Thoughts and Prayers

Politicians proclaiming their thoughts and prayers are with the victims of tragedy has become somewhat of a joke. It’s easy to see their words as empty and hypocritical when they aren’t followed by actions, when they, having power to act, refuse to do anything to prevent future tragedies. It’s unfortunate because sincere prayer can actually make a difference in our lives. If you’re not a big believer in God, think of prayer as setting your intentions, declaring to the universe and to your subconscious your desire to be a part of a better, more compassionate and just world.

Theologian Marjorie Suchocki writes of prayer: “God works with the world as it is in order to bring it to where it can be. Prayer changes the way the world is, and therefore changes what the world can be. Prayer opens the world to its own transformation.” When we pray we offer our worries and fears, even our anger, as well as our desires and our joys to God. We offer ourselves as possibilities. We open ourselves to change and transformation, which creates new possibilities in the world and changes the possibilities of what the world can become.

Gazing up into trees at Hartwick Pines State Park, Michigan. Just because I have a hunch that trees probably know a lot about prayer.

When Jesus teaches his followers how to pray, he teaches how to draw closer to God and align our lives and desires with God’s desires.¹ First, he reminds us to be humble. God does not need to be impressed. If we’re focused on putting on a show, being eloquent and using lots of big words, then we’ve already missed the mark. Jesus tells us the reward of that kind of prayer is the admiration we were seeking from the people who heard us pray. This is what all of those politicians are doing. They’re not sincere in their sympathy, they just want to put on a good show. That’s self-serving entertainment, not prayer.

Jesus gives us a sample prayer, which Christians often pray in its traditional form, but I wonder if we really understand what we’re saying. Perhaps paraphrasing the prayer in our own words might be a way to reflect on what the prayer truly means. Here is how I might paraphrase what we call the Lord’s Prayer or the Disciples’s Prayer:

Our mother, our father, creator of us all,
who abides within, around, and beyond us,
may your name be honored
as we walk your Way
following where you lead.
May all know peace and justice
here and now in this earthly life.
Give us this day the food and shelter we need
and forgive us when we wrong you
as we forgive those who wrong us.
Keep us safe in times of trial
that threaten to lead us astray.
Yours is our Way, our strength,
and our joy forever, Amen.

The prayer begins by recognizing our relationship with God as a close loving bond similar to a parent and child. It’s a sacred relationship with a Divine presence and power bigger than us and yet intimately connected to us. God cannot be contained or controlled and we offer our respect for this Divine energy. The prayer is also about desire and intention, aligning our intentions with God’s intentions. God’s desire become our desires. We’re praying that our lives here and now in this physical realm will manifest and reflect Divine values: love and hope, mercy and compassion, peace and justice. This is a prayer for transformation of both ourselves and the world.

One of God’s desires is that everyone everywhere be cared for, that their needs be met so they might live a meaningful and fulfilling life. Although Jesus says it’s best to pray in private to avoid the temptation to impress others, he doesn’t say to pray “give me bread.” He says to pray “give us bread.” Are our intentions focused on the self, or on the love and care of all of God’s creation and people? This prayer is also about nurturing relationship. When Jesus tells us to pray for forgiveness, it’s because we let our wrongs come between us and God, between us and our neighbor, and we pray for it to be removed so the relationship can be healed and grow.

Jesus’ prayer ends with a reminder that this is a prayer to be lived out and not just recited. We’re going to go into the world where we’ll face evil and we ask that God keep us safe. We offer our intention to live in harmony with God’s love as we go out and face the troubles of the world. We offer our fears, our anger, and our hate to God so they might be transformed into useful tools for building peace and justice. We offer our intention to let this prayer flow into and through our lives so that the actions of our life become a prayer. We ask God to watch over us because this world is God’s creation and the beauty of everything that is good about it, and the real power that fuels our lives, the power of love, comes from God.

We’ve come face to face with evil in our world today and it’s threatening to overwhelm us. Prayer can help. Praying as Jesus teaches, with humility, sincerity, and vulnerability to align ourselves with God’s love and desires in sacred relationship, has the power to open our hearts in compassion and empathy. It has the power to heal and transform us, to give us strength and courage in a difficult world, that we might create here on earth a different kind of world, one of love, peace, and justice. But only if we let our words flow into actions.

P.S. I’ve been working on trying to organize the chaos of our lives a little for myself, but I invite you to check out https://pieceofthepuzzle.net and see if you find any of it useful. There’s a lot of space for future ideas. The main part I’ve worked on so far is the “Resources for Resistance” section. Feedback, suggestions, additional resources, etc. are all welcome.

1. Matthew 6:5-13