How do we talk to God?

World Day of Prayer will be observed this year at the Luverne United Methodist Church on Friday, March 6, starting at 1:30 p.m. The event is ecumenical in nature and all people are invited and encouraged to attend.
So, consider Jesus' parables about prayer in Luke 18. These two parables are sometimes examined separately but are intended to go together. They both deal with questions of "How do we talk to God?"
These parables offer some help by looking at a couple of challenges. One is losing heart … giving up … lowering both hopes for and commitments to God.
The other parable speaks of the danger of putting too much trust in ourselves, of becoming arrogant, or of resting on one’s laurels when we should be proceeding further in the life of faith. There are two dangers here, very different, but both to be avoided.
The first parable is about a woman who asked a judge to hear her case. But the judge ignored her and figured she would go away. Perhaps you’ve had this kind of experience where you just couldn't get another person to listen and respond. In the parable, the woman is persistent; she keeps trying. Finally the judge gives in and hears her case.
Jesus makes clear that God is much different than this judge. Jesus says that if a stubborn judge will finally act in mercy, don’t you know that God, who is overflowing with mercy and is the giver of abundant grace will listen to you. So, have faith in God. And keep praying! Jesus told this parable, Luke says, so that we might pray constantly and not lose heart. The message before us is that God, the good judge, desires our earnest and consistent prayer; our ongoing approach to God.
The widow’s approach was to be persistent, passionate, and patient. Those are three good words for us about how to talk to God: be persistent, passionate, and patient.
And Jesus also wants to make sure that we don’t get too full of ourselves. That’s the other, opposite danger addressed in the second parable. It’s about making sure our faith is in God rather than self!
Two men go up to the temple to pray. One listed his many virtues. He also gave thanks, but not the kind of thanks we really want to give to God. He didn’t give thanks for blessings received; he thanked God that he wasn’t like other no-good, rotten people that he knew about. He thought he was so good he could hardly stand it.
The second man came to pray seeking God's help. He offers a one-sentence prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus says that this second man is the one who went home justified, not on his own power, but because of God’s powerful grace.
The second man knew how to talk to God: He came seeking God not reciting self-congratulation.
These are two great parables from Jesus’ teaching. I hope we will be people who pray always and do not lose heart, and I hope we be people who find ourselves justified by God’s great grace.
 (Reprinted from the March 1, 2018, edition of the Star Herald with permission from Pastor Cunningham.)