LEARNING TO PRAY

Over the last few months as my wife and I have faced some serious health concerns, people – lots of people – have assured us that they are praying for us. We deeply appreciate and treasure every prayer offered. I am not always sure what the content of the prayers might be. I assume they are prayers for healing, strength, and hope among other things. It really does not matter because the expressions of care and compassion are genuine and are gifts of grace. Even when someone says, “I’m praying for you,” without a clue as to what to say or out of the desperation of feeling helpless, the impulse to pray is itself a prayer. As Paul says, “… the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)

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Surveys tell us that more people say that they pray than say they believe in God. While this makes me wonder to whom they pray, it also witnesses to the fact that humans, whether they admit it or not, are spiritual creatures. The paradox is that a bunch of those who say they pray will also say they do not know how to pray.

Prayer, as we often understand it, can become an obstacle to faith. Those who have prayed for healing or an end to suffering and then did not perceive an answer to that prayer will conclude that either God does not care or is not real. Prayer becomes wishful thinking and God a figment of the imagination.

I find that the first problem with prayer that seems ineffective or unanswered is I have forgotten to whom I am praying. We live in a culture that commodifies everything and everyone. The god to whom we pray becomes the young person dressed in a colorful uniform and hat who works at the fast-food drive thru. We utter what we want into a speaker and expect that when we get to the window, we will receive the product we ordered. We will be furious if we receive the wrong thing. Treating God like a divine drive thru attendant or some kind of vending machine that dispenses exactly what we asked for is not prayer.

There is a reason that Jesus gave us but one prayer to guide the way we think about prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is the starting place for all Christian prayer. In fact, if you pray only this prayer a billion times, it is a powerful prayer indeed. To say “Our Father” is to enter into Christ’s relationship with God and to place ourselves into Christ’s care as he prays for and with us. We have a Father to pray to because of Christ.

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury says it this way in his book Being Christian, “Jesus speaks to God for us, but we speak to God in him… That in a nutshell, is prayer – letting Jesus pray in you, and beginning that lengthy and often very tough process by which our selfish thoughts and ideals and hopes are gradually aligned with his eternal action… So it should not surprise us that Jesus begins his instructions on prayer by telling us to affirm that we stand where he stands: ‘Our Father.’” (Williams, 63) In another place Williams says, “Prayer is the life of Jesus coming alive in you.” (Williams)

When we say “hallowed be your name” we acknowledge that we pray to God, and we are not God. Prayer is not a demand for what we want, it is submission. “Your will be done on earth as in heaven” is what should end every supplication we offer. This was Christ’s own prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane – “Take this cup (this cross) from me, but not my will but yours.”  (Luke 22:42) The Father’s answer to Jesus’ petition was far more glorious than any human could imagine – through the suffering to the day of resurrection.

My prayers in this time of cancer, disease, and never-ending medical appointments are to be found in the gracious embrace of The Crucified One who knows my suffering and what I need; to be found in the hope-filled embrace of The Resurrected One who will speak my prayer to the Father and assure me that God’s gracious and loving will be done.

Pax Christi,
Tim Olson – Lead Pastor
 
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