Our plane from Atlanta to Chicago was on its ascent when my seatmate crossed himself. A simple prayer. A prayer without words.
I’m leaning toward that simple prayer in exchange for my unsophisticated prayers with words.
“Hey God, how are you? Oh, good, I’m fine too. I thought I’d check in. I don’t have much to say. Oh yeah, keep my mom safe as she goes through knee replacement surgery. She’s 87, but you know that. Well, I guess that’s it. I’ll check in again in a few weeks.”
I don’t have the gift of prayer, which makes me thankful that God doesn’t need words anyway. I mean, God knows what’s up.
Staying in touch
My mother asked her five children to download to our phones the Marco Polo app, a video text messaging approach to staying in touch. We record ourselves saying nothing of significance. And she sees our faces, our expressions and hears our meaningless words.
But it makes her happy, her children staying in touch, thinking of her, saying hello.
That’s probably all God wants. No significant conversation. Just a check in to acknowledge we remember God is there, loving us, understanding us, caring about us.
Still, no matter how many times I “Marco-Polo” my mother, she expects her Sunday evening phone call.
I imagine God wants the same. Even if I move toward “no-words, cross-myself prayers,” I suppose God, like my mother, would appreciate a live check in.
Is prayer for God or us?
Gather magazine, in its summer issues (June, July/August), is offering a three-month Bible study on prayer. You can download the three sessions for free now.
One of the questions the study asks is: “Is the practice of prayer intended for the sake of the one praying or for the One to whom we pray?”
What do you think? Is prayer for God? Or is prayer for us? How do you pray?
Terri Lackey is director for communication with Women of the ELCA. Android users can download the Marco Polo app here.
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