The other day I was reading a blog by one of my friends from
college. His blog, found
here,
was about prayer. His blog got me thinking about prayer and how many times I
think we feel when one prays it must be very eloquent and spiritual. Despite
scriptures like Luke 18:9-14, in which the sinner's prayer trumps the Pharisee
because of his humbleness and heart.
Perhaps we have come to think of prayer
in such a manner because we grew up hearing the same prayers every Sunday or
maybe because we hear intense prayers during times when we are emotional during worship. Still, perhaps
it is because we hear "celebrity preachers" speak with such enthusiasm, eloquence,
and passion we feel we just simply do not and cannot measure up.
As a Chaplain I offer numerous prayers every week over the
intercom and to individuals, families, and staff. I admit, sometimes these
prayers seem rote, rehearsed, and even mundane. The reality is I just cannot find a way to
come up with so many different prayers for so many different individuals.
However, I think God hears my heart as I pray for each patient by name, speak
to why they are in the hospital, and the rest of my prayer is pretty repetitive.
But repetitive
for whom? Yes, for me I hear mostly the same prayers but for those whom I am praying,
they hear someone coming alongside them, lifting them up, and gathering two or
more individuals into a sacred moment, a moment in which we become aware of
God's presence in the room and in our lives.
I do not think prayer is the only area in which we have this
problem. I believe in missions many people see going to other countries for a
week to six months as a strong test of faith, while handing out food to the
poor week after week gets little, if any, notice in the local church. I am not suggesting God isn't present when people go overseas, instead, I am suggesting God is present
in both the extraordinary and mundane, the awesome and the
simple, the overseas missionary and the local one.
Take a look at what we have in scripture. In the Old
Testament in 1 Kings 19:11-13:
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the
presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and
powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but
the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the
Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah
heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth
of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Why is God in the whisper? Why is humanity made from the
breath of God and dirt (Gen. 2:7)? There seems to be a connection, a
time in which God is in the simple, the regular; yet God is in the extraordinary as well. In the Old Testament God is also awe-some many times in the book of Exodus. There is a bush on fire that is never
consumed, the ten plagues, a river that runs dry for the Hebrews and then overflows, and a pillar of fire or a cloud that
lead the Hebrews out of Egypt
and toward the promised land.
We see this in the New Testament in the person of
Jesus as well. Who is this man who is born in a manger (LK 2:6-7, 16), a feeding trough
for animals; yet later is transfigured next to Moses and Elijah (MT 17:1-13)? Let us not
forget at his birth were both the shepherds and wise men (LK 2:8-16; MT
2:1-12). Here is the perfect image, that Jesus brings those who are high and
low to him, working in those who seem extraordinary and those who seem mundane
and forgotten.
In the Kingdom
of God we speak often of
these hilltop experiences and then speak negatively of the low experiences, the
valleys. Are the valleys a lack of faith or are they also true faith, when we
worship God because of who he is and not because of what we feel? Do we
only praise God because we get a tingle from a prayer, worship song, or other experience?
What we need is a more well-rounded understanding like Job (1:20-21).
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.
Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s
womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may
the name of the Lord be praised.”
Today, may you see God in the extraordinary and in the mundane.
~ Daniel Brockhan
