Prayer

I was with some folks at lunch and we were talking about all sorts of things. When there was a lull, one person declared that they had a theological question for me. Through that question we got to talking about the dark times in our lives and the response of another present was that we should pray during these times. And while I certainly believe in prayer, everyday prayer, during the good and the bad, I had to acknowledge that in the dark it is sometimes hard to find the switch that would give us the resolve we need to be able to pray. There are times that the pull of the darkness is so heavy, there is no way to get our souls in a place that they can look to heaven and talk to God, even when God is right there with us. I would also agree that these are the times that we especially need to pray, that prayer needs to come from a place of obedience and not just because we feel like it, or feel that we are heard. But more than anything, what I heard God saying to and through me today was that during these times of darkness that is what the church is for. When we are not able to lift ourselves up to God, then we must trust others to lift us up to him for us. I know that this is hard, to admit that we can’t find the switch on our own, but we must. And we must consider the alternative, what if we didn’t have anyone to pray for us. If you read that and think, I don’t have anyone to pray for me, am I missing out? I would tell you yes, yes you are certainly missing out. People sometimes like to get down on church, the politics, the ornery people, and the very unJesuslikeness that it is sometimes. And yes, those things suck, and those things maybe shouldn’t be, but they are and the alterative is much worse. To have no one to pray for us, that is not an enviable place. As best as is possible, I pray that for you, you are able to let the church be the church.