Spectrum Book Club on Prayer--All Welcome to Join the Discussion
Posted May 1st, 2008 by Daneen Akers
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I’ve always appreciated Philip Yancey’s books because he writes as a pilgrim, not a pastor. Not that I don’t appreciate pastoral perspectives, but often they seem to skip over the doubts, questions, and laments that I have. Yancey dives into thorny and complicated problems, seemingly without fear that truly mining their depths could leave him or his readers with less faith than they started with. It’s his honesty and rawness that allows me to listen to his eventual conclusions (or even just continuing questions).
In Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, Yancey addresses the big questions—why pray if God already knows the future? Why are so many prayers seemingly unanswered? What about all of those seemingly clear promises in the Gospels about asking and then receiving? If we agree to pray, how do we go about it?
As someone who has always struggled with prayer, I appreciated exploring these questions with a fellow pilgrim, even if at the end I still have doubts. I especially enjoyed the stories Yancey shared. Somehow when faced with big theological issues like how prayer works, I find the most meaning in the shared humanity I find in the stories of others facing struggles. A few nuggets that leaped out at me in my reading:
- Prayer in the Bible frequently “lacks serenity, to put it mildly. In prayer, God seems to encourage ritual lament,” (p. 67). Just read the psalms to see how prayer can be filled alternately with hope and joy and the next minute despair and sorrow. The range of human emotion and experience is appropriate—even necessary—prayer material.
- The problem of prayer is profound and great minds have explored its depths. C.S. Lewis found that the same argument against prayer (why do it if God knows best) can be made for any human activity—isn’t it all meaningless if God’s going to make it work out one way or another? “God could have arranged things so that our bodies nourished themselves miraculously without food, knowledge entered our brains without studying, umbrellas magically appeared to protect us from rainstorms. God chose a different style of governing the world, a partnership which relies on human agency and choice.”
- This partnership with God means that prayer must be accompanied by action. Yancey returns to this point again and again. God works through human agency. The Good Samaritan didn’t just pray for the man lying half dead on the side of the road, he also acted. Yancey repeatedly emphasizes that we are God’s hands in the world. He quotes the Catholic priest and author Ronald Rolheiser on this point:
A theist believes in a God in heaven whereas a Christian believes in a God in heaven who is also physically present on this earth inside human beings…God is still present, as physical and as real today as God was in the historical Jesus. God still has skin, human skin, and physically walk on this earth just as Jesus did…To pray ‘God, please help my neighbor cope with her financial problems,’ or ‘God, do something about the homeless downtown’ is the approach of a theist, not a Christian. God has chosen to express love and greace in the world through those of us who embody Christ.” (p. 244)
I found this point to be the single most profound take-away from the entire book. He also comes back to this when looking at Jesus’ life and miracles. Why didn’t Jesus miraculously cure world poverty instead of feeding 5,000? Why didn’t he eradicate the polio virus instead of healing the paraplegic? Jesus touched the lives of the people in his life just as I have a responsibility to those whose lives I’m a part of—this means some of us will have wide circles, some of us small, but we are all the living embodiment of what God’s love in the world looks like.
- There’s something to be said for fixed prayers, especially during times of “spiritual dryness, when spontaneous prayer seems an impossible chore,” (p. 179). As someone who grew up Adventist without ever seeing something like The Book of Common Prayer, this especially caught my eye. Also as someone who seems to go through a lot of dry spells in the praying department, I think I’m going to experiment with this.
- In addition to fixed prayers, there’s something to be said for silent, meditative prayers. Martin Luther was said to counsel that, “The fewer the words, the better the prayer,” (p. 190). I'm reminded of the portions of Eat, Pray, Love where Liz Gilbert finally quiets her mind in meditation through the use of short prayers or mantras. For a verbivore like myself, being quiet doesn't come naturally, so finding something to pray about isn't my problem--rather, I need to learn the discipline of silence. Yancey reminded me that this is probably deeper prayer than my extemporaneous babblings.
- Like me, Yancey finds the miraculous stories of God saving Christians from the twin towers or from plane wrecks to be problematic. Were not the other people praying? Were they not also good people? When we throw around miracles like this, we lesson the impact of miracles, which Yancey does believe in but finds them to be truly miracles—rare events. This is an especially sensitive topic when dealing with medical healings, and Yancey recounts stories of letters he has received from readers talking about their personal horrors—stories that made me weep—and the seemingly empty, unanswered prayers for healing.
- The great problem lies in what Yancey terms the “Sweeping Promises” of the Bible. “In a nutshell, the main difficulty with unanswered prayers in that Jesus seemed to promise there need not be any,” (p. 234). This was the section I personally had the most trouble with. It’s one thing to read theologians address the thorny issues of prayer, but the challenge is that the Bible is pretty explicit in some places, such as: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (and many other examples). Yancey valiantly looks at many reasons why prayers go unanswered—some are trivial, some are contradictory or inconsistent (look at football games or wars), some are made without good intentions on the part of the pray-er, some are answered in bigger picture terms, etc. However, I wished that Yancey would have delved into how we got Jesus’ words (I’m sure he’s aware of translation history)—maybe those verses reflect a bias of the writer? But that brings up such a complex topic that I can imagine he realized this book would turn into a series. Although Yancey does provide some conclusions, I'm still left thinking this is a big problem (and one commonly exploited by pastors who make their parishioners feel they just don't have enough faith, that's why their prayers are unanswered).
- In the end, one of the best reasons we have for praying is Jesus. Surely if anyone was privy to God’s will it was him, but he still prayed—even angrily and tearfully at times. That's probably a good example for us all.
These are just a few ideas that struck me--this is actually quite a lengthy book, so I'm barely doing it justice to pick out a few nuggets, but I would love your thoughts too. Anything really stand out for you? Did anything challenge you? Did anything leave you frustrated and wanting more? If you haven't read the book, you're still welcome to join in on questions/thoughts you've had on this topic.
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My early faith was nourished by Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, but at least by my teens I had a growing awareness that God didn't always answer prayer that way, at least not in my experience. A shelf full of books about prayer, by many authors, indicates my long search for answers to the baffling mystery of prayer. Authors I have especially appreciated include Richard Foster, Walter Wink, Carrol Shewmake and Dorothy Watts. While I love to read glowing accounts of a vital prayer life, I often feel discouraged when I compare them with my own experience. I think that's why Philip Yancey is my favorite author - he admits to the same doubts and questions I have experienced. I can identify with him; he seems authentic.
One of my favorite chapters in Prayer is "Why Pray?" The questions asked by people who pray and still have experienced terrible tragedies resonate with me. Yancey doesn't have an upbeat, pat answer, but is willing to wrestle with the difficult issues raised. His answer that Jesus' prayer for unity among his followers has yet to be answered is somehow comforting, in helping me understand that God's answers may take centuries to work out.
A quote I have highlighted: "Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and unpredictable elements in life, but rather a way of including the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of the grace of God in our lives." (p. 82)
When I say that I struggle with understanding God and prayer, I don't mean to say that I have never felt close to God or had answered prayers. But somehow, it seems that God is more likely to answer prayers I have not prayed, such as helping me learn to forgive those who have hurt me, than those I pray over and over again, such as overcoming a persistent temptation.
In this context, I can't help thinking of my heartfelt question for God - why doesn't He answer the prayers of thousands upon thousands of gay and lesbian people who have worn holes in the carpet by their bed praying for Him to change them? I have finally come to the same conclusion that many of them do - apparently He accepts them as they are.
One more underlined quote: "When I betray the love and grace God has shown me, I fall back on the promise that Jesus prays for me - as he did for Peter - not that I would never face testing, nor ever fail, but that in the end I will allow God to use the testing and failure to mold me into someone more useful to the kingdom, someone more like Jesus." (p. 88)
Carrol Grady
Daneen
Thanks for choosing this book!
Had you not done so I may have missed much by not purchasing and reading in it. I say "in" because I have not yet read every word and I don't know if I will.
I received more than my money's worth from Chapter 18: "Prayer and Physical Healing." I think it is the most explicitly candid thing I have read on the subject.
Bottom line: Don't expect God to release us from those patterns of regularity we call now call "natural laws."
Here are some gems:
"Yet the stack of letters from my file cabinet convinces me that we can do equal harm by holding out false hope of physical healing. Believe me, there is nothing I would rather say to parents of a Down syndrone child or to families waiting on edge for Huntingtion's chorea to manifest itself than 'Just believe, and you will be healed.' But I know of no miraculous healings of those conditions, and to offer false hope would be even more cruel" (249)
"It puzzles me that some Christians who accept the regularity of natural laws in other areas resist them when it comes to health." (255)
"Some twenty years ago I coauthored an article on physical healing with Dr. Paul Brand which was published in "Christianity Today" magazine. In it he remarked, 'From my own experience as a physician I must truthfully admit that, among the thousands of patients I have treated, I have never observed an unequivocal instance of intervention in the physical realm. Many were prayed for, many found healing, but not in ways that counteracted the laws governing anatomy. No case I have treated personally would meet the rigorous criteria for a supernatural miracle."
Exactly!
Two other comments. In some of the published writings from Ellen White and her assistants, she takes a position very similar to Dr. Brand's.
Also, the commentary on this week's Sabbath School lesson by Steve Thompson at Avondale College in Australia is directly related to this discussion. We should read what he has to say too!
Thanks!
Dave
Dave
You quote Yancey saying: "It puzzles me that some Christians who accept the regularity of natural laws in other areas resist them when it comes to health." To me this sounds a bit cavalier on his part given the fact that Christianity is the story of divine intervention in human affairs, healing included. Bart Ehrman is the story of what happens when people come to agree with Yancey, at least on this point.
--Aage
PS In the 70s a book called "The Sleigbough Story" (I can't guarantee the spelling) which told the story of an SDA family that were involved in a horrendous car accident. In the telling, one family member had a limb miraculously reattached, if I remember correctly. The story was one huge miracle story. Since the book is no longer published, I assume that it fell prey to fact checking. Does anybody know? Tom?
I also had underlined one of your take-aways, Caroll: "Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and unpredictable elements in life, but rather a way of including the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of the grace of God in our lives." (p. 82)
Thanks for pointing out that chapter Dave--it is a really compelling one. That's one where I found myself weeping over some of the stories he recounts from people who have written in about just horrendous physical (and emotional) situations.
Aage--I know Yancey does believe in miracles, he just thinks that they are truly miraculous, so they're very rare. He would no doubt agree with you that Christianity is the story of divine intervention, but he would find it just as cavalier when we promise healing if people just pray hard enough or with enough conviction. For example, he discusses an evangelistic series in Cambodia in the 1990s in which healing was promised. Very poor people sold their animals or anything they could to come. Remember that Cambodia has many land mine victims. They ended up rioting in the stadium when the promised healings weren't happening, and the evangelist had to be air-lifted out by army helicopter or he was going to be in need of a miraculous healing. I think it's that sort of attitude that Yancey is addressing. The problem is that it has Biblical support. Jesus says in several places, "Ask and ye shall receive." That's where I still find some challenges.
Thanks for this selection, Daneen, it so resonated with me and inspired me.
When I first read Yancey's, "Prayer" book it was last year during my recovery from a spinal fusion. It had been a long decade of unanswered (according to my time line) prayers for my physical healing. I'd often heard there are three answers to prayer: yes, no and not now. My humanness only allowed for one option even though I said I was okay with the "not now" response.
Yancey's book seemed to capture my experiences with prayer and also probed many of my questions. (I so appreciated his nature of time note on p.49 for instance.) After finishing his book, I wrote Philip and told him that I was a healed and walking miracle even according to his definition and I now thank God daily for that decade of pain and inability for it has made me a more compassionate human being. I now share Hope for ultimate total healing with others. Yancey's discipline of silence experience paralleled mine and I now feel meditation and prayer are complete opposites of busyness and chaos. "Be still and know that I am God" seems like more than a mere suggestion to me now.
Another plus with Yancey's books are his references/sources in the back of his books. I've read other authors he has quoted. One such writer is, Richard Foster. Foster's book, "Prayer, Finding the Heart's True Home," is one I would strongly recommend for anyone seeking a more directed discussion on the different types of prayer.
Again, great selection, Daneen and thanks for this book of the month feature!!---darlene
John Dominique Crossan introduces the distinction between "healing", which he thinks Jesus was doing, and "curing", which frauds promise. One is spiritual, the other impossibly physical.
As an apropos of Daneen's Cambodian story, it is indeed heart-rending to hear about famous TV-style preachers going to the third world and preaching at huge healing services, which unbeknownst to people are preceded by an auditioning process in which people with invisible ailments are cleared for participation whereas the outwardly afflicted are kept away.
These people are spiritual predators--the Gottis and Gambinos or Christendom.
Aage
Aage
Yes! I very much like the movies "Elmer Gantry (spelling?) and, to a lesser degree, "Leap of Faith."
Here is an idea I've been considering for a while:
"In our own lives, we need to stop thinking of God as totally causing some events and start thinking of God as partially causing all events.
That is, perhaps it is time to trade in our concept of divine intervention for the idea of divine participation."
I'll be at a bioethics conference at the SDA school in Florence, Italy--Villa Aurora--for almost two weeks and I'm going to leave my computer at home in hopes of getting some rest. "See" you all soon!
Villa Aurora has great and economical guest rooms an easy 15 - 20 minute ride on Bus #14 to the heart of the city. I recommend them.
Dave
Dave,
I stayed at Villa Aurora myself back in the summer of '94. Had a great time when i was there...and yes, only a short bus ride from the city center. Enjoy Firenze.
Ciao!
Franco (aka Frank)
Yes, enjoy Florence! I spent a summer attending Villa Aurora, and that's probably one of my best memories. I'm jealous of all of the gelato you're going to be eating soon.
Thanks for the comment Mom (Darlene to the rest of you). I also appreciated Yancey's discussion of time and its relationship to prayer (or maybe it's prayer and it's relationship to time...).
I also agree that one of the best parts of Yancey's books are how they point you to other good book and authors. I appreciate how he incorporates the great thinkers past and present into his analysis and questioning process--it helps remind me of the shared quest we're all on, especially when it comes to these big questions like "does prayer work?"
Prayer is simply a form of meditation addressed to a higher power. As such, it has been used throughout known history. As to its effectiveness, there can be no certainty whatsoever. However, if it makes one feel better, accepting of what happens, then it is useful for the one who prays. That it has any affect on the one prayed to is impossible to assess.
The Serenity Prayer is the best one, IMO:
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference."
That is the only effective prayer of which we can be assured will be heard. It is up to us, however, to realize it and not rely on some magical power or potion to change the inevitable.
As someone mentioned earlier, I have known more than a few physicians and health care workers and have yet to hear a single one acknowledging a miracle healing produced through prayer: spiritual, yes, physical, no. And yet, millions continue to pray for requests to be answered rather than simple thankfulness for life and its current blessings. If we wake each morning thankful that we have another day, who do we thank?
Hi Elaine. Yancey talks a great deal about the Serenity Prayer in this book. One of the things he points out is that many--even most--of the prayers we have in the Bible don't seem to follow this model. All it takes is a quick read through the Psalms or a reminder of some of Jesus' intense prayer sessions to realize that for many of us, serenity in prayer remains elusive. He also points out that the culture from which the Bible came out of--the Middle East--values emotions. This is in stark contrast to the Greeks whom we're more influenced by today.
Anyone else have thoughts on the Serenity Prayer? I find that I like it as a concept, but in implementation find it discouraging.
The serenity prayer in one sense, seems to fit the essense of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, "not my will, but yours be done." Jesus wrestled with what he knew to be God's will, the larger reality that could not be changed in this case, came to the place of accepting it, and then went forth with courage to change the world.
The principles of the serenity prayer seem, to me, to put us on the same type of trajectory. They are along the lines of letting go and letting God handle what we can't, the things of life that are far beyond our control. After wrestling, and struggling, and grieving such issues, I need a power greater than myself to bring me to the place of acceptance. I need a power greater than myself to give me the courage to not only deal with life on life's terms, but to also begin to work for solutions where appropriate. And I also need a wisdom beyond myself to help me to sort it all out.
This does not deny the emotional depth or complexity of what Jesus went through, or what we go through. It is all part of honest, healthy communication with God. The same can be seen in the Psalms, IMO. Aside from Psalm 88, (the suicide Psalm) that ends with "darkness is my only friend," most of the laments and emotional outpourings seem to mix with, and just as often break through, to acceptance and praise.
An acceptance and praise that acknowledges "God ain't dead," even when it seems like he is.
Great post! Thanks, Daneen...
Frank
Has anyone listened to Rick Lee Jones' song "Where I Like It Best" from the CD "The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard"?
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