Urban Vineyard

Jesus taught us to pray that God would bring his kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven." We might be tempted to think it is up to us, and our busy missionary activity, to bring the kingdom of God to earth but this would be a reversal of what Jesus taught. In this fifth sermon in our series on the Lord's Prayer, Makerita introduces us to the heart of contemplative prayer as a continual returning to God to seek his face, his mind, and his heart. The Apostle Paul described this same dynamic to the Corinthians when he wrote "We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory." In this sense, contemplative prayer is at the heart of mission, first we behold, then we see transformation. Makerita also introduces us to some helpful prayer practices and in doing so takes the whole contemplative prayer tradition off the 'top shelf' so that we can all access what is in reality a simple and life-changing approach to prayer.

In this sermon, James highlights the way prayer is about learning to hear what God wants and to add our agreement to it. This does not mean we can't ask God for the things we are seeking but rather, that a clearer perspective on who God is reframes our desires and reorders our asking.

In this third sermon in our series on prayer as opening to God, Jonathan explores the nature of prayer as relinquishment. Reflecting on the life of Jacob, and St Ignatius of Loyola, he draws connections between their lives as stories of being brought low, forced to relinquish, and discovering the blessing of God in the darkness. This is expressed perfectly in Jesus' prayer of relinquishment in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not my will, but yours be done.

The basis of prayer is a response to what God has already done. His is the first word and ours is the second. Prayer is the aftermath of the event of God. It naturally follows, therefore, that the first words from us is an acknowledgement of who he is. In this talk, John begins our journey through the Lord's Prayer by reflecting on the call to "hallow" His name.

In this first sermon in our new series, Jonathan introduces the idea of prayer as 'opening' to the God who is already speaking. Following David Benner and Eugene Peterson, he looks at the promise of prayer as a means for us to unite our lives to God, not as a means of religious achievement, but as a way of becoming human.