Grant Me

SERMON TITLE:   “The Serenity Prayer:  Grant Me”
SERMON TEXT:    Luke 18:1-14
PREACHER:           Rev. Kim James
OCCASION:           February 28, 2021, at First UMC
 
God, . . . grant me . . . the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
 . . . the courage to change the things I can, . . .
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.  Amen.
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 
                Our United Methodist Women’s group met by Zoom on Tuesday afternoon.  During the prayer time of the meeting, a number of the women asked us to pray for relatives and friends who are suffering from depression, loneliness, and anxiety.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all the related stresses, real people that we care about have been going through hard times. 
                That’s why I wanted to do this Lenten sermon series on The Serenity Prayer.  I’m hoping that it gives us some peace and calm in the midst of the storm.  Last Sunday, we began the series by talking about who and what God is.  Today we move to the next words of The Serenity Prayer, which are “grant me.”  In other words, today’s topic is prayer.  How best can we lift up our petitions to God?
                There are so many good passages about prayer in the Bible, it was hard to choose which one to preach on.  But I think this text from Luke 18 gets at the heart of the idea.  Let’s dig into these verses and see what we can learn about prayer from this widow’s persistent supplications.  How might we have faith like this woman to plead, “Grant me”? 

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