Prayer, Providence, Preference.


 Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν ⸂τοῖς οὐρανοῖς⸃· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·
Our heavenly Father...may your name be exalted!
         ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, °ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ ⸆ γῆς·
May your Kingdom and will be done [by us] here upon earth as it is done in heaven.
  τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·
With gratitude we ask for sufficient bread for today
         καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν ⸂τὰ ὀφειλήματα⸃ ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ⸀ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·
May we also be forgiven our offenses as we forgive those who offend us
  καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, 
May we also not be led to enter into temptation
            ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. 
But rather, deliver us from the one who is evil.
⸆” (Matthew 6:9-13 NA28-T/My translation)


Much of what we pray for is self-serving. In the midst of crisis when the church and our communities really need us to be humble servants we often pray not for courage and capacity to serve in deteriorating circumstances, but for “deliverance” from difficulty. I write deliverance in “air quotes” because there is an unwritten presupposition that difficulties are something we need delivered from and that praying to God is mostly about escape. 

I think the best place to start, is the Lord’s Model prayer. We know it by heart which sort of misses the point. It is a model, instructions, a pattern. Learning it by heart may even preclude us from adopting the pattern of its petitions. This prayer is about community engagement in the context of prayer. It envisions both vertical and horizontal dimensions. The only deliverance requested is from the assaults of the evil one. 

It is assumed that personal holiness through worship, personal accountability through reconciling wrongs, and personal ministry through bringing about the rule of God are responsibilities for which we need God’s enabling blessing-not encumbrances from which we need rescue. 

The context changes. The first and 21st century are different. I am not sure which context is more challenging. I do know that each context can only be truly redeemed by faithful living, and humble service. 

At issue, for many of us is a pattern of prayer that has reduced it to a laundry list of what we prefer. When we choose to focus on our preferences we lose sight of God’s providence, which is of course not limited to the horizon of our experiences and expectations. We pray for our preference for a virus to be taken away…when it is possible that God’s purpose, His leading, His ultimate guidance for us can only come through enduring this menace, engaging our community, expanding the reach of the Kingdom. 

While we do not applaud evil nor celebrate chaos it is a certainty of Christian history that God has providentially worked through such circumstances to strengthen His church and thereby to change the world. 

The difference is this. When we pray for our preferences we are saying, “God save me.” When we pray for His providence we are saying “God change me.”