SAYING OUR PRAYERS

Joseph Sittler, the brilliant American Lutheran theologian, tells the story of a woman in his parish who told him that she worked at a hospital in Chicago and prayed everyday for a favorable parking spot when she arrived at that busy place. She testified that God always delivered on her desire. Sittler was sure this was not an example of faithful prayer and bordered on blasphemy. He said that it was “wrong to use prayer as a lubricant for the satisfaction of our desires.”

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“Parking space prayers” are, of course widely uttered and seriously pursued. The trouble, of course, is that God does not answer prayer by simply granting our requests and fulfilling our desires. The result of getting all our desires met would, as Sittler says, create a mess. Prayer is not about accessing divine favor. It is, Sittler continues, about a relationship with a living God where we have an “ultimate conversation with the ultimate listener.”

Henri Nouwen, Priest and Professor, points to prayer as a discipline, a practice that nurtures a life of prayerfulness. “There is a difference between learning prayers and prayerfulness… The prayerfulness of the heart is deeper and ultimately more important than particular prayers that are said.” (Spiritual Direction, 57) The prayers we say are a means of cultivating the relationship with God we seek. When Paul calls for us to “pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17), it is only possible when we live always open to God’s future breaking in on us as a result of prayers that turn our minds and hearts in that direction.

Prayer brings us into God’s presence and this God is revealed in the Crucified One. As theologian Daniel Migliore points out in his book Faith Seeking Understanding, “…no image of God , no doctrine of providence, can be compelling that is not rooted and tested by the gospel of the crucified Lord. A doctrine of providence that teaches that no harm will come to me or to my nation because we consider ourselves God’s chosen ones distorts the biblical message.” To put a fine, and perhaps edgy, point on it, if our prayer is about something Jesus would not pray for, perhaps we shouldn’t pray for it either.

We don’t pray to God to get things. We pray that we might get God – to be in union with the ground of our being and the author of our future in this present moment. Scripture is full of examples of prayers that were not meant or answered in a way that was contrary to our intent. The point of prayer is the conversation not the content. Prayers make for a prayerful life in communion with God.
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Pax Christi,
Tim Olson – Lead Pastor
 
 
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