I was thinking yesterday, apropos of nothing in particular, about intercessory prayer. Like every other church I have attended in my life, much of our communal prayer time is spent listing the names of people in the hospital with various ailments, suffering various injuries, or the families of recently deceased persons. I have always been of two minds about this. On the one hand, it is an important part of our communal life to lift up those in need for others to be aware of. On the other hand, it seems to me (perhaps incorrectly) that we view prayer as a kind of magical incantation; if we pray, God will do whatever voodoo God do and bring about some kind of healing, or comfort, or whatever.
Prayer doesn't work like that. God doesn't work like that. Being the church does not include looking for the Divine Magic Bullet to cure our ills and hurts. When we pray for those in need - whether in terms of health, or finances, or those who mourn, or who are struggling with addiction or whatever - I do not believe we should be looking for God to "do something" beyond being present, providing strength, and offering an opportunity for others in the church community to actively participate in the support of those in need.
More important, I believe that intercession should be limited in our communal prayer life. We should be coming to God in humility, seeking to confess our collective brokenness, seek collective wisdom and guidance, and offer up prayers for the communities in which we live - prayers not for physical healing so much as for the life and spiritual health of these communities.
I figure that, since I have said that God doesn't really care all that much about the trivia and minutiae of our lives, I might as well be consistent and offer the view that God doesn't really care all that much about whether or not Aunt Martha has cancer. At least, God does not see disease and struggle and death as evils to be combated but as part of our life as embodied creatures. It is part of living as God's creatures that we will face such struggles, and should do so in the full acceptance that this, too, is part of being creatures. After all, God calls us, to quote yet again Dietrich Bonhoeffer, to die, it seems to me unlikely that God will make sure we live without the pain of suffering through a disease.
The suffering with which we Christians are called to live in solidarity is not the suffering of individuals facing physical ailment or discomfort, or the (inevitable) emotional pain of loss, but the suffering caused by human sin. That is to say, our intercessions should be for those whose lives are full of pain, and who are separated from the rest of the community either through deliberate exclusion, or the complex of circumstances that we often call "social forces". We should also seek to confess our participation in those institutions and practices that seek to exclude, that break our relations with others. While not excluding lifting up those suffering physical ailment or emotional pain, we should rather see this as a small part of our collective prayer life, and seek instead to offer our hope that we, too, will be the Church for those who need it.
Virtual Tin Cup
