Many of us were taught that God is perfect in every way. Then life experiences happen and challenge these assumptions about God. How do we understand God’s role in suffering, evil and natural disasters?
In our computer age, we demand a broadband God who responds to our needs immediately (on a 4G network). Any delay in response causes frustration in our relationship with God. Frustration also comes in trying to discern God’s response … and then accepting God’s response. However, a healthy prayer life is less about understanding and more about experiencing God.
When I went to seminary there was a heavy emphasis on theology, (hermeneutics, homiletics, Greek, Hebrew – not so much about the practical parts of ministry – it was all very “heady”). Since then, spiritual practices, like meditation, have become an increasingly important part of my spiritual experience.
An article in Christian Century magazine talked about a student entering Duke Divinity School who made it clear that she wanted her seminary experience to form her as a person of prayer. For this student, as it could be for all of us, prayer is a way of life rather than an isolated call for divine crisis intervention.
Rev. D. Flanagan said that persistence in prayer is a common theme of the Gospels. In the eighteenth chapter of Luke, the story of the persistent widow suggests persistence is a characteristic of the faithful (she wouldn’t give up). After teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus urges the disciples to be persistent as someone seeking bread from a friend at midnight. In the midst of our frustrations with God, we are called to maintain a relationship with God in prayer. (“When it seems hard to pray – pray harder.”)
Leonard Sweet talks about changing his prayer life in his book Learn to Dance the Soul Salsa, by deleting a comma. Instead of the crying out, “Please, God,” his prayers are now of the form “Please God!” or, how can God’s purposes be fulfilled in our lives? If our emphasis is “Please God,” rather than “Please, God,” our prayers become a celebration of our relationship with a divine friend, rather than enticing God to meet our expectations.
A Native American tradition illustrates divine presence. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday he is placed in a dense forest to spend a night. Following an anxious and sleepless night, as the sun rises the boy sees the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It is the boy’s father who has been there all night long. Like the Native American father, our God is relational and compassionate. (AIDS crisis in the ‘80s and early ‘90s – lost 1/3 of our men – it was the women who were there – caring and carrying the load – I see God in that!)
Read more inspiring examples, analogies, parables and metaphors regarding prayer in WTF? (Where’s the Faith) at LGBTweekly.com.
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.
