A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on January 19th, 2009 in Progressive Faith

An email conversation landed me here. From beginning with a description over the controversy of allowing Rick Warren to speak at the Inaugural, the author moves on to denounce all public prayer. He writes:

Which brings us back to Jesus’ disciples. Only instead of needing someone to teach us how or what to pray, we need some reminders about what prayer is and is not.

For instance, prayer is not ceremonial. Prayers offered at public events like football games, graduations and presidential inaugurations are mere ceremony. They are prelude to something else that is the main event. If Jesus is right and prayer is actually a conversation we can have with God, then we have no business reducing it down to the level of a starter pistol at a foot race.

Prayer isn’t ceremonial? Then why has practically every church I’ve ever set foot in recited the Lord’s Prayer during their worship service – which is, incidentally, a ceremony? What is the Apostle’s/Nicene Creed if not a ceremonial prayer? I smell Ana-baptism prejudice here. “Only we really know how to pray.” Really?

A prayer that is a “prelude to something else that is the main event?” Like the prayer said before the Lord’s Supper is celebrated? Uh-oh. I think I hear the sound of a toe being stepped on.

A prayer offered at the beginning of a sporting event, a graduation, or even an inauguration has as much – and as little – significance as does a prayer offered at any other time. It is not the setting or even the content that marks prayer. It is the heart of the person praying that determines prayer.

If I may deviate a bit, let’s build on the concept of prayer as a conversation – a child of God speaking to the Heavenly Father. Are my children’s text messages and emails any less of a conversation with me because of the means of their delivery? That would seem an odd hair to split. If I speak to my son in a restaraunt rather than in a church, is the conversation any less relevant?

Let me answer this: God is not limited to hearing things said on Sunday morning, nor is he limited to hearing only what is said in the “proper” tone or will the prettiest words attached. So I’m afraid I’ll have to reject the idea that prayer is not ceremonial. No, it shouldn’t be lowered to the status of, “God, let me find a parking place.” But the point is that no one but myself and God can possibly know if I am praying at any moment. Even if I’m reciting Our Father.

The second half of the essay is simply an exercise in internal contradiction. For example, the author says:

Furthermore, prayer is not a way to make a symbolic statement. In the case of the inauguration ceremony, Mr. Obama has invited a conservative right-wing pastor to pray at the beginning, and a stalwart of the civil rights movement to pray at the end. So we get the symbolism. Mr. Obama wants a big religiously diverse tent. But using prayer to make that point empties prayer of its actual significance.

But then he goes on to say that Franklin Graham was right to pray “in Jesus name” at President Bush’s Inauguration. Hey – isn’t that symbolic? I’m telling you that it is physically impossible to pray “in the name” of anyone. You pray with your heart and your mind. You know what else? The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t end with “In Jesus’ name.” Jesus suggested to his followers that whatever they asked for “in my name” would be granted, but it wasn’t in a discussion about prayer. It was when Jesus was preparing his followers for his absence. In John 14, it says:

8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

The whole phrase “in my name” is symbolic. The argument makes as much sense as Liberace at the Playboy Club.

“Prayer that is not specific is not prayer?” What about the Biblical example of Jesus praying “not my will but thine.” That’s pretty ambiguous. “Okay, forget what I want. It’s all you, Big Guy!” “…a prayer that has no specific theological content is not a prayer at all.” Yeah? Someone crying out to God on a battlefield is not a prayer? David’s rending of his garments and weeping as he begged God for forgiveness isn’t prayer?

The great example that the author finishes with is George Washington leading his entourage to St. Paul’s church to read from the Book of Common Prayer. Of course, the Book of Common Prayer is ceremonial. If it isn’t prayer as a prelude, then it can hardly be prayer if it is an appendix, either. And, anyway, the story is incomplete.

Washington said his oath on a balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, then went inside to speak to the Congress. After he was done, the assemblage went to St. Paul’s. The reason? St. Paul’s would fit more people. Oh yeah, George Washington kissed the Bible after he said his oath of office. He also added “So help me God,” to his oath. And the reading from the Book of Common Prayer was done by the Senate chaplain.

The author ends with:

Apparently Washington understood that authentic prayer requires a proper setting, substantive content, and willing participants. Anything less is not prayer.

Funny. I’ll go along with “willing participants” – otherwise it’s just people mouthing words. But I’d also point out that everyone at the Obama Inauguration is a willing participant (or did I miss something?). As far as a “proper setting”, Jesus did suggest that we pray in our closet. But then he prayed on a mountain, in a garden, and hanging on the cross. Substantive content? The Lord’s Prayer is about as general as a prayer can get.

The political consideration of a public prayer is an entirely different matter. But the idea that a prayer offered in public, asking for God’s blessing, even if done in ambigious terms to be as inclusive as possible, can’t be an actual prayer? Well, I think I’ll let God be the arbiter of that one. I’d rather offer a prayer, in which people can join or not as they will, than to ban prayer all together. The last time I checked, James Evans was in no position to determine if God hears my prayers. He’s surely in no position to determine if I mean them or not. There is no way he is in position to determine what God thinks about them.

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