it the absence of noise or something else?
Brother Bruno thought silence is no sound,
• no frogs croaking.
He discovered that silence is something else:
And as Bruno attended to the sound, their voices ceased to jar
• for he discovered that,
• if he stopped resisting them,
• they actually enrich the silence of the night.
With that discovery Bruno's heart became harmonious with the universe
• and, for the first time in his life,
• he understood what it means to pray.
Listen for a few moments to the sounds in this room…
What do you hear?
Listen now with your eyes closed and your ears closed…
• I'll clap when its time to open them again.
What did you hear?
Of course when we sit in silence our minds go off on tangents.
These are "doggy thoughts".
When you take a dog for a walk,
• you walk straight along the path.
• But usually the dog goes off in different directions exploring.
Then comes back again to the path to check on your progress
• before going off again.
Last week, someone confessed to doing that during my sermons!
In prayer, silence is not absence of sound,
• not trying to ignore sounds,
• but acknowledging them
• and reaching beyond them to the other side of silence.
The other side of silence where God is waiting for us.
When we are silent before God, then God can do God's stuff.
God whispers into our interior spaces and melts our hearts.
This of course is frightening because it takes us to places we don't want to go.
That's why we fill our lives with so much noise most of the time.
But if we let God in, then we will change.
In the book the Horse Whisperer, a man is able to calm traumatised horses.
He does that by whispering over and over again
• "You are not a shadow of a horse. You are a horse."
• "You are not a shadow of a horse. You are a horse."
God does the same to us.
In silence, God whispers to us until all our shadows fall away.
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