Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

Let us pray,

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer… 

The women in my family are known for their prayers.

My mom graduated from nursing school when she was 7.5 months pregnant with me. She tells everyone she only graduated because Grandma Huntey (my great-grandmother) prayed she would pass her classes.

Granny, my mother’s mother, prayed my little sister’s chicken pox away. I also think the oatmeal baths she made Emile lay in helped. But the way Granny told the story. It was her prayers alone that cured her.

I remember my own mother praying some angry prayers at God when I told her I wanted to take my college degree and use it to become a missionary in Michigan. The entire year I was there I could feel her praying that God would watch over me when she couldn’t.

As a child I always felt embarrassed when I would listen to the Pazuchanics women pray to God on my behalf. It felt like I was listening in on a private phone conversation that was meant to be between them and God. But as I got older, I realized that these women were teaching me that they couldn’t protect me from everything. And they were teaching me to trust that God would watch over me when they couldn’t.

Their favorite prayer they used to pray over me (when they thought I was asleep) was Lord, not my will be done, but thine. This pray always brought me comfort. God had a plan for me. And their prayers would help me figure out what those plans were.

As I read through our Scripture reading for this morning. It reminded me of my childhood. Where I would listen to my grandmothers pray to God on my behalf. Because our Scripture reading for today is a prayer. That would have been read aloud in the context of worship. So you would feel like you were listening in on someone’s personal prayer to God. And I began to wonder if maybe my grandmothers as well as the author meant for their prayers to be overheard? Because there may be something in them for me too. Something about who God is and why God matters that a person can only discover through prayer.

Our passage for this morning is the end of the first half of the letter to the church in Ephesus. The theme of the first half of the letter is that in Christ all old human divisions fall away. There is no longer Jew and Gentile, but one humanity, Christians, followers of Jesus. In Jesus, Jews and Gentiles have been brought together to form one body, the church. The church is the new temple, that is the place where God dwells. 

Overwhelmed with God’s mystery of bringing together Jews and Gentiles, this passage beckons the church to respond with prayer. Prayer is how the church communicates with God and discerns God’s will for the church’s future ministry. There are four specific things the author prays for:

Firstly, that the people of God would receive inner spiritual strength. We are strengthened and sustained by the company of believers with whom we worship. When divisions happen, the author prays that God’s grace would fortify us against disunity.

Secondly, the author prays that Christ would dwell in the hearts of those who believe. In the Presbyterian tradition, we believe this happens through Word and Sacrament. As the Scriptures are read, the word is proclaimed, and the sacraments are celebrated, Christ dwells in the church in a special way.

Thirdly, the author prays that believers would be able to comprehend spiritual realities. As followers of Jesus, we walk by faith and not by sight. While we will never fully understand the spiritual realities taking place all around us, we pray God to reveal those realities to us so that we may better comprehend.

Finally, the author prays that we would have knowledge of the love of Jesus. This can happen to us in worship as we praise God for who God is and what God has done for us in Jesus. But this can also happen outside of church. When we get in on what God is doing for the poor, the marginalized, and the brokenhearted in our communities.

The author’s prayer ends with a doxology. A doxology is an expression of praise to God. We include a doxology in our worship services every week. This doxology proclaims, because God can do more than we can ask or imagine, to God be the Glory!

This particular doxology is also a blessing. I’ve heard preachers use it for their benedictions. To bless the congregation before they head back out into the world. Because God can do more than we can ever dream or imagine. Let us go out into the world praising God for who God is and what God is doing!

This week, as I reflected on this passage, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of prayer in our life together as a church. I think one of my most important jobs as your pastor is to pray for our congregations. I thought I’d share with you what some of my prayers for our churches looked like this week:

1. I pray for protection for us all from the Delta Covid-19 variant. I pray that cases in Allegheny County would remain low. I pray for special protection for the children who cannot yet be vaccinated, and for the sick, the vulnerable, and the anxious.
2. I pray that the Holy Spirit would show up when I’m preaching. In the space between my words and your ears. Because I remain stubbornly optimistic that God has something new to say in this time and in this place.
3. I pray for the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love to face the challenges of being church in 2021.

Now that I’ve shared with you what I’m praying for. I wonder what your prayers for our church look like?

I imagine that some of you, like my mother and grandmothers are praying for God’s help during rough seasons of life and ministry. You’re praying that our boiler will make it through another winter. That the church won’t flood with all the rain we’re supposed to get this week. That God would raise up new leaders to help keep the church going into the future. That we would bring in enough offering to meet the church’s financial responsibilities.

Others among you are praying for so and so’s nephew who broke his thumb. Putting together a bassinet for his newborn daughter. Others of you are praying so and so’s sister-in-law. Who needs to transition from her home into an assisted living arrangement. And this is really stressing out your friend. Still more of you are crying out to God wondering when this awful pandemic will end. And life can return to some level of normalcy.

Friends, as we discern together the direction of our church in this post-pandemic world. The most helpful thing you can do is to pray that God would reveal God’s plan for our church to us. The beautiful thing about prayers is that they don’t have to be beautiful or well said in order for God to hear them. If we believe that God is Lord over all, then we have to trust that God hears our prayers. Even if God doesn’t answer them right away. Or in the way that we want God too. Or when it looks like God answers other people’s prayers. But not our own prayers. We trust that God hears us when we pray. 

Friends, one of the reasons we prioritize gathering together. Week in and week out. Is because we trust that where we fall short in offering our prayers to God. The gathered community is offering petitions to God on our behalf. Trusting that in our messy, imperfect, lengthy prays, God hears them, God is glorified, and we can face the challenges of the week ahead together. 

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.