just say the word...

When I was in kindergarden my parents would drop me off every sunday morning in a Sunday school class because they thought my fidgety tendencies would draw too much attention during the morning worship service at our church. Just imagine how much more theologically intelligent I would be had they not robbed those precious years of soaking up the wisdom poured out from that pulpit.  I guess I won't hold that against them, they had no idea i'd be logically deficient. Anyways, I remember those years spent in that classroom fondly. One of the many memories that often come to mind are the joys experienced as a result of Sunday morning snack time. Mrs. Johnston, our teacher would always have us recite a prayer in unison before she would rain-down plentiful amounts of goldfish crackers and teddy grahams. The prayer was almost always the same and rarely deferred off the path of conventionality. It went like this, "God is great, God is good, God thank you for the food, Amen!" Then like puppies awaiting their master's cue to indulge in a treat rewarded after obedience, a feeding chaos ensued. 

That simple repetitive prayer followed me through the years. My parents would always require one of us to pray before our dinner "conversation" would escalate into a debate and my prayer would always include Mrs. Johnston's prayer. Every once in a while I would spice things up by throwing in a little something extra, but the recipe was always the same. Unfortunately my years of prayer abuse have created a pretty adolescent understanding of the role of prayer in my life. All too often prayer is a result of duty and immediate emergency. This circumstantial prayer is not an awful thing. It is important to seek out help and voice concern in times of need and habits have good intention, but often lose their authenticity due to repetition.  

Last week this truth was brought to light in the confines of my thoughts. My staff came together with their significant others for a time of prayer for our church, Northbridge Community Church. It was a time of prayer, worship, and communion. It was awesome to be a part of something that felt so in tune to God's rhythm of the way the church should be. When we opened our time of prayer Jame, our Lead Pastor, shared something God had been teaching him about prayer that struck a chord in my heart. Jame talked about the faith of the Centurion in Luke chapter 7. The story goes something like this, Jesus was traveling from city to city teaching and doing some amazing things. Word had spread to a centurion who was troubled because his servant, whom he cared deeply for, was very sick and about to die. So, the centurion sent some of his friends to get Jesus to heal this servant. On their way back to the house, the group was met by some more friends of the centurion who had a message for Jesus. The centurion's message to Jesus was, "I'm not worthy to have you come to my house,... so just say the word and my servant will be healed!" Jesus was blown away by the centurion's faith and said, "I tell you; I have not found such great faith even in Isreal." The centurion knew that Jesus was capable of amazing things and believed that Jesus didn't even need to touch the servant to heal him. Jesus was bigger than that. The men returned to the house and the servant was alive and well. What a great story... that I often overlook. 

I wished I had faith like that. Faith to ask for something big and have all the certainty in the world that it will happen. All too often I find myself going to God with half-hearted requests that I never count on. The sad part is that when my requests turn out the way I had hoped, I rarely give God the credit. I go to God out of duty and rarely dependency. My dependency is only elevated when the waters get rough,... then I need God's help. The rest of the time I depend on my abilities. I want to have the faith to ask for big things from God. I'm sure i'm not the only one who abuses prayer. What does your prayer life look like? Is your prayer shallow and seasonal? What would it be like to have the faith and certainty of the centurion?