Sunday, September 21, 2025
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
1 Timothy 2:1-7
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.
In church, we make all kinds of assumptions. We assume that people will like us if they just get to know us – not always true. We assume that when we say everyone is welcome, EVERYONE will believe it and find it to be so - also not always true. And we assume that most folks understand what we do in this room and why we do it – definitely not true.
Even if you’ve been here for years, you still may not understand all the things we do in this room and why we do them. Take, for example, prayer. What is it? Why do we do it? And what, in the end, does it accomplish?
Most folks think of prayer as asking God for what you need. And that is what I witnessed growing up. My grandmother, for example, used to pray for parking spaces. She would pull her big convertible Cadillac Eldorado into the mall parking lot and begin to circle, looking for a spot near the door. And all the while she would pray, out loud: “Now Lord,” she would say, as if informing God of something he didn’t already know, “I need a parking spot.” And my grandmother believed, with all her heart, that God loved her enough to care about how far she was going to have to walk to go shopping. …I don’t know what I think of her methods, but let me tell you, those good parking spaces appeared more often than not!
But is that all prayer is? Is it a never-ending shopping list of all those things we think we need or want?
Today’s lesson from the Epistle of First Timothy offers us another way to think about prayer, not so much as a shopping list, but as a generous intention for the common good.
This epistle or letter, written in Paul’s name, was addressed to a young pastor named Timothy and his congregation in the city of Ephesus. And this congregation certainly had its own immediate needs, which I am sure they prayed about. You see, the early Christians all believed that Christ would return to the earth before all the original apostles died. But by the time this letter was written, the apostles were long since dead. And Christ had not returned. And so, they had to learn how to settle in and live in the present. But the present wasn’t pretty. Their church was ripped apart by division and political arguments, and nothing was working out the way they thought it would.
Times were bad. And they no doubt wondered where God was in the mix. And they no doubt prayed about it all and asked God to rescue them.
Now let me hasten to say that there is nothing wrong with that kind of prayer. Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”? But that is not all he told us to say. He also taught us to pray for God’s will to be done on the whole earth, just as it is in heaven. And this is an expansive kind of prayer. It is focused on largely on others. And that makes it a discipline.
The author of First Timothy writes: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
Before anything else, above everything else, pray for everyone.
Well, that’s a lot to bite off in a practice of prayer. After all, there are over 8 billion people in the world. How do we pray for all of them? So, the author offers some practical advice about how to pray for everyone in a way that we can comprehend. He tells us to pray for those who rule over us – the ones we like and the ones we don’t. We are to pray for them precisely because they need it given the weight of their responsibilities. We are to pray for them precisely because they will one day give an account to God for how they ruled. We are to pray for them because it is they who have the power to make people’s lives good or miserable. In praying for them, we pray for those over whom they rule.
And then the author makes this astounding promise. If you practice this kind of prayer; this kind of expansive thinking, the result is a quiet and peaceable life.
Well, that’s a very nice promise. But despite the prayers of the early Christians on behalf of the world, they were still persecuted and divided. And despite all of our prayers for the nation and the world, there are still wars and rumors of wars, political unrest, rampant hatred, shameless scapegoating. People are still judged by the color of their skin. Children still starve. And the Kingdom of God has never seemed so far away. So where is this promised peace and quiet?
Well, let me suggest that we do not often have it because we do not make any room for it. We give lip service to praying for the world, but then spend hours doom-scrolling through one upsetting headline after another, until we are left without hope. We might pray occasionally for our neighbors, but then spend our days dividing those neighbors between those who think like us and everyone else. And if we pray for our leaders, it is that God will really bless the ones we like. We fill our days and nights with bitterness and division. We nurse fear and scoff at hope. And then, somehow, we expect God to give us peace.
The peace and quiet promised here starts as a heart made right. And a heart made right begins in generous, expansive prayer.
So, you might be wondering, that actually sounds good. But where do I start?
Well, first of all, I think we all have to recognize that our hearts and minds have been seriously rewired toward division and hatred. It is insidious and deep. So, we will need discipline and practice to turn ourselves back toward God.
I don’t have any magic answers, but here are some things I do in my attempts to be expansive in my prayers.
Most mornings, the first thing I do is go outside. I sit on a favorite bench and for a while, I’m just quiet. And in those moments, I try to ground myself to the earth. I feel it under my feet. I open myself to beauty. I notice what is happening around me. And this earth-connection helps me to remember, in a visceral way, that this planet is our common home: rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, left and right. With my body, I remember that we ALL live here together and we will ALL die here together. We are connected.
And then I have this practical thing I sometimes do, especially if I am really feeling disconnected from the world. I say the Lord’s Prayer, but I put a special emphasis on the plural nature of the prayer. And I say: 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!
Do these practices last me the all day long – or even an hour? Sometimes not. But for those few moments, I am reconnected to the whole. And for those few moments, I am reconnected to the loving will of God. And for those few moments, the Lord is very near. And I know peace. And you will too.
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
1 Timothy 2:1-7
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.
In church, we make all kinds of assumptions. We assume that people will like us if they just get to know us – not always true. We assume that when we say everyone is welcome, EVERYONE will believe it and find it to be so - also not always true. And we assume that most folks understand what we do in this room and why we do it – definitely not true.
Even if you’ve been here for years, you still may not understand all the things we do in this room and why we do them. Take, for example, prayer. What is it? Why do we do it? And what, in the end, does it accomplish?
Most folks think of prayer as asking God for what you need. And that is what I witnessed growing up. My grandmother, for example, used to pray for parking spaces. She would pull her big convertible Cadillac Eldorado into the mall parking lot and begin to circle, looking for a spot near the door. And all the while she would pray, out loud: “Now Lord,” she would say, as if informing God of something he didn’t already know, “I need a parking spot.” And my grandmother believed, with all her heart, that God loved her enough to care about how far she was going to have to walk to go shopping. …I don’t know what I think of her methods, but let me tell you, those good parking spaces appeared more often than not!
But is that all prayer is? Is it a never-ending shopping list of all those things we think we need or want?
Today’s lesson from the Epistle of First Timothy offers us another way to think about prayer, not so much as a shopping list, but as a generous intention for the common good.
This epistle or letter, written in Paul’s name, was addressed to a young pastor named Timothy and his congregation in the city of Ephesus. And this congregation certainly had its own immediate needs, which I am sure they prayed about. You see, the early Christians all believed that Christ would return to the earth before all the original apostles died. But by the time this letter was written, the apostles were long since dead. And Christ had not returned. And so, they had to learn how to settle in and live in the present. But the present wasn’t pretty. Their church was ripped apart by division and political arguments, and nothing was working out the way they thought it would.
Times were bad. And they no doubt wondered where God was in the mix. And they no doubt prayed about it all and asked God to rescue them.
Now let me hasten to say that there is nothing wrong with that kind of prayer. Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”? But that is not all he told us to say. He also taught us to pray for God’s will to be done on the whole earth, just as it is in heaven. And this is an expansive kind of prayer. It is focused on largely on others. And that makes it a discipline.
The author of First Timothy writes: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
Before anything else, above everything else, pray for everyone.
Well, that’s a lot to bite off in a practice of prayer. After all, there are over 8 billion people in the world. How do we pray for all of them? So, the author offers some practical advice about how to pray for everyone in a way that we can comprehend. He tells us to pray for those who rule over us – the ones we like and the ones we don’t. We are to pray for them precisely because they need it given the weight of their responsibilities. We are to pray for them precisely because they will one day give an account to God for how they ruled. We are to pray for them because it is they who have the power to make people’s lives good or miserable. In praying for them, we pray for those over whom they rule.
And then the author makes this astounding promise. If you practice this kind of prayer; this kind of expansive thinking, the result is a quiet and peaceable life.
Well, that’s a very nice promise. But despite the prayers of the early Christians on behalf of the world, they were still persecuted and divided. And despite all of our prayers for the nation and the world, there are still wars and rumors of wars, political unrest, rampant hatred, shameless scapegoating. People are still judged by the color of their skin. Children still starve. And the Kingdom of God has never seemed so far away. So where is this promised peace and quiet?
Well, let me suggest that we do not often have it because we do not make any room for it. We give lip service to praying for the world, but then spend hours doom-scrolling through one upsetting headline after another, until we are left without hope. We might pray occasionally for our neighbors, but then spend our days dividing those neighbors between those who think like us and everyone else. And if we pray for our leaders, it is that God will really bless the ones we like. We fill our days and nights with bitterness and division. We nurse fear and scoff at hope. And then, somehow, we expect God to give us peace.
The peace and quiet promised here starts as a heart made right. And a heart made right begins in generous, expansive prayer.
So, you might be wondering, that actually sounds good. But where do I start?
Well, first of all, I think we all have to recognize that our hearts and minds have been seriously rewired toward division and hatred. It is insidious and deep. So, we will need discipline and practice to turn ourselves back toward God.
I don’t have any magic answers, but here are some things I do in my attempts to be expansive in my prayers.
Most mornings, the first thing I do is go outside. I sit on a favorite bench and for a while, I’m just quiet. And in those moments, I try to ground myself to the earth. I feel it under my feet. I open myself to beauty. I notice what is happening around me. And this earth-connection helps me to remember, in a visceral way, that this planet is our common home: rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, left and right. With my body, I remember that we ALL live here together and we will ALL die here together. We are connected.
And then I have this practical thing I sometimes do, especially if I am really feeling disconnected from the world. I say the Lord’s Prayer, but I put a special emphasis on the plural nature of the prayer. And I say: 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!
Do these practices last me the all day long – or even an hour? Sometimes not. But for those few moments, I am reconnected to the whole. And for those few moments, I am reconnected to the loving will of God. And for those few moments, the Lord is very near. And I know peace. And you will too.
RSS Feed