There is a story of a little fellow who had been sent to his room because he had been bad. A short time later he came out and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer."

"That's fine," she said, "if you ask God to make you good, He will help you."

"Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."

Today's passage in James is about prayer. James tells his listeners to take care of one another through prayer. He tells us how to be in community, in relationship with one another. If someone is suffering, they should pray. If someone is sick the elders should pray for him or her. Through prayer sins will be forgiven, the sick will be saved, and the broken will be healed.

Our church really tries to live this out. We have our prayer list and weekly, you bring names of people to be prayed for. You bring your prayer concerns.

The Roman Catholic Church is known for its sacrament for the sick and dying. The United Church has recently been trying to reclaim this important tradition of anointing the sick. Here at St. Paul United we have had two healing services just in the past 3 months. And if you know of anyone who would benefit from a Healing Service, or if you think you would benefit from a Healing Service, please just let me know.

Healing is an interesting thing. There is a distinction between healing and a cure. A cure eliminates the symptoms. The pain is gone, the infection is gone, the broken bone mends. But it is only temporary, because at some point, the pain will return. Eventually we will all dying of some physical illness. That is simply a part of our human condition.

But healing is much deeper. Healing may be physical, but often it is mental and spiritual. Salvation and forgiveness and healing are tied together, and even in the midst of pain and suffering, God's presence is there as a healing balm. God is concerned with our physical health, and prayer makes a difference. We know that and we have experienced that. But healing, for the Christian is holistic--body, mind, and spirit. And while eventually these bodies will give out, our spirits will not.

This past week The Rev. Dr. Mark Miller was in St. Paul speaking about the spiritual and ethical issues in palliative care. One thing that he said that had a lot of people nodding their heads in agreement was the mysterious way in which people die.

Father Miller said that people are more connected to their living and dying than we realize. Death presents a great opportunity to growth. Good palliative care offers an opportunity for people to really, truly, live while they are dying.

Sometimes coma patients may not let go until a family issue is resolved. And often, family members have to tell the dying patient that it's okay to die.

Many people who have been around death often experience mystical, spiritual moments when the person dies. When I first came to St. Paul / Ashmont I was called to the hospital because a woman was dying. Her family had gathered around her and everyone was waiting for me when I arrived. I talked with the family about their mother and their emotions and then I suggested a prayer. I prayed for the kind of healing that would bring peace, I prayed for the end of suffering and I prayed for God's presence to be made known. And then, after I finished the prayer, the woman died. It was amazing. It was like she had been waiting to be prayed home.

Many people have stories like that.

Pray for one another, James writes. "The prayer of faith will save the sick, ad the Lord will raise them up and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven."

I think it's a beautiful thing that we do for one another here at St. Paul/Ashmont. Suffering becomes public so that we can take care of one another - so that we can pray for one another.

"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective," says James. But what about those times when the prayers of the faithful don't seem to be powerful and don't seem to be effective?

When we have prayed sincerely and fervently, and don't seem to get results, maybe we are looking in the wrong place. The first purpose of prayer is not to get what we want. Prayer is not like a Christmas list for Santa Claus.

William R. Inge (in his book The Rustic Moralist) says, "If we think that we should like to control events by our prayers, let us consider how we should like the idea of our neighbor being able to control us with his prayers. I once had a letter from a good lady, who said, 'I am praying for your death. I have been very successful in two other cases.'

Prayer is not telling God what to do, or twisting God's arm so that God will act in a particular way.

Peter Baelz in his book Prayer and Providence said that prayer stems from an attitude of dependence on God, and that essentially, prayer is "the conscious surrender of ourselves to God, whatever may happen " Or as some have put it - Let Go and Let God.

The first purpose of prayer is to cultivate our relationship with God. When we pray for healing for ourselves or for others, that healing may come as a cure--the cancer goes into remission, or the illness goes away. But it may come in the form of an ability to trust in a loving God as we accept the limitations of our physical bodies. It may come in the ability to truly live while we are dying. And it may come through God's loving arms, made tangible through the arms of others. Our prayer may be answered through the love and compassion of friends and family, through sisters and brothers in Christ.

Martin Luther said that the fewer the words, the better the prayer.

Loving, eternal God, you who knows and loves us completely, we ask you now to help calm us into a quietness that stills our soul and warms our hearts, as we become aware of our breathing.

Calm us so that we are open to you, so that we are open to others. Help us to breathe deep.

We breath, we all breath the same air, we are all connected and yet we are each different - with our own special gifts to give.

We breathe, we all breathe the same air. We breathe, We breathe each other's pain and sadness. We pray for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. We breathe, we breathe each other's pain. We pray for those who are sick in hospital, especially for... We breath; we breath each others pain and struggles.

We pray for those who are struggling financially, spiritually or emotionally. We breathe. We lift up our concerns to you oh God, in this silence we bring to you our own personal concerns.

We breathe. We all breathe the same air. We breathe each others strength and beauty. We breathe the strength and beauty that you give to the world, O God. We praise you for your gifts. We praise you for the gift of your son Jesus the Christ, who liberates of guilt and fills us with the breath of life, fills us with hope, purpose, joy and love. And now uniting with all Christians everywhere we pray, Our Father...

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