The older, Asian gentleman sat across from me in my office at a medium-sized suburban congregation in Northeast Indianapolis. Preschool students were gathering and the noise from the drop-off line could be heard even from behind closed doors.
“Say again, how do you want me to pray for you? I’m a little confused.” His English, while heavily accented, was flawless. Turns out, he really did want me to use my ‘spiritual powers’ to make his wife not leave him.
He was serious.
He was also, I would find out with further questioning, a practitioner of a rare Eastern Mystical Religion. He had married a woman who was nominally involved in the Christian Church. In fact, she was Lutheran. Hence why he was reaching out to me that day,
In his religious setting, the priest/shaman could influence the will of people who shared the same faith. So, he reasoned, since his wife was a Lutheran, surely, I could be persuaded to pray and successfully influence his wife’s decision about staying in the relationship.
He had a large wad of cash in his hand. I’m not kidding. He was serious, He had come to request and pay for my services. It was a natural solution for him based on his background and religious practice.
I had questions.
Over the next forty minutes or so I would learn a lot about this man and his marriage. By his own admission, his wife had, let’s just say legitimate reasons to leave him. Yet his solution was not to examine his behavior and ongoing life choices and come to her with a commitment to change etc. It was to pay me to pray, and in so doing, shift her will, and her decision-making in favor of his wishes. Sans any life change on his part.
I had more questions.
Then I shared the Gospel with him and informed him that God made people to have agency, to direct their own lives, and even if I could, I would not do anything to influence his wife’s decision, apart from the two of them submitting to counseling with an eye toward repentance and reconciliation. It would be hard work and perhaps both of them would have to examine their lives and make some hard choices about how they relate to one another. But saving their marriage was possible.
He went away from our meeting sad and a little frustrated. So did I.
How does prayer work? If God already knows what we need, and what we think, why bother? If prayer could shift someone’s will, would you use it that way? How do you know what’s best for them? The man in my office was clear. He wanted to buy a solution to his problem with literally no effort on his part. He had money after all. How does the spiritual problem of wealth or mammon affect our prayers and our attitude toward prayer? What happens when people pray? What is the difference between rote, written prayers, and extemporaneous prayers? Is one better than the other? What do some Christians mean by ‘praying’ the scriptures? What does it mean when we just don’t get what we pray for?
Come this Sunday with your questions and ponderings. We are starting a season in our Education Time. We will be studying prayer. First off, it’s important to find out where you all are. So, for our first session, will be mostly posing questions. I’m not planning on being able to answer those questions, merely collect them for now. What we discuss this Sunday will shape where the time goes next week.
Blessings+
Pastor Mark
0 Comments