I know you’ve experienced this.
In a moment of well-intentioned extroversion you ask someone, “Is there anything I can do for you?” They kindly and predictably reply, “Please just pray about ________.” To which you instinctively feel the desire to respond, “But, is there anything I can ACTUALLY do for you?”
Me too. It happens all the time. We don’t feel as if we are truly doing something for each other unless it involves using our hands and feet.
Now - this instinct is both right and wrong - or rather, right and insufficient.
RIGHT: The instinct is right insofar as it reveals our desires to impact the real, physical, material world. We are not Christian/Buddhist hybrids who think the spiritual is superior to the physical and therefore a spiritual act (like prayer) is more meaningful than a physical act (bringing someone a meal).
The Christian faith takes the material world seriously. God made it, called it good, gave it for our stewardship and blessing, and has redeemed it with his material death and resurrection. His promise is to restore the material world. He cares for it, loves it, and is committed to it - and so, as Christians, are we.
So, our desire to serve each other by doing something physical is a good instinct - it takes the materialism of our Christian faith seriously.
INSUFFICIENT: However, it is also wrong, or - more precisely - insufficient. When we pray, we are not doing something merely spiritual. But rather something that is both spiritual and material. To be clear, this is only true of Christian prayer, not all forms prayer.
Christian prayer is distinct because we pray with and in the Spirit of the risen Jesus Christ. Jesus is God made flesh. The spiritual eternally fused with the material. God becoming part of His creation.
So when we pray in the Spirit of Jesus, we stand with Him between the spiritual realm and the earthly realm to speak and listen back and forth. The words we speak into and hear from “the heavens” shape and change both us and our world.
SO WHAT? Now (this is going somewhere, I promise) we are all quarantined in this time of coronavirus pandemic. We want to be doing more for and with each other - but the answer the question, “how can I help you?” will (for the next few weeks) be answered 90% of the time with some version of, “Can you pray for ______?”
So, my friends, since we are unable to do the things we would normally prefer to do rather than pray, let’s seize the opportunity to give ourselves to prayer in a new way. Not as an alternative to doing something material, but as a means of impacting the material world.
SOME HELPERS: As a reminder that our prayers impact the physical world, the church has historically taken up embodied practices during prayer.
Crossing Oneself: Touching your forehead, left shoulder, right shoulder, and center chest while repeating “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” A reminder that the cross of Christ is your forgiveness and redemption.
Kneeling: Reminding you to approach God with humility.
Lying Prostrate: A sign of complete submission to the will of God.
Lifting One’s Arms: Originally an Orthodox posture of prayer, this has been more recently adopted by the Charismatic movement - a sign of worship and adoration.
Holding a Cross: Gripping a small, wooden cross in your hand while you pray - to remind you that, it is only because of the cross of Jesus that your prayers of heard and accepted.
Friends, you might use all or none of these, the point is - prayer is one of the few things we have left to do for one another, for our neighbors, and for our city.
What if, in this strange time of quarantine, we labored long and faithfully in prayer?
What if this was the season where you learned how to pray consistently?
What if (if you have kids) this was the season you learned to pray as a family?
What if you came out on the other side of quarantine a changed person because you spent such significant time in prayer?
In the Father’s love,
Dan
