Prayer as an Act of Community
Today’s is the last of a three-part series on prayer and fasting that we are offering in response to Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ call for the folks of our great state to pray and fast over lunch from July 20-22 as part of our response to the COVID-19 crisis. Our first two installments covered, respectively, “Why Should We Pray and Fast?”, and “Fasting Misunderstood.” We conclude this series by taking a quick look at prayer as an act of community, drawing from several different letters from the Apostle Paul.
I believe the case could be made that prayer is the spiritual discipline that can seem so tangible and real to us while also feeling so aloof and elusive. You could also make the case that prayer is an ultimate Rorschach test in that we have the capability to see in prayer whatever we might like while also casting aside that which does not appeal to us.
Prayer is very intriguing to me because it is one of the few topics about which Jesus was crystal-clear and explicit - the Lord’s Prayer was recorded as a direct response to a direct question; rather than giving us a parable to illustrate a point. Prayer is also very intriguing to me because it is an invitation from our creator to approach them at any time for any reason with any concern, thus illustrating our God’s strong desire to know those divinely created.
While I firmly believe prayer is a good and glorious thing, and something that should not be in our life but should BE our life - reference Paul’s admonition for the faithful to pray without ceasing - I do believe that sometimes we have a temptation to make prayer a more personal exercise…a more “that’s between me and God” thing that overlooks that God’s people are called to be in prayer together as a community.
There are more than a few examples in scripture about the faith community being called to pray; in our current context, though, it might be helpful to us to hear Paul’s voice in a few different places. Hear these brief verses from Ephesians, Colossians, and First Thessalonians:
Ephesians 6:18 - Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.
Colossians 4:2: Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 5:16ff - Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
If you go digging a little further, you will discover these three excerpts come from the closing of each of the letters in question. We must never forget that Paul’s writings to churches were just that - to the churches as a whole. While we often try to personalize and internalize these lessons for ourselves, when we look at them through the lens of being written to a community, Paul’s wisdom takes on whole new dimensions.
Amongst the last words the churches will hear from Paul are exhortations to be people of prayer. “Ephesians, be sure to pray in the spirit at all times in every prayer…” “Colossians, be sure to devote yourselves to prayer…” “Thessalonians, be sure to pray without ceasing…” I’ve always found it fascinating that in certain places Paul will address folks by name, but oftentimes calls the community as a whole, as he does in these instances about prayer.
As we conclude our three days of prayer and fasting as part of our response to COVID-19, may we be always conscious of the fact that while it is important for individual Christians to be people of prayer, let us always have ringing in our ears the calling Paul gave to the early churches to be a community of prayer. I can almost hear him now: “To the dear folk of Louisiana, even in the midst of some very hard and seemingly unbearable times, be people of prayer, casting all your cares upon God, and knowing you approach this sacred calling united in Christ through prayer with one another and all the saints of the church eternal, universal, and triumphant, for ours is a shared journey, shared faith, and shared opportunity for God’s work to be done in and through you.”
Grace & Peace,
Lamar