Prayer is petition, intercession, adoration, and contemplation; great saints and mystics have agreed on this definition. To stop short at petition is to pray only in a crippled fashion. Further, such prayer encourages one of the faults which is most reprehended by spiritual instructors — turning to God without turning from Self.
-Robertson Davies
A long time ago, I worked with a young woman who was a serious conservative Christian. One day when snow was expected, she told me that she didn't want to come to work the next day and that she would be praying hard for snow. The next day there was a huge snow dump over the entire East Coast.
I would later read in the paper that the large scale snowstorm killed 14 people across several states. (The American south is not much used to snow and gets it so rarely that being really ready for it is prohibitively expensive.)
To me, this woman praying for a deadly snowstorm raises a few questions, questions that assume, as they very concept of petitionary prayer does, that prayers can be answered:
--When we pray for something, do we have a duty to think about the consequences of what we are praying for? Or is that God's job?
--If the consequences are God's job, then what is the point of petitionary prayer in the first place since God is likely to endorse the best course of action no matter what you ask?
CC
9 comments:
One of the best examples of the limitations and ethical challenges of practices of petitional prayer I have ever encoutered is Mark Twain's short story "War Prayer", where he highlights all the unintended consequences of praying for victory in war...
As a hospital chaplain (resident), I walk the minefield of petitional prayer with my patients all the time...
Yours in Faith,
David
Jim Morrison said it so it must be true: You can NOT petition the Lord with prayer."
Over the last several years I've heard 1 UU sermon and 1 Presbyterian sermon specifically on the subject of prayer, and both pointed out, in similar terms as you do, the inherent absurdity of that sort of immature petitional prayer. Gotta ask -- did you pose those questions to your acquaintance? (I wouldn't blame you for forbearing, mind you.)
In a related vein, it drives me nuts when someone survives a disaster that many others do not and specifically attributes their personal survival to an intentional act of God. (This is usually on a TV news report.) I find myself wanting to shout to the screen, "Oh, and God just let all those other poor suckers die, huh?"
Some of God's greatest gifts...
When we were little, my sister once asked my mother why we had to pray. Surely God knew everything already? Mom said that prayer was really something we did for our own spiritual life; it forced us to verbalize what our needs and wants were, and reminded us of God's presence. To the extent it actually affected what happened, it did so through our own consciousness rather than through some change in God's.
David P. --Roald Dahl has a short story about a woman desperate to carry a baby to term (I don't remember if she prays for it, but she might) and when she finally does, the nurse says "Congratulations, Mrs. Hitler. I think Adolf would be a lovely name for him" or some such. (I haven't read it in about ten years and am fuzzy on the details)
DSD, I forbore (forbared? Anyway, I didn't do it) since she was a coworker.
PG, I think your mom is correct. That said, belief in prayers being answered by a divine hand is pretty common and I was exploring the implications of that belief.
CC
Those Pagan faiths who believe in the power of prayer and/or spells teach that it is indeed your responsibility to consider the consequences of your request, and that you bear responsibility for them. Many add that your intentions don't matter; only results matter. Most Wiccan traditions say those consequences return to you threefold. Those warnings are why you find so many older Pagans who say, "I don't do spells."
Someone who believes in God as Santa Claus, who will magically give you what you ask for if you are nice, probably also needs God to be the All-Wise Parent who takes full responsibility for giving only age-appropriate gifts to all the kids. In that mindset, if God says "OK, Chalicechick's coworker, I'll give you a snowstorm," then God has already checked and doublechecked that for everyone affected by the snowstorm, it was either a trial that was within their ability to handle or it was their time to return to be with God. No need to worry coworker's pretty little head!
PG's mom, along with many other humans, I'm sure, has a more mature understanding of petitionary prayer than what I just described.
Many Muslims, when they are praying, add a caveat (at least sometimes) so the prayer might look something like this: "Please, God, let me get this job; I really need it. But if it would be better for me to not get this job, please give me the wisdom/strength/patience to accept that." Basically, you pray not so much for specific things, but for whatever is best for you.
Now, whether you pray for whatever is best for EVERYONE ... that's a good question, and unless "everyone" means "my parents/children/family/closest friends" I've never heard of that kind of prayer.
Many Muslims, when they are praying, add a caveat (at least sometimes) so the prayer might look something like this: "Please, God, let me get this job; I really need it. But if it would be better for me to not get this job, please give me the wisdom/strength/patience to accept that." Basically, you pray not so much for specific things, but for whatever is best for you.
Anticipating his imminent arrest on the Mount of Olives, Jesus prayed similarly: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." [Luke 22:42] (Of course, he was a faithful Muslim.)
Post a Comment