2. Secret Prayer
With Christ in the School of Prayer
Dr. D. William McIvor
September 12, 2004
Presbyterian Church in Sudbury

Matthew 6.5-6 (NRSV)

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Introduction

When I began this series on prayer last week I said that we might think of prayer as our native tongue. Unfortunately, many Christians, perhaps even we sometimes, have never become truly proficient in or have forgotten much of our natural language. That’s why the things of God and the realities of God’s kingdom seem strange to us. We don’t know how to converse with God as our friend and that diminishes everything else about knowing and loving God.

Yet this isn’t our problem alone. Jesus knew that people of all times and places struggle with prayer and that’s why he made his teaching about it so central. Moses, the greatest leader of the Old Testament, gave neither commandment nor regulation with regard to prayer. Even the prophets, as influential as they were on all Old Testament history, also said little directly about the duty, discipline, and delight of prayer. It is Jesus Christ who teaches to pray.[1] And if we want to be in conversation with God — and why would we not want to learn or relearn our native tongue? — then we must learn with Jesus in his school.

The first thing that Jesus teaches about prayer is that we must have a secret place for it and that is what we’re going to focus on this morning.

ONE: So we will show up

There are two important things in the text that Jesus teaches about having a secret place for prayer. It is important, first of all, so that we will show up. Here’s what I mean.

A couple of weeks ago I missed a breakfast meeting with a church member. Even though he was very gracious about my stupidity, I’m still embarrassed. It came about because with all the moving and getting resettled, I just wasn’t paying attention to my calendar. We made that appointment weeks ago but as the date approached my life was so cluttered with distractions I didn’t remember to show up.

Fortunately I’m a little more focused now. I have lots of appointments in my calendar for this week and I will show up as will, I’m sure, the persons with whom I am scheduled to meet. But without putting things in our calendars there is no chance that we can show up together.

Lots of things are in my calendar for which I will show up. I will show up at the airport on Monday, December 13 to pick up our son who will be coming here for Christmas. I showed up here in the Sanctuary at 8:45am this morning because worship is in my calendar and I’ll be back here at eleven o’clock for the second service because my calendar says so. I know when worship starts; I don’t need to put the times in my calendar. But I do because the whole point of my calendar is to remind me of all the places where I need to show up.

Jesus teaches us to have a secret place for prayer to remind us that we need to show up to be in conversation with God. The secret place doesn’t need to always be the same place or same time. It can be any place or any time. But it needs to be some place at some time and we need to show up.

Too often we don’t. What I realized as I worked on this sermon is that I’ve got every time in my calendar except prayer time. Yes, I pray but it’s not in my calendar. I’ve got worship times in my calendar (and yes, I do pray during worship but that’s not what Jesus is talking about in this text) and I’ve got meeting times in my calendar. I’ve got vacation times and travel times. I’ve got lots of “things to do” scheduled in my calendar and many notes to myself about various subjects. I even have a prayer list in my calendar but no time scheduled and set aside to pray.

Is it any wonder, then, that too often I do not show up to God in prayer? I say this for two reasons. First, I say it because as I teach you about prayer, I do not do so as one who has mastered it. I struggle with it and need to learn and relearn along with you. Second, I say it to demonstrate that without the secret place, we all too often just do not show up to be with God.

You see, when we open our eyes in the morning God already knows everywhere we’re going to be that day. We may or may not know but God does. And God is already present everywhere we’re going to be that day and in the heavenly calendar God has already set aside time to be just with us, everywhere we’re going to be. God has already shown up. The importance of the secret place is to remind us to show up to be with God who is already there.

TWO: So God will show up

The second important thing about a secret place for prayer is that we meet the true God there. I’ve already said that God shows up even when we don’t. But it’s important to understand who this God is who shows up.

In last week’s sermon I talked about clutter and how I’m on a quest right now to rid my life and my garage and basement and closets of clutter. We just have too much stuff and it’s getting in the way. Those comments seemed to strike a responsive chord in many of you and, of course, we all know the problem isn’t just physical clutter. That is but the visible side of the spiritual clutter that gets in the way of our relating to God. Having a secret place for prayer reminds us that the true God wants to be alone with you and with me. Everything and everyone else need to be put away for a time so we can be alone and undistracted with the God who is real.

But this is hard. It’s hard for many reasons and for many people. It’s especially hard for young mothers because if the incessant demands of young children. It’s hard for people whose work days are filled with one appointment after another. It’s hard for people who travel a lot or have difficult commutes. It seems hard, for reasons we can’t go into this morning, for men. It’s just hard.

It’s also hard because too often God is not really personal for us. I think that God is not particularly personal even for many Christians. For many people God is a thought, an idea or an ideal, a truth or concept, but not personal, not our Father. The difference is striking. The difference is between saying “O God,” which is easy, or saying along with the psalmist, “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you.” (Psalm 63.1) As the great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, wrote: “The first [way] is theology, the second is religion; the first involves only opinion, the second involves vital experience; the first can be reached by thought, the second must be reached by prayer; the first leaves God afar off, the second alone makes [God] real.”[2]

The real God is a personal God and too many leave this God afar off. The story is told that in 18th century Paris, a religious procession passed by one day as Voltaire (1694-1778) and a friend walked along the street. The great philosopher was generally regarded as a nonbeliever but when the crucifix at the head of the procession passed by, he lifted his hat in respect. His friend exclaimed, “What! Are you reconciled with God?” Voltaire replied, “We salute, but we do not speak.”[3]

Do we salute God but not speak to God? Do we believe in God but never enter into a conversation with God as with a friend? The secret place for prayer is a reminder that God wants to be together alone with us, one on one, friend to friend.

You think: But, Bill, how can God want to be with me? I feel so weak and sinful, my heart is cold and dark, I have so little to pray, and in that little no faith or joy. How can God want to be with me?[4] Or you think: I’m hurting so much right now and I’m so frightened, I just don’t trust God to meet my real needs.

Beloved of God, listen to your teacher which isn’t I but is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “When you pray in your secret place your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” That’s a promise from Jesus Christ. For God has no interest in beating us down because we are weak and sinful with cold and dark hearts with little to pray and in that little no faith or joy. And God has no interest in denying what is good and right for us. God is the source of strength and forgiveness, hope and light, faith, joy, and love. Only by putting ourselves in a secret place alone in God’s presence can we meet the One who gives beyond all measure. And wants to. The God of mercy and love wants to be with us and give to us. For that to happen we must clear out the clutter and put away the distractions and enter prayer’s secret place to meet the true God of grace.

Conclusion

Where do we begin? It seems so hard.

A man once met a friend in the parking lot of a local bookstore. She had a great bundle of books in her arm. “What in the world are you doing,” he asked, “opening your own bookstore?”

“No,” said the woman, “these are all books about prayer. All my life I have been hearing about the importance of prayer, so I finally decided to learn how to pray. I have bought fourteen books on the subject. And not only that, I have signed up for two courses in prayer, one at my church and one at a friend’s church. I am really going to master this subject!”

Several weeks later, the friend ran into the woman again, this time at the grocery store. “How is the big project going?” he asked. “Have you learned to pray?”

She hung her head and made a gesture of despair. “It was too complicated,” she said, “and I gave it up. Now I’m taking a course in Yoga.”[5]

Learning or relearning to pray can seem complicated and there are endless books about it. I’ve even recommended some to you in the bulletin and newsletter. And just in my own library at home when I last counted, there were 76 books about or related to prayer. Books are good but they are not where we start.

We begin simply, as Jesus taught, in the secret place. Show up there this week. Do whatever you have to do to go there this week. Put it in your calendar. Put a big note on your refrigerator. Do whatever is necessary to go to prayer’s secret place and when you’re there, just talk to God. If you don’t know what to say, talk to God about that. Then talk to God about what’s going on in your life. God already knows but wants to hear it from you. It’s that simple and that’s where we begin. Then we’ll go on from here.

Back to Top

Back to our Home Page

For questions/comments on this page, please click to e-mail: PCISwebmaster.

The contents of this site are copyright © 2004, Presbyterian Church in Sudbury. All Rights Reserved.