Sermon (July 27) “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Rev. Robert McDowell

July 27, 2025

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     When I saw the appointed Gospel reading for this Sunday, I was reminded of a retired pastor who filled in for me on occasion in one of my previous churches.

     On the first Sunday that he covered for me, he told me that he was going to preach on “The Lord’s Prayer.” I told him, “That’s a great scripture for preaching.”

     Several months later, this retired pastor filled in for me again. I discovered that he had preached about “The Lord’s Prayer” yet again. I was curious why he decided to preach on this same text a second time.

     He said, “Well, the first time, I focused on ‘Our Father,’ and for this second sermon, I moved on to the phrase, ‘Who art in heaven.’”

     He said, “When you go away again, I’m going to preach on the phrase, ‘Hallowed be thy name.’”

     Long story short. Over my six years at that church, he only made it to the “Give us this day our daily bread,” part.

     I’m just glad that his first sermon wasn’t entitled, “Our.”

     No, I’m not going to spend the next ten weeks preaching on “The Lord’s Prayer,” although I’m sure I could pull that off since this is an incredible, incredible prayer that Jesus has given us.

     I’m going to attempt to cover this awesome prayer with just one sermon.

     My retired pastor friend did give me a great idea, though. Let’s look at each section of this prayer so that it can become even more meaningful for us.

     Let me begin by saying that our familiarity with “The Lord’s Prayer” can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing. It can be a good thing because many of us know it by heart, and it’s wonderful that many of us can pull this prayer out of our hip pocket in a pinch. There’s nothing wrong with that.

     The bad thing about it being familiar to us is that we can easily forget its meaning, and we can easily say it without even thinking about what we’re praying.

     Maybe you’ve heard of the two Christians who were trying to outdo each other. The conversation came around to prayer. One said, “I’ll bet $20 you can’t even say ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’”

     The other replied, “You’re on.” And so he began… “Now I lay me down to sleep…”

     The first man interrupted him and said, “Ok, ok. Here’s your money. I didn’t think you could do it.”

     So, what really is “The Lord’s Prayer” and how can it help us to have a stronger prayer life?

     Jesus taught us what we now know as “The Lord’s Prayer” when the disciples came to him and asked him point blank, “Lord, teach us to pray…”

     In Jesus’ day, there were many, many different ways to pray, just as there are today. It was common for a rabbi to give his disciples a model prayer to use which is probably the motivation for the disciples asking their question about prayer in the first place.

     When people want to know how to pray, I think they’re really wanting to know how to have a relationship with God. That’s a very basic question, isn’t it? How can I have a relationship with God?

     In 1993, William Hendricks wrote a book entitled, Exit Interviews: Revealing Stories of Why People Leave Church.  Hendricks found that two-thirds of people who attended church said they didn’t experience God in their worship on a regular basis. Two-thirds!

     They said that the preaching was poor and that worship was boring. Hendricks said that if the church was a restaurant, it would be like hungry people coming to eat food and the restaurant not being able to feed them!

     People who gave the church a try, left because they weren’t getting fed. Maybe this is why Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

     Fifteen years after William Hendricks’ eye opening book on why people were leaving the church, Julia Duin did the same kind of research. Guess what? She found exactly what Hendricks’ had found fifteen years earlier in his research.

     In her 2008 book, Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do About It, worshippers told Duin that they weren’t getting decent preaching, good community, or spiritual food.

     The church had become irrelevant to their lives, so they were investing elsewhere. Church goers were asking the same question that the disciples were asking Jesus, “Teach us to pray. Help us to know God.”

        So, the pressure is on today, isn’t it? I can’t afford to preach a bad sermon, or we may miss out on connecting with God in a deeper way. Actually, the pressure was on Jesus to come up with a prayer to share with his disciples that would be able to get at the heart of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.

      Let’s briefly look at each phrase of this prayer, and then we’ll give some thought on how it can help us connect with God in a deeper way.

     “The Lord’s Prayer” begins by addressing God as “Our Father.” Two things to mention hear. Notice that the prayer begins with the pronoun, “Our” and not the pronoun, “My.”

     At the heart of being a Christian and a being a growing follower of Jesus is this understanding that we are not alone as we live out our faith. We are part of a community of people who need each other in living out our faith.

     John Wesley, the founder of what we know today as the United Methodist Church knew this very well. It’s why he spent his whole life encouraging people to be in a small group of no more than a dozen or so people. He called them, “Methodist class meetings.”

     Wesley knew that it’s when we share our faith and pray with each on a regular basis that we are able to grow in our faith. We need each other.

     The word, “Our” in “The Lord’s Prayer” is a subtle, but powerful way of reminding us that to do this thing called “Christianity” right, we need each other.

     And notice that of the many, many names there are for God, Jesus chose the word, “Father,” to begin his model prayer for his disciples. In the Aramaic language, the word, “Father” is translated as the more loving and intimate word, “Daddy.”

     I don’t know about you, but I am so glad that “The Lord’s Prayer” doesn’t refer to God as “our distant and vague deity.” No, it refers to God as “Our Father.”

     The biblical view of God is not that God is some abstract source who is far away from us. Many people have this view of God. The biblical view is that God is much more like a loving parent who wants to have a loving and caring relationship with us.

     Even the first two words, “Our Father” of “The Lord’s Prayer” remind us that God is a loving God who cares about us.

     The next part of “The Lord’s Prayer” that I want us to think about is the phrase, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

     This one phrase summarizes the message of the Bible. If someone would stop you on the street and ask you, “Could you summarize the bible for me in one sentence,” it would be wise to share this line from “The Lord’s Prayer” for them.

     “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

     From the Book of Genesis to the last book of the Bible, “The Book of Revelation,” God’s desire is for the joy, peace, love, and justice of heaven to completely fill this earth one day.

     And the way that we seek for this hope to become a reality is by praying this wonderful prayer that reminds us for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

     For many people, inside and outside the church, we have this mistaken notion that the whole point of Christianity is for us to go to heaven someday. Yes, we all want to be with God in heaven when we die, but the bigger story line of the bible is that one day, God will make all things new here on earth.

     God loves this world too much to just give up on it. God’s will is for this world to reflect all of the glory and splendor of heaven. Imagine a world of no homelessness, no crime, no pollution, no terrorism, no hatred, no injustice, no child abuse, no war.

     And you think to yourself, “well, that describes heaven.” Exactly! And that’s why Christians pray “The Lord’s Prayer” because the big deal of the bible is that we are to pray for and work toward a world that is filled with all of the love, peace, and justice of heaven.

     The Lord’s Prayer concludes with a request for God to provide bread for the day.

     Not only does this part of the prayer remind us of how God provided bread for the Israelites when God was leading them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land, it’s also Luke’s way of reminding us of what we now know as, “The Sacrament of Holy Communion,” and how Christ is present with us every time we receive the bread and the cup.

     “The Lord’s Prayer” concludes with a confession of our sins but notice that it comes with a little twist which is always important for us to remember. We ask God to forgive us in the same proportion that we forgive those who have wronged us. Nobody said that “The Lord’s Prayer” is an easy prayer to live out.

     So much more could be said about this incredible prayer that Jesus taught us, but I think some of these thoughts can be helpful to us whenever we say this prayer.

     After Jesus teaches the disciples this prayer, he then encourages them to be persistent in offering their prayers to God. He says, “Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.”

     Prayer really does make a difference. It’s been said that God answers prayers in four ways: 1) No, not yet. 2) No, I love you too much. 3) Yes, I thought you’d never ask! And 4) Yes, and here’s more.

     I like that! Jesus gave us “The Lord’s Prayer” to encourage us to be persistent in our prayers. In one way, shape, or form, God will answer our prayers in one of those four ways. We just need to keep knocking on heaven’s door and be open to how God will answer our prayers.

     A couple of years ago, I met a good friend of mine for breakfast at a local restaurant. He’s also a pastor and used to attend one of the churches that I served when he had a Sunday off from his church. We became good friends over these past several years.

     When we got together for breakfast that day, he asked me what he always asks me when we get together. “What are your prayer needs?”

     On that particular day at the restaurant, I told him about a family member who needed to find medical insurance because he needed his wisdom teeth extracted. He said sure. And so, before we left the restaurant, he said a little prayer, and we prayed for him.

     We said our “goodbyes.” As I walked out of the restaurant to head to my car to come to the church, I got a text message from this same family member that we just prayed about. He was letting me know that he had just found out that his part-time job offers dental insurance and that he was going to sign up for it later that day.

     God answered that prayer in less than ten minutes! I looked up into the sky after I received that text message and whispered to myself, “Wow, that was quick! Thank you, God.”

     In one of my churches, we had an outside prayer cross that included a secured box where you could place prayer needs. Most of those prayer cards came from college students who would often walk by our church and see that prayer cross. Each week, we would take out those prayer cards and one of our prayer groups would lift up those needs in prayer.

     I’ll never forget the time when a college student had placed two prayer requests card in our outdoor prayer cross that same week, different days but the same week. The first card was for our church to pray for a test this student would be taking.

     I want to share what this student wrote on the 2nd card we received later that same week. Here’s what it said:

     “I passed Spanish. Keep it up guys.”

     In a fun kind of way, this college student was telling our church to keep knock’n on heaven’s door because our prayers for him were answered.

     That’s what Jesus is telling us to do. Keep asking because you will receive. Keep seeking because you will find. Keep knocking because the door will be opened.

     Like the college student said, “keep it up guys.”

Sunday (July 27) Pastoral Prayer

July 27, 2025

Beulah UMC. & Oak Grove UMC

Our Father, our loving parent, our caring Creator, thank you that we always have an open line to talk to you in any given moment. During those times when we may be wondering if you will ever pick up on the other end, remind us of Jesus’ words to keep on seeking, keep on asking, and to keep on knocking.

 

And so we come a knockin’ to you today as the (Beulah/Oak Grove) family to lift up to you people on our minds who are in need of healing, guidance, comfort, assurance, and mercy. We pray for those on our prayer list as well as other concerns that we have. We also pray for places around the world, even right here in our own communities where there is so much injustice, brokenness, and pain. And so, we do not only come to you this morning with our specific prayer needs, but also for this entire world that you created and love so much and seek to redeem.

 

For our prayers that you seem to answer before we even have a chance to say, “Amen,” we are grateful. For those prayers where you may say no because you love us too much to grant what we think is best for us, we are grateful. For those prayers in which you say, “yes and it was about time you asked me,” we are grateful. And for those prayers in which you tell us, “Yes, and be ready for even more blessings along the way,” we are so grateful.

 

Remind us to always keep knockin’ even if our knuckles start hurting because you truly are our Father, our loving parent, and our Creator. We pray this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray together…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Sermon (July 20) “Distracted by Many Things” by Rev. Robert McDowell

July 20, 2025

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     There’s so much to do and so little time to do it.  Do you ever feel that way?  Sometimes we feel like we’re running around trying to get so much done, never really stopping to reflect on our priorities and what is most important or should be most important.

     Some years ago, Penny and I bought a treadmill.  I got tired of running outside during the cold of winter.  Treadmills tell us how many miles we have run for the past several minutes, even though we know very well that we haven’t gone forward even one inch.

     In fact, since Penny and I first put the treadmill on a hard surface, I noticed that I had actually been going backward after a run.  Whenever I used the incline button to simulate going up a hill, the gravity of the machine ended up making the treadmill go backward about a half an inch every time I used it.

     The treadmill said I went 3.5 miles when actually I had gone backward an inch! 

     I would imagine that many of us feel that way in life.  We use up so much of our energy only to find that we’ve actually gone backward!  As if I needed to spend hundred of dollars to help me go backward in life!

     I wonder if Martha from our scripture reading in Luke’s Gospel, was on one of those treadmills when Jesus stopped by to see her and her sister, Mary.

     Martha was a doer.  She was task oriented.  She had a legitimate concern when Jesus stopped by her house one day.  To provide hospitality for a guest, which in that time period, was a major social custom and expectation.

     So here’s Martha, doing the best she can to probably prepare a meal of some kind on short notice, maybe clean up some things, and finish up whatever she might have been doing when Jesus first entered her home.

     She didn’t have the luxury of running over to the deli of the local grocery store.  She had to get something ready right there on the spot.  By the way, I remember stopping at the deli of a grocery store.  I was on my way back from some hospital visits, and we didn’t have time to prepare dinner that night, so I stopped by to pick up some deli items.

     I was in kind of a hurry, like Martha was in our Gospel reading for today, and I said a prayer of thanksgiving when I noticed that there was only one person in line at this deli.  “Great!  I’ll be able to get in and out of here in no time.”  I didn’t bother to get a ticket since the person in front of me didn’t have a ticket.

     So I’m standing behind this customer, and while I’m standing there, another customer goes right up to the glass case, to grab a ticket with a number on it.  And I think to myself, “No big deal.  She’ll take her ticket and get behind me.”

     The customer ahead of me finishes, and the person working behind the counter, then calls out a number and this person, knowing full well that I was ahead of her, jumps to the counter and hands the worker her ticket and proceeds to place her order. 

     In that moment, I wasn’t feeling very clergy-like, and so I stormed out of that grocery store vowing to never come back again, which by the way, I have returned on several occasions since then.  But the point was -  I was in a hurry and nobody was helping me.

     Yeah.  I can identify with Martha.  How about you?

     And my guess is that my bible devotions earlier that day probably talked about patience, kindness, and being like Christ.  Oh well.  Failed that test.

     But that’s what happens when we get so caught up with our “to do” list that we forget about what is most important, especially when things feel overwhelming.

     And did you notice that Martha took out her frustration on Jesus himself?  She interrupts Jesus’ time with Mary by saying, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister isn’t helping me?  Tell her to help me!” 

     Martha is so distracted by many things that she doesn’t even realize what she’s saying in that moment. 

     A distinguished business leader offered this piece of advice to a pastor recently:  “The main thing is to keep your eye on the main thing.”  Upon reflection of this much appreciated piece of wisdom, the pastor thought to himself how difficult that is to do in living out your faith.

     But the next thing that came to this pastor’s mind is what has helped me to better understand this scripture about Mary, Martha, and Jesus. 

     Continuing his reflection on keeping the main thing, the main thing, this pastor says, that we as leaders in the church need to maintain and nurture the deep conviction that God really is present in our ministry, doing more than we can think, say, or do.  This is what keeps us from burning out.  It’s what helps us to keep things in perspective.

     As in the case with Martha, sometimes, Jesus can be right in front of us, and we still can miss him.

     One year, while visiting my family in Pennsylvania for a family reunion, we worshipped at my home church.  The pastor greeted the congregation, shook his head back and forth, and announced that it had already been a rough morning.

     He was fighting a bad cold.  The person who was supposed to work the screen didn’t show.  Their drummer had a migraine.  And he said, “But that’s not all.  We can’t seem to find the offering plates.” 

     But then he said, “All of these distractions mean nothing compared to what’s really important today – our worship of Jesus Christ.” 

     Now there’s a pastor who knows how to handle distractions!

     Some time ago, I went to make a pastoral visit at the hospital.  I had to wake up early to make the 40-minute drive and be there in time to have prayer with someone before going in for surgery.

     I arrive at the hospital parking lot thinking that I have just enough time to make it to pre-op where I would be able to meet the family and offer a short passage of scripture and prayer.  As I’m walking toward the main part of the hospital, it dawns on me that I’m in the wrong hospital.  The person I’m supposed to see is in a totally different hospital in another part of the city!

     So I turn around and literally sprinted back to my car, knowing that I now only have an outside chance of making it to the other hospital in time.  It seems like all of the traffic lights are red just for me.  I keep looking at my watch, concerned that I won’t make it in time, as if this extra anxiety will help me get there faster.

     So I finally make it to this other hospital, run into the surgery waiting area, only to find the family sitting there.  I was hoping that they would still be back in the pre-op area.  I was too late.  After apologizing, they were gracious to let me know that they understood, and we at least shared a prayer there in the waiting area.

     After spending some time with the family, I spot another pastor who I know out in the waiting area and I tell him what had happened.  He can see that I’m anxious and upset with myself. 

     And I’ll never forget this.  He grabbed me by my shoulders, looked me straight into my eyes, and said, “You’re not perfect.”  And he said it again, this time with extra emphasis, “You’re not perfect.”  He was trying to cheer me up.  At least that’s what I hope he was trying to do!

     This pastor helped me to let go of my distractions so that I would be able to focus on the main thing.  It’s not about me.  It’s about seeing Jesus in the presence of our ministry, even when things don’t go our way.  Seeing Jesus amidst our rushing around.  Even seeing Jesus at work in the middle of our imperfections.

     I wonder if there is anyone else here today who needs to hear this.  “You’re not perfect.  You’re not perfect.  Join the club! It’s OK! Hey imperfect human being, just fix your eyes on Jesus who is right here for you.”

     Martha saw Jesus but she really didn’t see Jesus.  She was so preoccupied with her tasks that she failed to see the main thing – Jesus’ presence and ministry right there in her own home.

     Have you ever heard someone ask the hypothetical question, “What would you do if you knew that Jesus would be stopping by your house today?”  Would you change your schedule so that you wouldn’t miss him?  Would you run the vacuum cleaner?  Set out a few bibles?

     And yet, by telling this story, Luke is reminding us that Jesus is present with us now.  Did you know that it’s possible to go to church, and leave, never really seeing Jesus, even though he was there the whole time?

     A couple of years ago, I remember attending a funeral for someone who was connected with the church.  I wasn’t officiating for the service but was sitting with the congregation in the funeral home.  During one of the prayers, a cell phone was making one of those vibrating noises when it rings.  Even though it was on the silence mode, everyone around this person could hear it, including me because I was right behind this person.

     I was trying to focus on the prayer, but this cell phone kept buzzing and buzzing.  To make matters worse, this person picked up her purse where the cell phone was located, and in an attempt to muffle the sound, she squeezed her purse tightly which only made it worse.  Now, instead of an annoying vibrating sound, it sounded like a sick cow was in her purse.

     The little boy sitting next to her, who I assume was her son, started laughing.  It was all I could do to not laugh as well.

     Even in church, we need to work hard at keeping the main thing the main thing.  You just never know when even the slightest thing will distract us from seeing Jesus.

     And even beyond the distraction to provide hospitality to Jesus, Martha was allowing another distraction to get in the way of truly seeing Jesus. 

     She couldn’t believe that her sister, Mary, was going against social custom by crossing over the male/female boundaries to listen to Jesus’ words.  Men and women could be together outside, but not inside the same room of a house, and certainly, not next to each other as we see in this scene with Mary so close to Jesus.

     As Jesus does so many times in the Gospel, he dissolves the customary boundaries whether they are invisible or visible boundaries.  And when he does so, like Martha, it’s so easy for us to become distracted and not really see what Jesus is doing

     It’s like Luke is telling us that Jesus’ love is like an overflowing river that goes well beyond our prescribed boundaries.  God’s love can not be contained by our own boundaries and what we think should be boundaries.

     Luke is showing us that the way to not be distracted is to be like Mary and keep our eyes on Jesus at all times.  Jesus is the main thing.  Jesus even says to Martha, “There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

     Several years ago, I went on a weekend spiritual retreat at a Catholic retreat center in northwest Ohio with some other United Methodist pastors.  When we arrived on that Friday afternoon, the host of the retreat center met with us to help us get acquainted with the building and grounds.

     And then she said something very interesting.  With a very mischievous but disarming smile, she said to us, “Now, I know that you are United Methodist pastors and you probably aren’t used to being still or silent for any length of time, so just remember that this is a Catholic retreat center and there are other groups using the facility so please don’t be too rowdy.”

     We all laughed at her comment, but didn’t realize how true her comment about us really was.  The next morning, our group entered the cafeteria for breakfast and as we were heading toward one of the tables to eat, several of us had forgotten this kind lady’s words to us just the day before. 

     How quickly we had forgotten that we weren’t at IHOP or Cracker Barrel. We were in a Catholic retreat center!

     A man was sitting near us with an open bible and obviously involved in his morning devotional time.  And here, we were intruding into his sacred space and interrupting his quiet time.  But you wouldn’t have known it because even with our raised voices, he remained focus on his prayers.

     It was a sobering moment for our group as this man was unknowingly teaching us by his example of what it means to not allow the distractions around us to keep us from focusing on Jesus Christ.

     And when we do get distracted, and we will, we’re human, like Mary, let’s remember to choose the better part and keep our focus on Jesus.