Sunday School Lesson: Prayerful Community

Purpose: To rejoice that we can express in prayer that we are sick and sinful and only God can make us whole.

Scripture: James 5:13-18

What are some situations in life when most people pray?

I love the story of the man who sat on his roof while floodwaters crept up his house. The man cried out to the Lord to be rescued. He was offered a ride in a kayak. He declined. He said, “I’m waiting for God to rescue me.” He waved off a small fishing boat. He dismissed a helicopter hovering overhead. Each time he professed with ever growing indignation, “I will wait for the Lord Almighty to save me from this flood!” He was convinced the Lord would perform some spectacular miracle and deliver him from his roof.

Well, eventually, the water reached the roof and the currents swept the man away to his death. In Heaven, the man told an angel, “You know, I was faithful my entire life. Why did God not answer my prayer?”

Can you guess the angels response? “God sent you a kayak, a fishing boat, and a helicopter. What more did you need?”

Clearly, the man had his own idea of how God should deliver him from the flood, but God did not cooperate.

Have you ever been there?

We’ve all been there. “God, I know you’re the Almighty, but I believe I have a better understanding about this situation.” We often bring our concerns and requests before God, and then we give him a choice of what we consider acceptable resolutions and a time frame in which to accommodate us. We are surprised and sometimes angry when the Creator disregards our human logic and reasoning.

How have you seen prayer bring changes in people or circumstances?

What should a person do when he or she is in trouble? Why? (see James 5:13, 15)

What should a person do when he or she is happy? Why? (5:13, 15)

What should a person do when he or she is sick? Why? (5:14-15)

How can we use prayer to help someone who is sick?

When do you find it most difficult to pray? Why?

How does prayer help shape and grow your faith?

What are your views about anointing with oil and praying for healing?

When have you had the opportunity to pray specifically for someone or for a special need?

Why is prayer important? (5:15)

13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.
James 5:13-18 (NRSV)

What are some things that we may be reluctant to pray about?

Why are we sometimes reluctant to pray?

What does James mean by “suffering”?

How do we respond when someone says that they have prayed for healing for another person, but the person was not healed?

I am going to tell you a story.

Some of you may have heard this before.

My daddy was dying. He had developed emphysema and had been totally unable to work for several years. At that time all he could do was sit and read. And that’s what he did. He could not even walk to the next room without an oxygen bottle. This was at the time that I was first acknowledging that I was a Christian. I, for the first time in my life, developed a prayer habit. I prayed all the normal young Christian prayers: “Thank you God for your blessings, thank you for my family and my church, take care of Daddy, amen.” In my immaturity, I always thought of that “take care of Daddy” as equivalent to “make Daddy better, heal his body.” I was not the only person praying for Daddy, I’m sure. There was my wife and daughter, my mother and my brother. And there was a preacher who was visiting Daddy regularly.

Daddy had known Andy for years. They both were both farm equipment salesmen and were acquainted through business. Andy was also a preacher, preaching at the church down the road that my daddy had grown up in. In the forty years that I had known Daddy, I could only remember a couple of funerals that he had been to inside a church. I have no memory at all of Daddy going to a church for any other reason. Daddy, being the reader he was, read the Bible and had some tough questions for Andy. Daddy knew he was dying. He also knew what the Bible said about salvation.

Andy assured Daddy that all he needed was faith, but Daddy felt a desire to be baptized. One of the most moving services that I have ever witnessed was the night that a few members of Hebrew Free-Will Baptist church gathered at Daddy’s house along with the family and Andy sprinkled Daddy and we all sprinkled tears. I cried more that night than I did at Daddy’s funeral a two months later.

Do you see the point of my telling this story?

God did “take care of Daddy”. My prayers WERE answered, only in a way that I would not have imagined. God “took care of Daddy” all right. God took care of Daddy in a way so far beyond my immature imaginings that I did not really realize the implications until much later. The healing that God brought to Daddy was much, much greater than if he had been given new lungs.


Why should we confess our sins to one another? (5:16)

What healing is promised to the person who confesses their sin to God, but never to another human being? (5:16)

Why not just confess your sin individually and privately to God-why confess to someone else?

Some Christians do practice confessing their sins to people (priests). We Protestants generally confess our sins directly to God.

Why does James say confess your sins one to another?

How does our church provide for the confession of sin so that it serves a redemptive purpose in our lives?

The Protestant Reformation never taught that we do not need to confess our sins to a priest. But….the Reformation brought us the concept of the priesthood of all believers. We are all priests.

Do we need a priest (another believer) to confess to?

What is the role of clergy in hearing confessions in the UMC?

Do you like the idea of confessing your sins to one another?

What are the benefits of confessing our sins one to another? What does it cost us to not confess our sins one to another? What happens to us individually and to the church when we fail to confess?

There is something very healing about coming clean to someone who will listen and respond in a godly way.

Quote of the day: "We are only as sick as our secrets." - Rick Warren

What qualities would you look for in someone to confess your sins to?

Do you think it would be a good idea to confess all your sins all at once, or get into it gradually?

Have you ever been hurt by confessing your sin to someone who could not keep a secret? Who has a story?

Does failure to confess affect the outcome of our prayers?

What is the effect of a righteous person’s prayers? (5:16)

How do you understand James’ statement that “the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective”?

Does our righteousness obligate God to answer our prayers?

Who is a good example of how God answers prayer? How? (5:17-18)

Think about Elijah. What do we learn about following God from Elijah?

Have you seen prayer bring changes in people or circumstances?

Would anyone care to share any real-life examples of how God answers prayer?

What hinders Christians from praying with confidence?

What hinders Christians from confessing sins and praying for each other?

If we confess our sins to God, why should anyone else have to know about it?

What circumstances beyond our control can we affect through prayer?

Do you think God is pleased when we bring our joys as well as our needs to Him in prayer?

What would it take for us to learn to be honest with God and with one another?

What does our church do to create a climate in which we all can be honest with one another and build healthy relationships?

James tells us that we are to:

¨ Pray about bad feelings and circumstances.

¨ Sing with cheerfulness.

¨ Pray for the sick.

¨ Confess our sins.

How effective is our church in providing opportunities for these things to happen?

Which of these opportunities lend themselves to small groups?

Which are better suited to a worship service?

Which has been particularly meaningful to you? Why?