The Practice of Prayer

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

I posted this meme this week, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision on prayer. And when I posted it, I simply wrote: “Satire appears to be dead…”

This is, of course, all in response to a Supreme Court decision last week, regarding a coach’s decision to pray —quite publicly, and visibly— at the 50 yard line during a high school football game.

America has been debating “prayer in schools” for as long as I’ve been alive. My own view is pretty well known and can be summed up with the following joke:

“So long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in school.”

Today, friends, let’s remind ourselves what prayer is, and is not.

Prayer should be a *breath* that flows forth from us, a conversation with God that we are always having, in all places and times. It doesn’t have to be flowery, or show-y, or ostentatious.

In fact, this satirical meme is based on *actual* words of Jesus, that I’m sure you’ll recall. Once upon a time, when Jesus was praying, he told his Disciples this:

“Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven…
“When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
“When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.”

Jesus is trying to reframe our view of prayer…away from the FORM of prayer, and back to the PRACTICE of it.

Of course, we pray every week in worship. But those worship-prayers are but one instance of what we trust is an ongoing and constant conversation with God throughout the week.

To be clear then: I pray all the time. I just don’t dramatically fall to my knees in highly public places to do it.

I pray “Be with me,” every time I step into the pulpit to preach.
I pray, “Thank you God,” every time I see a sunset at White Rock Lake.
I pray, “Give us courage,” every time I’m entering the door of a hospital room to visit a sick member.
I pray, “Oh, thank you…” every time I hear a song that moves me for the first time.

The point is: I never once fall to my knees, in front of hundreds of people, making a flowery show of my prayer.

I just do it.
And, according to Jesus, so should you.

The joke remains true. So long as there are tests, there will be prayer in school. Prayer was never, for one moment, “illegal” in our schools. What was frowned upon (until last week) were ostentatious and showy prayers led by public school staff; or forced prayers, required of all students, regardless of their faith tradition.

We do *not* need, as a nation, coaches and teachers in public schools teaching our children how to pray.

I mean, this is an idea that is not very well thought through…

What form of prayer will teachers and coaches use?
One they (teachers and coaches) learned in *their* particular church?
Do you know how many denominations there are?
Are our Evangelical Christian friends going to seriously be OK with Muslim Prayers?
Or Wiccan ones?

Evangelical Christians who applaud this ruling fail to understand the can of worms that it’s opened up. They assume that *their* prayers, from *their* churches, would be just fine…what’s the problem?

Again, my primary concern is not the legal one, or even the interfaith one. In fact, I’m kinda looking forward to the first Muslim coach that turns to Mecca to pray on the 50-yard-line.

But, of course, the supporters of this law aren’t interested in interfaith prayer. They’re interested in furthering Christian Nationalism.

My concern about this law comes not from the *legal* side, but from the *Jesus* side. I’m concerned about the law because I read Matthew, Chapter 6. And you should too.

This “meme” is funny because praying on the 50-yard-line is literally the *exact opposite* of what Jesus tells us to do.

Jesus calls us to “pray in secret,” not because prayer is shameful, but because prayer is not performative. Prayer is relationship. Praying on the 50-yard-line —with hundreds of spectators looking on— cannot help but be performative.

I mean, don’t miss what Jesus says. Jesus *literally says* that performative prayers —prayed “so that people will see them”— are hypocritical.

Instead, Jesus calls us to an on-going, ever-present *relationship* with God; not to show off our fancy, theological linguistic vocabulary.

In fact, Jesus says that some prayers are just “a flood of empty words.”

Boom.

So, look, I’m not a legal scholar. I can’t tell you about what the law should be, although I trust from what I’ve just written you can tell my view.

But I *do* know what Jesus says we *Christians* should do for a prayer life.

And I know that it has nothing to do with publicly praying on a football field.