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On Praying for My Country

Some time ago I was teaching a Sunday School class and the topic of prayer at public events came up. Now I would have a serious problem offering prayer at a public event. Though I support the idea of separation of church and state, my major objection is not based on the constitutional principle. After all, courts have allowed prayers in congress.

My opposition is simply that I believe public prayer is prayer offered for a group. If it is just a ritual, or if it cannot reasonably be expected that the group joining in the prayer actually does join, then to me it is empty. I could sit out in my car and pray for a blessing on the activities of government, but I could not stand up in the group and offer a prayer as though God and the governmental meeting were on the same program.

In my private prayers for the government, I pray largely that God will give wisdom to political leaders. I do not make the assumption that those political leaders and the political system under which I live are somehow more on God’s program than any other.

I think that prayers at government events are not designed to invoke God’s favor, nor are they designed to seek God’s will. They are designed to give the impression that those who are doing the government’s business are, in fact, blessed, and are somehow blessed. It’s the whitewash on the sepulcher.

In any case, to get back to the story, my explanation of my own view didn’t get through. One gentleman raised his hand and said, “I think you just don’t have the courage of your convictions.”

“No,” I told him, “I don’t have the courage of your convictions.”

In the discussion that followed, it became clear that he simply could not conceive of a reason for not offering a public prayer, other than that I was afraid of offending people in the audience. He (and many in the room) were so certain that this was an appropriate activity that they simply couldn’t see any reason not to. To them, America is God’s country, a Christian nation, and there’s no problem with Christian prayers.

I was reminded of this when reading this post by Arthur Sido (HT: Dave Black Online via Christian-Archy.com). This is a topic that will shock many, many American Christians. Why not wear a “God Bless America” T-Shirt? It’s not something they’ve ever considered. The conviction that God is on our side runs very deep. Often it erupts in the claim that American policy carries out God’s will, either knowingly or unknowingly. That claim in turn can lead us to give up the church’s mission and ministry to the world.

If we truly believe that the Gospel is “God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes” then we ought to act that way. But over and over again our solutions for economic problems, crime, moral issues, and even family relations is to get the government to solve it for us. I don’t doubt that the government needs to have its eye on such things, but how much of our effort as Christians needs to be used in that way?

Would we not change more people and make more of a difference in our world by living and proclaiming (and I believe proclaiming without living is no proclamation at all) the good news accomplish more than all the political activism we can do as a church?

I don’t know this, but I think most of us simply don’t believe that the Gospel will transform people’s lives. I don’t think we really believe the Gospel will work. I suspect that, throughout Christian history, our resort to the sword of the state results from a lack of faith.

The separation I’m most concerned about is the separation where the church says, “We cannot compromise the gospel with the state’s structures of power. We need to stay away to maintain the integrity of the gospel.” The theological separation is more important than the constitutional.

 

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5 Comments

  1. Henry – I offer prayers at government ceremonies on a regular basis. As a military chaplain, my situation is somewhat different than that of a pastor who is invited to pray on similar occasions. My thoughts on ceremonial prayer in my ministry setting are here: http://bit.ly/jflcmJ

    But reference: “I think that prayers at government events are not designed to invoke God’s favor,nor are they designed to seek God’s will. They are designed to give the impression that those who are doing the government’s business are, in fact, blessed, and are somehow blessed. It’s the whitewash on the sepulcher.” I do not concur (and don’t feel great about having this part of my work called whitewash on the sepulcher).

    In 20+ years of military service, it has never been my intent to glorify the nation or its Army by adorning it with sacred foo foo. I pray for real people doing a tough job in a very human institution. When I pray at a change of command, for example, it’s usually the most real, humble and least-vainglorious thing that occurs. The speeches say everything is great. The troops look invincible. But the old commander is relieved to be stepping out of the pressure cooker, sad to leave and anxious about the future. The new commander is asking himself “What have I gotten myself into” and the troops on the field are wondering “What is life under this new guy going to be like? Can we trust him with our lives?” I certainly do ask for God’s blessings on these men and women, and on the institution in which they serve. The offering of a prayer in this situation doesn’t add to the pomp; quite the opposite, it says that things might not be so neat and tidy as the rest of the ceremony might suggest. I usually end with a prayer that we might achieve a measure of the peace we seek, that the blood, toil, tears and sweat associated with military service not be in vain. For me, this isn’t imperial propaganda; it’s a prayer for the people I serve, for the people their service will impact and for the world in which we all live.

    Of course I could – and do – pray for these people privately, and with the community of faith. The public prayer, I hope, enables others to give words to their own hopes and fears as they address God in their own hearts. And as a chaplain, I want to do this for all. Some of those standing on the field will share my faith commitment to Jesus and his church, some may have a tangential relationship to Christ and others may have different faith commitments altogether. This is where the situation of a chaplain and an invited pastor differ.

    1. As a veteran myself, though very much apart from Christianity at the time, I did observe the value of military chaplains. I would confess that I didn’t personally find them helpful, but that was at least as much me as them. I do see the differences you note between certain military situations and say a prayer at a city council meeting.

  2. It’s my experience that while not all who are gathered wish to pray, there are some who will say Amen with you and often it can be a time to publicly pray for those who have gathered.

    “Legality” of and within prayer is an interesting topic. For a period of time a number of years ago I refused to end any of my public prayers in Jesus name…which raised some interesting commentary at church and fellowship groups. It was argued that God could not answer my prayers as I hadn’t asked in “Jesus name”…

  3. The “Jesus’ name” issue seems a bit legalistic to me. If you do pray in a public setting and are comfortable in doing so from a spiritual sense, expressing your prayer in such a way that the largest possible number of those present can join you sounds like a good idea. I like to say that God answers prayer better than we pray them.

    Though I use the phrase, I tend to think that “in Jesus’ name” is often used more as a sort of magical phrase. The intent, I think, is to ask as followers of Jesus and, to the best of our knowledge within his will and character.

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