In a recent worship service I attended we reached the moment during which folks were invited to share their "Concerns and Celebrations," i.e. prayer requests. There were the usual mentions of illnesses and surgeries, family issues, etc. One woman reported that her adult children were traveling somewhere, and she wanted prayers for "a safe journey, and that they will have a good time."
"Have a good time?" Next weekend I'm planning to attend a performance of Dvorak's "New World Symphony." Maybe I should pray that the musicians play a flawless interpretation of the piece, that the weather will be nice (it's an open-air venue), and that post-concert traffic isn't too bad on the way out of the parking lot onto the highway!
Thinking about this brought to mind someone from one of my congregations along the way. She stated more than once in my presence that she "and the Guy Upstairs have an understanding." Things would be OK between them "as long as I have a roof over my head and two meals a day." How reasonable of her not to demand three meals a day!
One wonders what vengeance she would wreak on God if a twister came through town and blew the roof off of her bungalow. Perhaps she would stop attending church!!! (This was, of course, the same person who didn't care for something I brought up in a sermon in one known instance. When I pointed out that, well, according to the text for the sermon, Jesus said that, she replied, "I don't care what he said!")
There is no question that I have offered my share of inane, selfish, useless prayers over the years. I also have been asked to make prayers on behalf of others that were similar in their level of validity. Some were so specific and detailed as to what God was supposed to do that I privately hoped God would be taking notes in order to keep track of all the assignments coming God's way.
I suppose there is some value to the corporate prayer time in worship: people given the opportunity to help share each other's burdens; reminding the folks of the Source of the many blessings everyone enjoys; and, a bit of community-building.
I'm not convinced, however, that God is persuaded by our supplications to do anything .
It seems to me the main issue at play here is freedom: God's and our own.
One aspect of God that seems undeniable is that God is a completely free agent, unencumbered by our promises ("if you do this, God, I will..."), pleadings ("please, God, after all, I am using the biblical formula of tacking on 'in Jesus' name' at the end of my prayer"), and threats, which are too ridiculous even to characterize.
Another point about God is that God's love provides utter freedom to human existence. God is not a Grand Manipulator of Events, making things turn out to anyone's liking. (I do not presume, however, to suggest that God cannot or never will intervene in human events. That is up to the completely free God.)
The older I get, and the more I experience life and think about spiritual matters, the more comfortable I become with the notion of God less as a "being" than a "presence." It is difficult for me to envision a physical entity existing somewhere "out there" or "in heaven." It seems that a spirit moving among, around, and even through people is a more relevant and forceful reality than an All-Seeing, All-Knowing, All-Hearing Person of Either Both or Neither Gender. Certainly, a "god" that creates but hates Those Different From Me is completely out of the question.
Perhaps it always has been easier to personify "good" and "evil," but an eternally-alive devil or "Satan" seems patently ridiculous, and a "god" always looking over our shoulders, deciding somewhat capriciously whether to grant our individual requests just doesn't make much sense, either.
It seems that an active tension between what is life-giving and life-defeating surrounds and influences us in ways subtle and perhaps, at times, overt. Just as the spark of what we term "life" or the "human soul" remains primarily mysterious, so does the "presence" that I sense as God. But mystery and reality are not mutually exclusive.
But, enough of that. At least, I hope it's enough to give a context for how "prayer" begins to make sense to me.
I think the Quakers and mystics of other stripes are on to something meaningful. Meditation is, I believe, a way to tap into the presence that I think of as God. Meditation, of course, takes many forms. There was a little book written by Brother Somebody-or-Other who described finding God in menial tasks, such as washing dishes. Some people practice particular postures and/or mantras in meditation. When I was a young person, still living with my birth family, I often went into the backyard with a plastic baseball bat and ball, flipping the ball into the air, hitting it, walking to pick it up, and doing the same thing again. Over and over. I was doing a repetitive activity, lost in my thoughts, or even lack of thoughts. To me, I realized many years later, it was a form of meditation, a time alone, away from others and distractions, to be renewed and refreshed.
When Quakers speak of praying for others, it is often in terms of "holding in the Light" the other person and their concern. For un-programmed Quakers, worship consists of gathering the community into a period of silence, waiting, seeking the Spirit, or the "presence" of which I am writing.
To me, seeking -- and finding -- that presence is to draw nearer to its power, its influence, its consolation, and its comfort in a way that can have an effect on me, my life, my interactions with others, my attitude and outlook, and even my insight as I deal with the world around me. It is not an attempt by me to manipulate, change, or control events. Rather it is a fount of strength or wisdom or other resource useful in facing the realities of life.
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