"Teach Us"
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
July 27, 2025 8:30 am
In Today’s Service
Patriarchs, apostles, and ordinary people converse with God through prayer. Abraham pleads for the preservation of the righteous few, even in the midst of outrageous sin. The Lord tempers His anger, assuring Abraham of grace. The church’s liturgy is also a conversation between God and His people, shaped by confession of guilt and the outpouring of divine forgiveness! The Lord’s Prayer is the axis where confession of faith, sin, and pleading for sustenance converge. As the Lord instructs, we are privileged to pray.
Meditation
As many of us grew up we saw people doing things that we wanted to learn how to do ourselves. We wanted to learn how to fish like that person who always caught the biggest fish, how to fix something that squeaked, leaked, or creaked, or maybe we just wanted to learn how something works. In those moments we looked for someone to teach us how to do these things. And when we found them they usually started by showing us themselves how it is done. They then watched as we tried it on our own for the first time, helping us along the way. Finally they let us do it all on our own with us secure in the knowledge that if we needed help, they would be close by. For generations this has been how knowledge has been passed down whether at home or at work.
Today the disciples were with Jesus as He prayed. They were incredibly curious about how He prayed and after He had finished they asked Him to teach them how to pray, just as John the Baptist had for his disciples. In response, Jesus showed them how to pray using words we repeat still to this day. It is a beautiful prayer that does so much to encapsulate not only who God is, but how we can connect with Him.
If you are reading this today, chances are you find yourself on the other side of this mentoring relationship, not so much being shown, but now being the one who shows others. This relationship is called many things, mentoring, coaching, etc. But especially when it comes to faith there is another, more accurate word to describe it, discipling. Just as Jesus invested in these men who He had called to Himself, God calls us to disciple those He has brought to our side. It starts with them seeing what we do, how we live out the faith. It continues with us seeing their curiosity and inviting them to see things closer, and in so doing get closer to Jesus. It ends with them taking this knowledge to then disciple others, growing themselves as they disciple.
We look today at the willingness of Jesus to teach, the beauty of the words which we repeat even today, and our constant call to share with others what we have first received ourselves.