HABITS OF THE HEART
John 17:20–26  Acts 16:16–34
Preached by the Reverend Kathy Peters
May 16, 2010
Worship Resources for May 9 • 2010
Confessions of sermon preparation
Wednesday of each week Carolyn (now Jody) is looking for bulletin information including what I am going to preach on the following Sunday ….sometimes I work ahead , have looked at the scriptures laid out for the week and decide on what scriptures I will focus on, choose a theme etc.  Sometimes it is just the week before and sometimes ….like for this week …I quickly look at the material from a worship resource I use…..look for some key phrases and merrily send off a theme to be printed in the bulletin. Then on Monday noon I sit with the Bible study folk and we begin to look at the scriptures and together see what they say for our lives. This time together is the beginning of my study and sermon prep. I then read other commentaries and think about the text during the week and I get up early Sunday morning to put it all together.  I have tried to break this habit of sermon writing but it seems to be what works for me. Often I will look at the title and theme I have chosen and wonder what was I thinking but most times I can make it work………this week however it was clear on Monday morning that this set of scriptures held no clear or even easy direction.  Paul was annoyed with the slave girl so he cured her and then what happens? They all go to prison and while they are singing and praying an earthquake comes and they are freed but not really because they hang around and the jailer is so moved that he gets baptizes. The authorities realize that they have imprisoned Roman citizens and say oops, sorry, our bad and let them go……what does any of this have to do with “holy practices” and habits of the heart…what was that worship resource thinking……
Well what they were thinking and what we are going to focus on this morning is one phrase:
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”  (Acts 16: 25)  The rest we will leave for another sermon….when these texts come around again in three years and perhaps then I will read them a bit more carefully or better still stop the habit of pre-printing a theme!   Will you pray with me?

What habits are a part of your every day? Cup of coffee before anything else? Reading the newspaper each morning?  Comics first?  Going on line to check your e-mail or face book postings before you even get dressed? Do you floss every day?  Are you a morning shower person or an evening shower person?  What other habits do you have …that you can share in public?  Now this time I will not call for a show of hands but we all also have bad habits…..perhaps some would say that waiting until Sunday morning to actually write my sermon is a bad habit……but some of us bite our nails or are always late or perhaps we overeat or smoke or even eat too many cookies at coffee hour…whatever our vice might be, we all have habits that are not helpful or healthy or do not contribute to our overall wellbeing.
So what habits of the heart do you engage in each day? What holy practices are a part of your daily routine? And if you have none how helpful is that to your overall well being?
I know some of you have a regular prayer time and even daily prayer guides that you use to get you started.
Some get out and walk or ride their bike and give thanks to God as they move along.
Others listen to music or sit quietly. I even have one friend who says she does her best praying while she is doing household chores like vacuuming or doing dishes.
What rituals or prayer do you engage in on a regular basis that anchors you in holy relationship with God?

Frederick Buechner says that “The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.  (in his book " Wishful Thinking)

I have been talking over the past several weeks about where we as individuals and as a community might engage in ministry in our place and time, where we might seek to alleviate the “world’s deep hunger.”  Habits of the heart I think help us to discern where our “deep gladness” might be. Perhaps this is the sermon we needed first!

From the gospel of John we heard this morning that Jesus is praying to God that the disciples might know the same deep relationship with God that Jesus has….”I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)  Over and over again we hear that Jesus went off to pray, that he offered prayers to the disciples and the crowd, and that when he was facing his final hours he went to the garden and I imagine screamed a prayer……..let this cup be taken from me but if not …be with me dear God.  Who among us has not uttered such a prayer?
Paul and Silas had been stripped and beaten and thrown into the darkest most desolate part of the prison and “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”  (Acts 16: 25)
 In the most difficult darkest times we too often pray to God but how much richer and deeper and yes comforting and sustaining might those prayers be if we were already in the habit of communicating with God, if we already were working on having a relationship with God.  And while some of our habits are personal and one on one communications, other habits can be a communal effort.
Prayer and song serve as the foundation for Paul and Silas’s response to imprisonment. Their actions support one another and give witness to those who listen. They obviously have done this before.   For us praying together affirms that our unity comes from the common experience of God’s love even as we are a witness to those who might be listening to us.  We are friends like Paul and Silas supporting one another in prayer.
I found a beautiful quote that reads:   “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” (from Homiletics on line May 16, 2010 author unknown) Sometimes we pray for one another when our friends just can’t pray. Sometimes we pray because that is the only thing we can do. Prayer in one on one relationship with God, prayers together as friends, as a community of faith seeking to be in relationship with one another and God.
So I ask again what rituals or prayer do you engage in on a regular basis that anchors you in holy relationship with God? And if you do not have any regular habits of the heart…what are you waiting for?
Now there are books and I am sure on-line resources to get you going. I got in the habit of writing a weekly reflection paper for my class at Mercy Center and beginning next week, I hope to offer such a weekly reflection to you via e-mail and paper copy that might spark some of your own prayerful consideration.
Barbara Brown Taylor’s book offers some habit suggestions but I might caution you that any resource must be tailored to what is meaningful for you……..the chapter I am reading now in Taylors’ book suggests that you pray in front of a mirror……. in your birthday suit…she has her reasons…loving yourself just as God made you ….but I don’t see that habit working for me and no we will not be practicing that habit in our noon Bible study!
Your habits need to be your habits. There is no right or wrong way to pray.  There is no more or less “holy” way of taking time for you and God. And if all you can manage to begin with is to make a habit of being in worship each week so that we might pray and sing together….so be it. Take some time to connect with this God who loves you so that you might discern your own “deep gladness” and be moved to alleviate the “world’s deep hunger”!
In looking for the exact words of Frederick Buechner’s  about God’s call to us I found another Buechner quote which will be the final word this morning:
"Grace is something you can never get but only be given. The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you. I created the universe. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.” (in his book Wishful Thinking)
Reach out my friends, take the gift and cultivate some habits of the heart!  Amen