Prayer: Called to Return to True Love

What would you do if the person you love with all your heart betrayed you again and again?

Today we begin our readings with very harsh words that can even feel offensive to our modern sensibilities: the story of Hosea and his wife Gomer. Hosea married a woman who, despite being tenderly loved by her husband, chose the fleeting love of other men. It is unsettling to think that God asked compassionate Hosea to marry a woman who could not truly love him back, but the heart of the message is not about judging Gomer or those who, for reasons we cannot fully imagine, have found themselves in prostitution.

The message of this reading centers on God’s merciful love for Israel, which is compared to the faithful and compassionate love of Hosea, who does not judge his wife but grieves because she is unable to appreciate the true love of her husband. Amid so many poor examples we see in the Bible of unfaithful men, like King David, it is refreshing to see the model of a faithful husband—an example of true love.

Israel has been like Gomer: it has received God’s love in abundance, but Israel has pursued the false love of Baal and other gods. Israel stopped trusting in the mighty power of God and placed its confidence in political alliances with Egypt and Assyria. Israel strayed from the source of true love and brought pain upon what was meant to be a beloved family. But God, despite all this, remains merciful. In Hosea, we hear some harsh words from God, words similar to those we humans might utter when we feel betrayed. Yet God, with a heart broken by pain, continues to offer faithfulness, forgiveness, and love. God desires nothing more than the happiness of Israel, just as Hosea desires the same for his beloved Gomer and their children.

Hosea knows that what Israel lacks is a deeper knowledge of God—not an intellectual knowledge, but one grounded in a deep relationship. The knowledge of God that Israel, and we, need is not a knowledge we find in books (though books are good and helpful, they are not enough). The knowledge of God that will save this world is the knowledge that comes from a personal relationship with God—a relationship of friendship.

Teresa of Ávila, a master of prayer, says that prayer is “nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.” Hosea shows us today what happens when we lack that knowledge, that friendship, and that love with God. And this faithful love of God, which Hosea announces, draws near to us in Jesus, who tells us in the Gospel how we can become friends of God—indeed, how we can live in a loving relationship with God, like that of a child with a father.

In our society, we carry many wounds in our relationships with our parents. Some parents have not taken responsibility for their children; others have been abusive, absent, aggressive, or controlling. But God is not just any father—God is The Father. God is the model of parenthood: a compassionate father with a mother’s love. God is like those parents who care for their children, who listen to them, who give respectful advice, who learn day by day how to be the support and example their children need. If your own experience with your father or mother is marked by pain, don’t let that overshadow the true image of the heavenly Father. He is infinite compassion, limitless love. God is everything good we could hope for in a father or mother—and even more.

Jesus did something revolutionary in the Gospel: He called God with a word both intimate and respectful—Abba, Father. In Jesus’ time, Israel knew it was God’s people. Other cultures believed that kings were sons of the gods—or even gods themselves. But Jesus opened the door to a new reality: human beings are children of God through Him. We can approach God with the trust and closeness with which we would approach a loving parent. We are called to live in relationship with God. We do not pray to negotiate with God, as if prayer were a magic formula to get what we want; we are called to pray as part of a relationship of love with the Father.

In the Gospel, does Jesus say that God will give us everything we ask if we insist enough? No, Jesus is not saying that everything we ask for will be granted if it is not in line with God’s loving plan. The disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, and He did: Jesus taught them the Lord’s Prayer—the model for our prayer. Jesus says that the Father will grant what we ask in the Holy Spirit, those things that are truly necessary:

That God’s name be sanctified;

That His kingdom of justice come to this earth wounded by inequality and lack of love, especially toward the most vulnerable;

That His will—which is love and salvation for humanity—be done;

That we never lack daily bread, and that we have enough to share with others, not just to keep for ourselves;

That bread may be shared generously with everyone, so that our generosity is a sign of the Kingdom of Heaven;

That God forgive our many sins, and give us a heart like His own, so we can forgive those who sin against us;

That we be delivered in times of trial, when we are persecuted, arrested, criticized, or slandered;

And that we be freed from everything that contributes to evil among God’s children.

To pray from the heart of the Lord’s Prayer is to allow the Spirit of God to pray within us.

God is not going to fulfill our whims, our selfish prayers, our desires for revenge, or our hopes that evil will end through violence. I know that sometimes we wish things would happen as we want them to, but that is not what prayer is for, especially if our desires are not aligned with the heart of God. St. Paul tells us today: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Instead, through daily prayer—whether in community or in private—let our hearts be washed, little by little, in the life-giving stream of the Holy Spirit.

The Book of Common Prayer is the book through which the sons and daughters of God in the Episcopal tradition pray. So, I invite you to become more aware of this: We do not just read the prayers from the Book of Common Prayer. We do not just read the psalms or the litanies. We pray the prayers; we take conscious notice of the One to whom our words are addressed, and we speak with affection, respect, and the love with which we would speak to the most loving Father there is. So let us no longer just read our prayer book—let us pray it. Let the BCP be for us a doorway into the depths of our souls, where God waits for us with eternal, faithful, and compassionate love. This week, I encourage you to choose a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer—perhaps today’s collect or the psalm—and pray it slowly, meditating on each word with your whole heart. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you through prayer that is heartfelt and full of love, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your being.

Today God calls us to leave behind false loves and return to Him—to return to true love. Like Hosea, who never stopped loving his wife Gomer, God never stops seeking us. So may the Holy Spirit renew in us the joy of knowing that we are beloved children, and may our lives become a living prayer of gratitude and forgiveness—a fragrant offering in the Spirit of God, who is Love.