Although I have spent years doing it, and even have a graduate certificate that qualifies me to teach about it, I have struggled with the subject of prayer for most of my life. Just what is the purpose of prayer?
My prayer life began when I was a child. I was taught to ask God’s blessing on my food before meals. I was taught to ask God’s blessing on my family and friends. But no one ever explained what that meant. Did that mean I wanted God to make good things happen for my family and friends? Even more confusing – if that’s what blessing meant, what good think would happen to my food when I blessed it? Yes, prayer was very confusing for me as a child.
As I grew older I was taught that God loves everyone and God knows everything. Well, if that’s true, then won’t God already bless everyone? Why do I have to ask? And if God knows everything, doesn’t God already know what people need? Why do I have to ask?
It didn’t take long for me to go from those questions to the BIG question: why do bad things happen to good people? Why did my junior high school friend’s mother – who was a really nice lady and lots of fun - die of breast cancer? Didn’t God know my friend would be devastated by her mother’s death? Why did the mean guy around the corner live to a ripe old age even though he was nasty to everyone and had been in jail for stealing – and wasn’t about to change his ways?
It took a lot of years and a lot of life to begin to understand that prayer isn’t about changing God, or informing God about bad situations that need God’s attention. Prayer is about changing the world by changing me – and every person who prays.
At this point in my life I have developed a way of thinking about prayer that works for me. I’ll share it, and I hope you understand that this is not official doctrine but an individual’s way of making sense that you can discard if it isn’t helpful to you.
In my mind, our world is enveloped in a field of God’s grace. Grace is inextricably woven into the fabric of the material world, holds the immaterial world in relationship, and surrounds the earth in the same way our atmosphere does. Grace is the ebb and flow of God’s loving intention at work in the world.
When I pray, I am taking my own God-given attention and intention and contributing to that field. In that way, whenever I pray I strengthen my healthy and life-giving connection to not just the person or situation about which I am praying, but to God and the entire world. And in strengthening that connection I am strengthening my connection with God and God’s love and God’s grace.
My prayers – whether in words or in silence – serve to transform myself and the world because they broaden the channel through which God’s love flows. Whenever God’s love is given more room to be present, the world becomes a better place to live in and I, in turn, discover that I receive more of God’s peace and joy.
That’s why I pray. What about you?
Rev. Vivian Hiestand
Associate Pastor