“Lord, thou knowest…” is one of the most often-uttered phrases heard in prayers through the ages. It’s true, of course, that people who pray believe that God knows everything. Still there is an almost compulsive human need to remind God what God already knows. What causes us to do this? Maybe we don’t trust God’s memory and we feel the need to remind God what the all-knowing One may have forgotten. Makes you chuckle doesn’t it? Do you suppose we distrust God’s memory because we have an image of God as a dottering and very, very old deity with long white hair and whiskers?

     Preachers are among those who tell God what God knows most often in prayers. That’s because we parsons sieze upon almost every moment as an opportunity to preach. So, under the pretense of praying, we exhort the congregation rather than God. It gets slightly annoying, doesn’t it? On the other hand, what if instead of praying, we simply shrugged and said, “God knows,” when confronting a challenge? Would that be better? At the very least, when we tell the Divine what we believe God already knows, it demonstrates that we are aware of what is in our hearts and on our minds. Jesus seemed not to be bothered by these issues. He was, himself a prayer and tutor about how to do it. in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 11 is recounted the incident when he was praying. When he finished, his disciples asked him to teach them how to do that. Apparently prayer was not common in those days, because they mention that John the Baptist taught his followers how to pray. This is the only thing reported in the Bible that his disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to do.

     So he gave them the model prayer we know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” It starts out as a word of praise and an invitation to the rule of God. Then, Jesus says, they should get very practical and ask for their immediate needs to be met. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Note that he says “us” and “our.” This prayer is not merely a personal, individual request. It is a prayer in behalf of the community. The same is true of the request, “Forgive us our sins (debts, trespasses).” We routinely think of sin as something done by individuals. Groups of people are also prone to disobedience.

     Then he inserts a comment that, like many words in the Bible, is subject to interpretation. He says, “Forgive us as we also forgive others.” Does this mean “since we forgive others”? Or does it mean “in the same measure that we forgive others”? In any case, forgiveness looms large in the practice of Jesus’ prayer. Finally, he says, “Lead us not into temptation.” That seems an odd request. Maybe Jesus is prompted to include it because of his experience recounted in Luke, chapter 4, in which he was “led by the Spirit” into the desert and was tempted by the Devil.

     As he draws toward the end of his lesson on praying, he offers a peculiar lesson. He asks them to imagine that they have a friend who wakes up another friend to borrow some bread to feed an unexpected guest. From inside the house that request is met with the reply, “Don’t bother me. I’m in bed already.” Yet, says Jesus, even though he won’t get up because of friendship, he does get up and gives as much as is needed. He gives because of the man’s persistence. Then Jesus closes his lesson by insisting that his disciples ask for what they need, seek what they want, knock at the door. Persist! One looking for a more high-sounding, theological treatise on communicating with God may be disappointed in this. It turns out that Jesus’ final word on the subject is a theology of pestering and nagging until you receive what God’s love provides.

     Lent is a time for Christians to accept, among other things, the urging of Jesus to get on their knees and nag at the God who invites it! Strange, isn’t it?

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