A Playoff Prayer

January 3:
We’re getting close to the playoffs and lots of “true believers” are even now praying for their favorite team. I would suspect that if you asked these "pray-ers" if they really expected God to back their team they would say, “no.” They don’t believe that much.

But, it seems to me that the theological crisis here (if there is one) is that for most people prayer seems to have lost all meaning. It has been reduced to a spiritual letter to a cosmic Santa Claus. A Santa that we aren’t even sure we believe in anymore.

The other problem in our increasingly secular world is that we have made prayer a sort of litmus test for God’s existence. It goes something like this…if I pray and God gets me what I want then it is proof that He exists. If I pray and I don’t get what I want then it is just another reason to not believe. The way I hear people talk, many of them are just one unanswered prayer away from atheism.

As the playoffs approach, and the prayers start to flow, let me see if I can simplify this whole prayer discussion.

If prayer is “talking to God” (like we tell our children) and if God is our heavenly Father (like we tell our children) then prayer is like talking to our father.

And when we talk to our father we talk about…? It kind of depends on what our relationship with our father is like. If we trust him we might tell him personal things. If we think he’s particularly wise then we might ask his advise. If we think that he is someone we would like to emulate we might want to know more about him. Like I said, it kind of depends on what our relationship with him is like.

Now, let’s pretend that our father is all knowing and all-powerful. Should I expect that he will give me everything I ask for? I hope not. I mean, if he knows more than me then I would want him to do for me what he thinks is best. Now we’re back to that “how much I trust him” conversation.

I guess what it comes down to for me is “relationship.” When I talk to my heavenly Father I get to know Him better. As I learn to know Him better then I learn to trust Him more. As I learn to trust Him more then the more willing I am to let Him decide for me.

As the game begins I might still say a simple prayer that my God (my heavenly Father) might help my favorite team. But, this little bit of heavenly conversation won’t really be about supernatural intervention. This will fall into the category of personal things that I trust Him with.