Why Bother?
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Click here to download the sermon manuscript.
Scripture: Ezekiel 22:30-31
And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land… Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
On Tuesday nights a group of us gather over Zoom to continue Sunday’s conversation. We talk about whatever we heard or experienced on Sunday during the worship service that struck us. Sometimes, there’s a particular way I talked about something in my sermon that people aren’t quite sure they agree with. (Yes! It’s totally o.k. to disagree with the pastor!) Sometimes there’s a question sparked by an idea that was sparked by something in the service that we need to talk about. The goal is to create a safe space within which to grow in our faith together. We come prepared to listen well to each other and to wrestle honestly with our understanding of God and all that is connected to that massive subject.
It’s always interesting to me how seemingly simple questions become increasingly complicated the deeper we dig into them. I think the biggest question that’s been hanging over the heads of this group since early January, is the question of why we should bother praying at all. Do we pray because God tells us to? Do we pray because that’s what Jesus did, and we’re supposed to do what he did? Do we pray because it makes a difference? Do our prayers have the power to influence the way God acts? There are so many questions that spiral out in so many different directions. They’re questions that force us to probe down into our underlying beliefs and assumptions about God and about ourselves.
This Sunday, we’re finally going to begin considering some of these big questions. Hopefully, by this point in our journey toward Friendship with God, you find yourself wanting to know God, or at least beginning to believe it’s possible to know God, and exploring for yourself what it means to hear from (listen to) God. It’s out of a relationship with God – knowing God and listening to God – that we bring to him all the things with which we need his help and involvement.
I love the way Dutch Sheets, author of a book I’m appreciating more and more titled Intercessory Prayer, asks Sunday’s big question: Does a sovereign, all-powerful God need our involvement or not? Is prayer really necessary? If so, why?[i] As you prepare for Sunday, it might be helpful to spend some time thinking about this question. What feelings does the question bring up in you? If you find yourself answering with a quick and easy yes or no, perhaps dig a bit deeper. How would you explain your answer to someone of the opposite opinion?
[i] Dutch Sheets. Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth. (Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 1996), 23-24.