Bill Gates said, “In terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on Sunday morning.” Isn’t that the truth – especially here in San Diego!
Rev. Dan Flanagan wrote, “For the postmodern person, spirituality is anachronistic. (Definition: The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper or historical order.)
A culture with a strong faith in technology doesn’t have much patience to wait for God. In our opinion, God’s response to our prayers may seem time challenged, or even nonexistent. A culture focused on efficiency, profitability and instant gratification is not likely to be drawn to a compassionate God of history.
The biblical story tells of a covenant God with a covenant people. “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). Although the covenant came through one person, Abraham, it was a covenant for all human descendants. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). The biblical pattern is that God works through individuals for the benefit of all people.
God’s blessings to the whole usually come at a price for the one called. Moses, for example, was content tending his flock when God called. “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:7, 10). After four hundred years of frustration, God’s intervention must have been a joyous occasion for Israel. But their complaints for the next forty years wandering in the desert are clearly recorded in Scripture and during the Babylonian exile.
The power of the covenant God comes in community. Prayer is, and should be, a personal communion with God. It is also a common experience in the covenant community, an experience of communion with other people.
A Hebrew word for prayer, avodah, means “to be of service” and “to work or take action for a higher purpose.” Prayer has a social component. When we pray to invite God to change our environment, we also must be ready to be changed. Abraham, Moses and Jesus each discovered that in a relationship with the divine, prayer is not a passive experience. Prayer moves us to a higher purpose.
In some ways there are similarities between today’s younger generations and those who lived through the politically charged 1960s and 1970s. Many were, and still are, skeptical that a relationship with God would bring about racial equality, eliminate poverty, and bring world peace. These socially active baby boomers wanted to change the world and they were impatient waiting for God to do it.
Our covenant God is a God of change, and the covenant people are called to be the agents of change. Abraham, Moses and Jesus were change agents, instruments within the covenant community for God to heal the world.
Our personal struggles may offer a way of reconnecting us with God, the “ground of our being.” God as ground is a wonderful image of renewal and safety as we gain strength to reenter the social arena. Jesus’ prayer at the garden of Gethsemane, for example, was Jesus’ attempt to ground himself to give him strength to face the cross.
Our most frequent prayers may seek God’s intervention. We may come away from this intercessory prayer wondering why God has not responded, or unable to discern God’s response.
Yet our biblical history assures us that God is faithful to the covenant community. We may enter prayer hoping for personal healing and discover that the real power in prayer is in community.
Whereas often our human vision is myopic and time constrained, God’s vision lacks limits and seeks the good of God’s creation. Our prayer life reconnects us with our ground of being and calls us into community and toward the larger vision to heal the world.
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org.
