Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

The life of a disciple, a follower of Jesus - a life of going out to tell the good news of Christ…a life of loving our neighbor as ourselves…a life of loving God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength - these have been God's word for us over the past weeks of this summer – and last week we met an example of following Christ, in the person of Mary Magdalene. But the direction of a life of discipleship has been the theme.

Spiritual direction, if you want to call it that, about how to live and how to behave and how our lives are to be directed in this world which tries to turn us and direct us away from God at every opportunity. It's a struggle every day to stay directed towards God in this world because the forces of this world are always after us, trying to convince us that if we just turn away from following Christ and turn towards pursuing the things of this world, our lives will be better. We'll have the good life, the world says, if only we would run after what the world says are the important things. Money, youth, power, beauty, status - the world says - these are the things you really need - but following Christ won't bring you any of them. So, the world tells us to turn away from following Christ and take a different path - the path that may give you those things, but that also leads to death in the end.

And so for us it is a struggle in this world to stay on the path that Christ has chosen - the path of love and faithfulness to God and our neighbor. And in our struggles, in our conflicts with what God has called us to and what the world calls us toward. How do we stay on that path? How do we remain followers of Christ? How do we stay connected with the one whom we are following? How are we assured that God will provide for us what we really need, as opposed to what the world says we should want?

We hear in the word of God today that the answer to those questions is: Prayer. Prayer is how we stay connected and in conversation and in relationship with the one whom we are following - we see that in how Abraham prays to God - he talks to God, is persistent with God, engages in back and forth conversation with God. Prayer is also how we stay grounded in who we are and whose we are, how we are reminded of what God has done and has promised to do, how we are brought back to what is really important in life, what we need in life, and who will provide it for us. We see that in Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray, and why to pray, and what to pray for. Prayer is the connection with our leader, the one whom we are following - and it is in prayer that we ask for - and receive the direction we need.

Let's first hear Abraham praying to God - about the possible destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Some pretty awful things have been happening in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the God's sense of righteousness, his sense of what's right and wrong are outraged - he is appalled at the behavior of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, and plans to bring judgment upon them for the wickedness of their ways. Abraham, a man who believes in the Lord, who has faith in God, and who has followed God for many years, turns to God in prayer on behalf of the righteous people, the good people, of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham enters into open and frank conversation with God in prayer, reminding God that justice and mercy must go hand in hand, and that the same judgment should not fall on the righteous as on the unrighteous. God and Abraham engage in conversation about what is right - and, if you notice, Abraham is not praying to God for himself, for his own wants and needs and complaints, Abraham is praying on behalf of other people - people he doesn’t know, but people who need his prayers. Abraham prays to God that others might be saved.

Now, as it turns out, even though Abraham and God agreed that, even if only a few righteous people remained in Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities would be spared, on that day there were no righteous people there, only one family of visitors, and so the cities were destroyed as a judgment upon its sin, with the visitors escaping. But, God had listened and taken seriously Abraham's prayer to spare those who were not guilty.

Prayer is always heard by God - always. Just as God heard and responded to Abraham's prayer, so God hears our prayers. But how are we to pray, what is it right to pray for? How do we keep in touch with God the Father through Christ?

Think for a moment about how you keep in touch with the people that you are in relationship with -with your brothers and sisters, parents and friends, aunts and uncles. We keep in touch with those people who are important to us by talking to them, don't we? And it doesn’t' always have to be earthshaking, important talk. It can be talk about the small things of life, the details that give life its meaning and texture. My best friend and I keep in touch in several ways - by e-mail occasionally, especially if something comes up at a time when it's not convenient to call - and by letter or card occasionally, but usually those are for birthdays and thank yous and special situations. The most important way that she and I communicate is by talking - either on the phone or in person. We share news and plans, but we also share the little stuff - how the garden is growing, whether we need rain, what the boyfriends are up to, whether we've been to any good antique places lately. We share each other's concerns and fears and hopes, yes, but by far what we share is each other's lives - eventful or not. And because we are friends, our ears are always open to each other, especially when there's a need.

The way friends keep in touch with each other is just a shadow of what God wants our prayer life through Christ to be. In the gospel for this morning, when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus responds by both giving them the perfect prayer, the Lord's prayer in St. Luke's version, and by talking about talking - about how we relate to our friends and neighbors when they are in need and they knock on our door. About how we relate to our children when they ask for something. Jesus tells us that we are to be in conversation with God about our lives and our needs and hopes and concerns as friends and family are in conversation about their lives and needs and hopes and concerns. And Jesus makes it clear that, just as a friend listens to a friend when a knock comes on the door at midnight, and just as a parent listens to a child when it asks for food, so God listens to us, and provides for us - not necessarily the things that we ask for, but what we need, most especially the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, "If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" God give us the Holy Spirit when we pray, the Holy Spirit, who is our comforter and our guide - who shows us the path that we are to follow and provides the energy and faith to follow that path in the footsteps of Christ.

In the midst of a world that shows us other paths to follow, and tries to tempt us away from the one we are following, it is after all through prayer that we continue to be guided by the Spirit on the path that is the right one. In prayer, our concerns for ourselves and for others are heard by God, and God provides for us - not with the things the world thinks are important, - with money or power or beauty or youth or success - but God provides for us with his never-failing love, his mercy and, most of all, with the Holy Spirit, to comfort, guide and nourish us so that we can continue in the path of Christ.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

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