Praying With Paul & David (Not In Lah-Lah Land)

Thinking more today about the prayer life of Paul and the exuberant fount of prayers that we find in the Psalms. It seems that there are a few key underlying platforms that help us move past lame "pray for my Aunt Marge's big toe" prayers to prayers that actually do holy damage in our lives and in our world.

First, is a sense of the wonder of God, the love of God, and a faith in God to be God...even when all the circumstantial evidence seem to weigh in against such a thing/person/being even existing. This faith in God to be God even when (from our perspective) he seems to be making a mess of everything keeps David coming back in the Psalms.

Second, and certainly connected, is holy imagination. Some of us don't have very active imaginations, others of us have over-active imaginations, or imaginations that latch onto just about anything except what is holy and good.

But apart from cultivating holy imagination, we will always be limited in our understanding of the breadth and wonder of God's love and his Kingdom as it is coming, as it could possibly come, as we might long for it to come.

This is not living in lah-lah land. This is being caught up in the vision of God's work going forth in our own lives, conquering all the pain and death and brokenness in this world, and leaning our prayer life into this certain and sure future.

The cultivating of holy imagination is one of the most under-discussed spiritual disciplines in the church. But apart from holy imagination, we cannot enter into the wonder and mystery of God that Paul speaks about and delights in so richly throughout his letters. Apart from cultivating holy imagination, we will never learn to pray.

Finally, urgency is a fantastic driver for prayer. Plenty of us who stink at prayer suddenly find motivation when something is pressing; when a dream or hope or family member is on the line we find fresh energy for prayer.

For Paul, the gospel going forth is a matter of great urgency. It matters if Greeks and barbarians do not hear the gospel. It is a matter of life or death.

This does not play well in my context. The sophisticated, educated, academic culture where I minister would prefer me to think that nothing much matters except that people get educated enough to blunt their religious passions.

But urgency is part of what drives genuine prayer. And there is plenty that is urgent to address, particularly the very real fact that thousands on my campus are apart from Christ and therefore are not actually alive yet.

I think that we can enter into a vibrant and healthy and active prayer life if at least one of these things is in play. When all of them are on the sidelines (which happens to me from time to time) my prayer life probably needs to shift back to the very basic question that the disciples asked of Jesus: "Lord, teach me to pray..."