"Your Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven"

Matthew 6:10b

We are like a wayward daughter who has become a homeless drifter and is found by searching parents. They are overjoyed to find her. Of course, they have something far better in mind for her than a degenerate life on the streets. William Sloane Coffin said it well: "God loves us as we are, but much too much to leave us there."

When the Father finds us, he loves us too much to leave us where we are. He wants us to be part of his kingdom. His ultimate will is to bring that kingdom to glorious completion, on earth as in heaven, and we affirm in this petition that this will happen.

Meanwhile, the Father has welcomed us into the kingdom - away from our un-kingdom-like captivity to sin, away from that degenerate life on the street because he has something infinitely more wonderful in mind for us. That vision of his for us involves giving ourselves back to him in love, and giving ourselves in love to others. Because this is contrary to our wayward nature, it requires changes that are difficult and painful for us. Instead of praying, "Your will be done," we may try to press our will upon the Father, in which case the Father's response may disappoint us.

Author, Art Simon in his book on prayer writes about his disappointment in God not answering his prayers when he was a boy.

He writes, "My earliest memory of disappointment in prayer came during W.W. II, when I was a boy and Nazi Germany invaded Norway. I followed news reports about the war with rapt attention and was alarmed by the way Nazis were devouring country after country in Europe. It has to stop, I thought. Then I remembered words of Jesus I had memorized about the power of prayer. 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.'

So I prayed that the Norwegians would turn back the Nazis. I prayed it again and again, confidently expecting that the Nazis would experience a stunning defeat. Not only were the Nazis doing evil, but the Norwegians were 98% Lutheran! Surely, the prayer had to be a dead ringer for the will of God. But to my dismay, the German forces, many of them Lutheran, swept through Norway and occupied the country."

Like Art, I think all of us have prayed prayers that when they seemingly go unanswered, we wonder why. Was my prayer not a good one? Was I trying to get God to see things my way? Was I trying to get God to rubber-stamp my wishes? Was my prayer my will or God's will?

In his time of greatest agony Jesus prayed, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not my will, but your will be done." Not what I want but what you want. Jesus not only taught "your will be done," but he lived it all the way to the cross.

God's way of answering many of our prayers is to give us the strength and wisdom to do what we need to do. We dare not give thanks for God's creation and then go out from here and pollute it. We cannot pray for emploYment but not go job hunting, pray for good government but not bother to vote, pray for good grades but not study, pray for good health but not exercise, pray for hungry people but ignore opportunities to help them, or pray that people come to know Christ but keep our faith hidden.

I desired God's will for my daughter when I prayed for her from infancy; "Lord help Rachel not to get married until after she has a master's degree, and then to a good Lutheran man." Now that Rachel's engaged to a good Lutheran man after graduating from a good Lutheran college and doesn't plan to get married until after her master's degree is completed, can I say that my prayer was my will or God's will or both? How can we discern when our will is God's will and when our will is not God's will? Was I just trying to get God to see things my way and to rubber-stamp my wishes?

Because it looks forward to the completion of God's will in the kingdom, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" becomes also a listening prayer, a prayer that we may discern the purpose that God has for us in the kingdom now. So we tell God of our desires, as I've been doing since Rachel was an infant, and then release control of them. We ask God to replace our foolishness with his wisdom. Then we need to listen.

Listening to God and reflecting on God's will not only inform the thoughts we offer to God, but more importantly it opens us to receive what God desires to give.

But how do we perceive the will of God? How can we know what God wants us to do? Although we seldom have complete clarity in specific situations we do have guidance from (l) the Bible and its witness to the purpose of God for us in Christ. Our prayers, informed by that written word, can open our minds to the will of God.

We can also get help from (2) sisters and brothers in Christ, or family members and friends whose judgment we have reason to trust, and saints through the ages who have left their example.

(3) The hymns and prayers of the church are a rich source of wisdom. In addition God has given us (4) special talents and interests that can help us decide, for example, what kind of career or voluntary activities to pursue. (5) Above all, we are told to make Christ-like love our aim. When we are loving God, our neighbors and ourselves, we are doing the will of God. And of course, we are probably doing God's will when we say "yes" to something the pastor asks us to do for the church!

I want to share with you a story written by one our Divinity lay ministers who presently also happens to be the president of our congregation; that describes one way that she has discerned what God's will is for her in using her time and talents to love and serve others in our congregation.

nursing homes. Most often the residents are brought to us with remnants of lunch on their clothes. They are brought in wheelchairs, motorized and manual. They come with walkers, canes and in special chairs. Some are blissfully unaware of where they are at that moment. Minds and bodies ravaged by age or disease.

We sing some hymns, read from scripture and serve Holy Communion. Most sing along to the familiar hymns we choose. Most are aware of the Bread and Wine offered to them. I am however most stunned each time that we pray the Lord's Prayer. As we begin to pray all those present join us in praying. Even those that appear to be most unaware of their surroundings speak those familiar words. They may be of different Christian denominations but for that moment we are one people speaking to God.

In Matthew 7:21 Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." That we never do the Father's will anywhere near to perfection on this earth is no excuse for not trying. We pray that God's will be done on earth because we do it so poorly and need help to do it better. God desires us to do his will, so it becomes our great desire as well.

This world is not our lasting home, but it is still the handiwork of God, world of incredible, stunning beauty that some of us have witnessed the past two weeks, full of living things and precious resources that God created. And God has asked us to take care of it for future generations. It is a world that God sent his only Son to save; and it is the place where we are to love and serve God with all our heart.

Though we are saved by grace through faith, our work on earth is connected to our life in the resurrection. What we do on earth is related to God's eternal purpose for us in Christ. Why else would Jesus teach that faithfulness now in small things will be richly rewarded in heaven and urge us to store up treasures not here but there? There all wrongs will be righted and we ourselves will be changed to fully reflect the heart and the will of God. Until then we invite God to shape our life and the lives of others, for we are a work in progress! May the peace of God ...