Mitford Sermon #9: THE PRAYER THAT NEVER FAILS
First Preached: August 24, 1997
This is my second to the last “Mitford sermon” and my second to the last, what I would call, “post-flood sermon.” In this sermon I get into the 4th book of the Mitford series. Although the phrase “the prayer that never fails” is used often it isn’t until this point in the series that this unfailing prayer is identified. Spoiler alert: That prayer is “Thy will be done.”
In this sermon I share a bit about my struggle in using this prayer. As a young Christian, some how I, along with other young followers of Christ, felt the need to figure out prayer - in other words, how to pray just right in order to insure the prayer would be answered. It all seems really stupid now. How crazy to think of prayer as some kind of magical incantation to get what I wanted. But that was the reality at that time of my life. As I will discuss in this sermon I flip-flopped using “Thy will be done” because someone told me that such a phrase showed a lack of faith. You will read how I finally flopped back rightly to that very important part of prayer.
That reminds me of another moment in my life concerning this prayer. It happened in the ‘80’s when I found myself in the Holy Land with a bunch of other preachers from all over the United States. We were there through the generosity of the Knights Templar. I was kneeling at the altar that was built over the site of what was believed to be the place Jesus knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane the night he was arrested. Just before his arrest Jesus prayed, “Thy will be done.” I was meditating on that as I knelt there. I was actually at a moment in my life when I was thinking of leaving the pastoral ministry. My personality and what a pastor needed to be did not match very well. (In fact, around this same time I went to a career assessment center because of my struggle. Through all of the testing it was obvious to the counselor I was working with that my being in the ministry was an upstream swim.) Anyway, as I knelt at that place, at least close to place Jesus knelt, I prayed that same prayer - “Thy will be done” - reaffirming the call to be a pastor that had been deeply imbedded in me several years before.
I encourage you to work through this sermon to the very end. That last story is well worth reading and meditating on.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:31-46 (NRSVue)
When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”
Not many of the characters in the Mitford books lack interest, such as Buck Leeper. Buck Leeper would have never showed up in town if not for Miss Sadie. Miss Sadie took away the collective breath of the Lord’s Chapel church when she announced to them a gift of $5,000,000 -- a gift for the purpose of building a nursing home -- not just any nursing home -- a home with big, sunny rooms and a greenhouse and an atrium with real, live birds and filled with books and music and a chapel and a goldfish pond and a waterfall running over the rocks in the dining room.
It was quite a gift and quite a project. The selected construction company saw the immensity and importance of the project and selected for job superintendent the best they had — Buck Leeper. Buck Leeper would save them money and grief. He would bring the project to completion on time and on budget.
However, Buck would come with a dark side. He was crude. He was unfriendly. He cussed and drank intolerably. He carried around with him a dark secret that colored his outlook on life and people. Even Father Tim felt the ravage of this man. It was almost as if he had it in for preachers.
Most interesting is a connection between Father Tim and Buck Leeper. In a conversation it is discovered that both men had Baptist preacher’s for granddaddys, both men had trouble getting along with their fathers, and both men grew up in Mississippi, only 40 miles apart from one another.
Their commonality did not decrease the tension. It climaxed one evening as Father Tim made his way to Buck’s trailer to make an apology. Father Tim’s negligence had inadvertently cause an accident on the building site.
Buck Leeper comes to the door drunk. As a conversation ensues Buck explodes into a violent storm of weeping, cursing and throwing furniture. It ends when Buck runs out of energy and falls asleep on the couch.
Everything seems to take a different turn after that violent evening. By the fourth book Buck has changed significantly, even forming positive relationships with some of the Mitford people. However, he has not been able to deal with his problem with alcohol. Father Tim confronts him. Buck Leeper takes off.
I can’t expose the resolution until I expose another thread that runs through the fourth book. It is the basis for this sermon. Often throughout the fourth book, at critical times, Father Tim and his new wife Cynthia talk about the need to pray and in particular to pray what they refer to as the “prayer that never fails.” Not once do they reveal what that prayer might be until nearly the end when Buck shows up on Father Tim’s doorstep following his run from the subject of alcoholism.
“[Buck] was shaking ... and closed his eyes. Father Tim could see a muscle flexing in his jaw.
“God a’mighty,” said Buck.
“Father Tim look at him, praying. The man who had controlled some of the biggest construction jobs in the Southeast and some of the most powerful machinery in the business couldn’t, at this moment, control the shaking.
“I pulled into an Arby’s parkin’ lot and sat in the car and tried to pray. The only thing that came was somethin’ I’d heard all those years in my grandaddy’s church.” Buck looked into the fire. “I said, Thy will be done.”
“That’s the prayer that never fails.” (pp. 336-337, Out to Canaan by Jan Karon)
Buck went on to ask Jesus into his life by praying the Sinner’s Prayer we talked about last week. What I want for us to hear today however is the revelation of the prayer that never fails, “Thy will be done.”
Several years ago I stopped using the phrase “thy will be done” in my prayers. Someone who I respected told me prayers ending with that phrase showed a lack of faith. They believed that in order to get one’s prayers answered one had to be totally resolute in the request. To say, “God, you know what’s best -- You make the final decision” showed uncertainty and God would not answer that kind of prayer. So I stopped praying that way.
However, I never felt comfortable with it. I kept thinking about a certain person who used that phrase in his prayer, a person who held quite a bit of authority in my faith. On a dark, lonely night this person was kneeling in a small garden. The future looked foreboding. In an agonizing prayer he prayed, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” Then he must have paused before breathing out the words, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Thy will be done.
Jesus was only hours away from the crucifixion. Kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane he knew he had to make one final choice of whether or not to follow the path along which he had been sent to travel. He chose his God’s way. Jesus was practicing what he had preached. Earlier in his ministry when asked by his disciples how to pray, he taught them a prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it its in heaven.”
It was not an easy thing for Jesus to pray and it’s consequences were even more difficult. This prayer spoken on Thursday evening caused Jesus to experience the events on Friday - questioned, ridiculed, persecuted and finally put to death on the cross. As Jesus walked through and lived through each of those horrible moments of that day I’m sure again and again he prayed, “Thy will be done, God — thy will be done.”
Can you imagine what might have happened if those four words had not been a part of Jesus’ prayer? — no crucifixion, no forgiveness of sins; no resurrection, no new life.
Jesus’ prayer, “Thy will be done” was not a prayer of uncertainty or faithlessness. He may have been uncertain of his own willingness to go through with it. He prayed, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” But he was certain of God. Jesus had extreme faith in God. He knew God knew what was necessary and what was best.
When we pray we are not asked to have faith in our own prayers. As well-intentioned as we might be we may be wrong or at least we might not be praying for what is best. We are asked to have faith in the one to whom we are praying. No better way is possible than to pray from the depth of our heart, “Lord, let your will be done.”
Jesus’ prayer was not a prayer of fatalistic resignation. He was not whining “Okay, God, I give up - you win” or “There’s no other way out, I have to submit.” Rather, Jesus’ prayer expressed this attitude — “Thank you God that I can surrender my will to you along with my dreams and hopes. Thank you that I can renounce them without it hurting to do so. Thank you that I can joyfully put myself in your hands.”
Resignation may have been a part of Jesus’ prayer but it was joyful and willful resignation. Jesus would not go kicking and screaming all the way to the cross. He would be strong and resolute to carry out God’s will.
It has been several years now that I started using the phrase in my prayers again. If Jesus used it and taught it then I must use it. Now the problem is getting it to be more than just a phrase. It doesn’t do enough just to say it. I must mean it. It must be a part of my attitude and will.
Sometimes you and I will come to a point where we will clearly see that what we want and what God wants are on opposite sides. We must pray, “Thy will be done.”
Sometimes we will not know how to pray — the situations we must face are so confusing, so hard to straighten out. We must pray, “Thy will be done.”
Sometimes we will not understand what is going on. It will seem as if God isn’t listening. We must pray, “Thy will be done.”
Sometimes we will be sure we are praying for the right thing. We must still pray, “Thy will be done.”
This will not always be easy especially if we seek to make this prayer more than just words. Jesus was in so much turmoil in the Garden he sweat drops of blood. We may experience times when the consequences of that prayer will prove to be difficult, at least as the world views it. We will experience times when it will be hard to understand why God is allowing what God is allowing or why God is doing what God is doing.
But we are called to do it. It is a prayer of faith -- not a prayer of uncertainty. God’s way is best. It is only God’s way that can bring into our lives a peace that passes all understanding.
Again I ask, can you imagine what might have happened if those four words, “Thy will be done” had not been a part of Jesus’ prayer?
Can you imagine what a difference it might make in our community, in our world, our family, in our own life if we will change our “My will be done” to “Thy will be done.” Today is the day to make that prayer and attitude a part of our lives as we are reminded of such perfect example — Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Greek writer, Nikos Kazantzakis, told the story of an old monk who lived on one of the islands off of Greece. One day a young man who was rock-climbing on the island came across the monk and began conversing with him.
As the young man felt better acquainted, he asked the monk if he still wrestled with the devil. “Oh no,” the devout old fellow said, “Not anymore. I have grown old and the devil has grown old with me. He no longer has my strength. Now I wrestle with God.” “With God?” the young man queried, “you wrestle with God? Well, let me ask: Do you hope to win?”
The answer the monk gave is worthy of remembering. “Win?” He asked, “Do I hope to win? Heavens no, I hope to lose!”