09.07.2020
“Pray” is often the advice when things get tough or when we’re not sure what to do. Well, our fraying world certainly fits that description. Our old normal is gone, and so far there’s no new normal to replace it. There are all sorts of suggestions. Some of them do make some sense, while others seem impractical or clearly dangerous — which leaves a good size batch of possible actions in the middle.
So praying is appropriate. But how should we pray and what should we pray about?
Paul has some clear guidance on how: in the spirit — all the time, [check Romans 8:26 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17].
Prayer is, after all, a conversation with God. It is not a special activity for certain kinds of situations. God is interested in all aspects of our lives. But we tend to pray during the hard or difficult or ambiguous times, because those are the times we know we don’t know what to do. Like now.
I suggest we look at Jesus’ prayer for some guidance. He prayed on the last night of his physical life on earth. He knew it would be the worst possible experience he would face; but it would be the end of his work for God the father. He knew he would rejoin God.
So he didn’t pray for himself, he prayed for those who would be left. And here’s the part that is both disconcerting and comforting: he didn’t pray that the disciples would be sparred the hardships and evils of this world, he prayed that God would protect them while they are still here, in this world. And he prayed for the same protection for all those “who will believe in [him] because of their word” — that includes you and me! [It’s all in John 17.]
In the most difficult moments of his life, Jesus didn’t pray for himself. He prayed for other people. He could do that because he trusted God, the father. He knew God would raise him to life, so he could focus on others. And he prayed that the disciples (and us) would know God’s presence in their lives in the same way he knew the father’s presence in his own life. So they could be confident in God’s promise of resurrection. So they could pray for those folks who would follow them. So we could know God’s presence in our lives. So we could pray for others.
For many of us these are the most disruptive times we have experienced. The highly energized racial discord has joined the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting economic upheavals to strip away almost all the not-quite-certainties we have lived with in America for the past half-century.
But God has been promising, on the record, for about 3,000 years. He started with Abrahm in the Middle East: he invited Abrahm to come with him to an entirely new life 600 miles away and promised, “I will be with you.” A few hundred years later God accosted a shepherd in Arabia and told Moses to go free a bunch of slaves from Egypt and promised, “I will be with you.” When Moses died God commissioned Joshua to lead those slaves into a new land supposedly filled with “Giants,” and promised “I will be with you.” (Joshua defeated the “giants.”)
After his resurrection Jesus told his disciples to go spread his message of love and forgiveness through the entire world, and promised “I will be with you.”
And now, with the world changing out from under us, Jesus tells us to love and care for each other and promises, “I will be with you.”
Even though the world is fraying the promise has not. It’s a great time to start living as if the promise is true. Because it is.