My plan was to preach about how prayer fosters stewardship within us: as prayer connects us with God, who is generous, we become generous.  I planned to talk about how prayer is much more than asking, but instead grounds us in God’s grace.  My sermon was tracking along nicely until Thursday when a request to address the conflict In Israel and Palestine with our Senior High Sunday School class led me to shift topics. So how do we as Christ followers think about events in Israel, Palestine and Gaza? I am no expert, and know you can read and deconstruct the news as well as I can, so I do not come today to offer policy and maybe not even theology, perhaps all I have is  a few simple rubrics to guide our opinions, attitude and actions. Israel and Ukraine are not the only hotspots in the world, we can pray for peace in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. Our Methodist siblings in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to deal with armed insurgents. Closer to home, although not a formal war, some 48,830 people died of gun violence in 2021. There is plenty to pray and think about. Some dismiss “thoughts and prayers” but without thoughtful analysis and prayerful examination our actions and opinions may achieve little or do harm.  

How do we pray? The Lord’s Prayer is pretty short on asking God for things.  The Lord’s Prayer primarily asks for God’s will to be done on earth:

Holy God- 

Help us dwell in your holiness

Bring about your kingdom

May your will be done on earth as it’s done in heaven.

We need food for this day.

Forgive us for the ways we wronged you (and others),

Remind us of your boundless forgiveness.

Don’t let us wander off your path,

And deliver us from evil injustice and oppression .

The only real ask is for enough to eat today. Instead of asking for more stuff, Jesus’ Model prayer calls us to ground our doing in God’s will for the earth.  “Your Kingdom come- your will be done on earth”! Lord, help us keep your great commandment and golden rule- remind us to love our neighbors and treat our neighbors exactly as we hope to be treated.  We ask not just for what is good for us, but what is good for our neighbors and even good for our enemies. (Mt 5-7 & 22)  

Jesus‘ prays such a prayer while wrestling with the Tempter in the wilderness and facing the cross in Gethsemane:  “Lord, let this cup pass, but not what, let your kin-dom come, your will be done”. (Mt. 26)  Pausing and reflecting on our opinions, attitudes and actions in the light of what benefits my neighbor, my enemy and the whole world is a radical notion. Do we pray, Lord, what is the right thing for my neighbor? Lord, what is best for our world? Lord, how am I helping bring about  God’s kindom on earth? 

I reread some of “Bonhoeffer pastor, prophet, martyr, spy” this week, maybe to remind myself to avoid simplistic theological platitudes. In the 1940’s Hitler’s Germany, Bonhoeffer and a small group of Confessing church allies began to understand that “the level of confession and resistance could no longer be kept neatly apart…. We now realized that mere confession, no matter how courageous, inescapably meant complicity with murders. Thus we were approaching the borderline between confession and resistance, and if we did not cross this border, our confession was going to be no better than cooperation with criminals.  And so it became clear where the problem lay for the Confessing Church: we were resisting by way of confession, but we were not confessing by way of resistance.” (pg. 360 Bonhoeffer: pastor, prophet, martyr, spy) Prayer alone is never enough- but prayer should guide us into Christ-like action. 

To know God’s will is not easy, but we often seek easy answers. Some name Israel as God’s special people, which clearly is a thread in the Scriptures and others even name America or former presidents as God’s special agents.  As I teenager, I visited a church where the speaker told us Mikhail Gorbachev was the anti-Christ, because the winemark on Gorbachev’s forehead perfectly outlined the valley of Armageddon. These Chosen people theologies usually forget that God sent “his chosen people” into Babylonian exile! Using Bible verses like esoteric puzzle pieces is misguided and dangerous. Jesus tells us “nobody knows the day of hour” when God may break into history or unholy strong men may occupy holy places. (Mt. 24) Maybe we are drawn to easy answers so we can draw a line, name a bad guy, and move on. 

Can we know the will of God right now? Maybe a year ago, Pastor Kate, preached a sermon about Jesus looking on the crowds with “compassion because they were troubled and helpless” (Mt 9) The idea of compassion struck a deep note within me: Jesus sees the world with compassion, especially when people are troubled and helpless. Do I see the world with Christ’s deep compassion? Do I imagine the pain of a mom stuck at the border, the plight of a parent whose child is taken hostage, or the fear of one who hears the bombs bursting in air over my house?  

I think the incarnation teaches us that compassion is always part of the will of God. In Luke 24, as Jesus carries the cross to Calvary, a group of women line the road weeping in solidarity with Jesus. Jesus comforts them “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me.”  Jesus offers hope to the one bandits crucified beside him and offers forgiveness for preachers, soldiers and the crowd who crucified- saying “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 24) As Love is crucified, it still sees the world with compassion. Compassion is a miracle. Compassion saves us from line drawing, demonizing, and denying the image of God in others. Compassion reminds us of our ethical obligation and common humanity even in our most emotional moments.  I lament how the church is failing to proclaim Christ’s radical compassion, preferring judgment over mercy.   To lose touch with compassion may be to lose touch with Jesus.

Compassion produces some specific values that can guide our actions, opinions and attitude. Perhaps, if our prayers focused less on asking, we might pray the Sermon on Mount so as to ground our words and deeds deeply in the values of Jesus. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the humble. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart- they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You are the salt of the earth; You are the light of the world, let your light shine so that others might see your good works and turn toward God’s kindom on earth! 

Praying the beatitudes might lead us to ask:  Lord, what might a poverty of spirit teach me? What should I be mourning? Where might I offer comfort?  What is humble, ethical, and merciful? Could I call my opinion pure-hearted? How can I help be a peacemaker right here?  Oh God, what if I am persecuted for doing the right thing, will you uphold me? Lord, help me bring light into this moment! Those are Kin-dom of God’s strivings, questions and prayers. 

Such prayers may not end geo-political tensions in Israel or even tell us what to tell our representatives, but maybe such striving stir Jesus’ compassion in us. Maybe such prayers allow God’s kin-dom to flow from us, and perhaps reformed by Christ’s compassion, we will see our neighbors and enemies differently.  Maybe the fever of judgment and violence can break at least within us. And maybe compassion  is the beginning of God’s kindom on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.