Who Are We Following?

In the last week, television programs, radio talk shows, and the internet have played host to all kinds of arrogant, combative, hateful tirades aimed at those whose political views differ from the speaker or writer. Such an atmosphere unfortunately has become the norm in our society and can hardly be said to be surprising. Sadly, much of the inexcusably hateful chatter I have come across this week has come from those who claim to be followers of Jesus. The name-calling, slanderous slurs, inaccurate insinuations of folks on both sides of the political aisle have been disheartening. The claims by people on both sides that God is on their particular side have been discouraging. Politically charged attacks on philosophical enemies shrouded in prayer language have been disgusting.

Certainly there is a time and place for vigorous, even heated dialogue regarding issues that affect the lives of so many. What is more, there is a time and place for serious disagreement and a time and place to take a stand. But if we follow Jesus, we must never allow our passion for or commitment to a particular political philosophy to lead us to engage in behavior that flies in the face of Jesus’ call to love and pray for our enemies. If we follow Jesus, we must never allow our passion for or commitment to a particular political philosophy to lead us to take the Lord’s name in vain by claiming to know with certainty that God is on this side or that side.

If we truly follow Jesus, we trust that our future is not dependent upon the triumph of big government or limited government. We trust that our future is not dependent upon privatized healthcare or government-run healthcare. Our future is not dependent upon whether Democrats or Republicans control the House of Representatives, the Senate, or the White House. Rather, if we truly follow Jesus, we trust the enemy-loving peacemaker who said, “Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.”

O God purify our speech and actions. Help us in our speech and actions to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Lead us not into the temptation toward hateful speech and deliver us from the evil of attacking our enemies. Give us the courage not to follow those who spread hatred or incite fear, but to follow Jesus whose love for enemies overwhelms hatred and drives out fear. By your Spirit conform us to the likeness of the Peacemaker, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Praying for Which Kingdom?

It's interesting to pay attention to conversations about prayer. Often it seems as though after many disclaimers about the importance of prayer that transcends Christmas-list-style requests or yard-sale-style bargaining, the conversation will conclude with a Seinfeld-esque, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." I must confess that's how I, too, often conclude conversations about prayer. The truth is, however, that is more than just a reluctant conclusion to my conversations about prayer; the call to honesty compels me to admit that, more often than not, the reluctant conclusion is mostly a way of trying to make peace with my own failure to really practice something more than "not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-that" kind of prayer.

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The term "prayer" could be said to be an appropriate description of far more human speech than we typically describe with the term, at least insofar as "prayer" often means for us merely requests presented to God. For instance, we don't tend to think of the disciples, as presented to us in the gospels, as particularly prayerful folks. In fact, we tend to view them as novices, given Luke's account of the disciples' requesting Jesus to "teach [them] to pray." But the reality is the disciples could be said to have been prayerful people. They "prayed" to Jesus to save them from the terrifying thunderstorm. They "prayed" to Jesus that they might be able to have a hand in destroying their Samaritan opposition. They "prayed" to Jesus in search of a declaration of their superiority compared to those who acted in Jesus' name but whom the disciples themselves did not know. They "prayed" to Jesus for V.I.P. treatment in the afterlife. They "prayed" to Jesus in hopes of being commissioned to make a last stand against the arresting mob in the garden. It is true that the disciples were novices in terms of the spiritual maturity (or lack thereof) of their prayer lives, but it was certainly not for lack of trying.

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Similarly the term "prayer" could be used to describe far more of the human speech in our own time than we typically describe with the term. Sure the proliferation of books, seminars, classes, and blog posts about prayer might suggest we view ourselves as novices when it comes to prayer. But the truth is we tend to be prayerful people. We "pray" to God to save us from natural disasters and national security crises. We "pray" to God in search of a declaration of our (team's, church's, community's, country's) superiority compared to those we do not know very well or who seem to be quite different than us. We "pray" for V.I.P. treatment in the afterlife, many of us whether or not we believe in any kind of afterlife. We "pray" for opportunities to triumph over those we perceive to be our enemies. The truth is many of us tend to be novices in terms of the spiritual maturity (or lack thereof) of our prayer lives, but it is certainly not for lack of trying.

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It seems to me the challenge at the heart of the quest for a spiritually mature practice of prayer is that we often find ourselves praying for the wrong kingdom. It might be the kingdom of one's personal life. It might be the kingdom of one's business. It might be the kingdom of one's church. It might be the kingdom of one's community. It might be the kingdom of one's country. Or it might be one of the many other kingdoms competing with the Kingdom of God. Each time we "pray" we have a choice to pray for an impostor kingdom or for the Kingdom for which Jesus encourages us to longingly pray.

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We often minimize the degree to which we struggle with this choice we have each time we "pray." To admit we do, in fact, struggle seems to be an admission of weakness or a lack of faith or an incomplete commitment. Yet we would do well to confess just such a weakness or a lack of faith or an incomplete commitment, rather than try to cover up what others often can see more clearly than we. Moreover, if we do not self-critically realize our own struggle to choose to pray for the Kingdom for which Jesus encourages us to longingly pray, we may find ourselves caught in a situation like the one captured in this video, which epitomizes the struggle many of us face day in and day out.

May God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the indwelling Holy Spirit bless us with courage, fill us with strength, and grant us wisdom that we might pray not for our own impostor kingdoms but for the only Kingdom which endures forever.