Letting It Be

I've been really thinking about prayer recently.

Rob Bell just released a new NOOMA video called "Open," where he shares his thoughts on the power of prayer. He questions whether God answers all prayers, no prayers, some prayers and not others, that maybe he answers all prayers but just says no to some. He shares a story about two families with daughters who are suffering from terminal diseases. The one he is there to pray with loses their baby girl shortly after the other family finds out that their daughter is miraculously cured. How is that explained? What is that even supposed to mean to us? How do we process that?

I totally understand the frustration there, because Phil's dad is really sick with a GBM brain tumor, a terminal and aggressive cancer tumor that invades the brain. How do you explain how sick he is, when everyone he knows is down on their knees passionately begging God for a miracle? Why isn't he cured if the Bible says, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours?"

In praying for Phil's dad, I am frequently finding myself at a loss for words. What do I ask for? Do I pray for a miracle, if I really don't think that praying for it is going to help? Or do I just pray that his time left is good and painless? Or do I pray for their strength and comfort as a family? I don't know.

Rob Bell suggests that prayer is the beginning of an active effort to finish playing out the creation story. In Genesis, God creates the trees, plants, birds, bees, and humans, all to reproduce in numbers. Therefore, when God created the world, he left it unfinished. He could have completed it, but then what would be the point of living? We have been created as humans to play a specific role in the body of Christ, the church, in order to slowly create God's kingdom on Earth, even if it is slowly.

So when we pray, what should we do?

On Friday night, I went to a concert where one of the artists said, "What if our prayer doesn't end with "Amen," but it begins with "Amen?"

Whew.

When we pray, we should be asking God to use us in fulfilling our prayers. James 5:16 says that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." If we are righteous, we are not hypocrites, and that means that we truly do want what we are praying for. Therefore, we should be more than willing to do what it takes to carry out the part of the creation story that we have prayed for God to handle.

Did you know that the word "amen" means "Let it be?"

Now think about prayer in that way. We get down on our knees, or maybe we hold hands, or maybe we even drive in our cars, and we pour our hearts out to God, begging him for unfathomable answers to prayers for healing, miracles, for guidance. Then, when we are done, we say "Let it be." Amen.

Let what be? Well, if you remember, when God teaches his followers how to pray, he says to them, "Let your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." Let your will be done. Let me carry out your will on Earth as if I were standing next to you in Heaven.

When we think about prayer in this active, empowering way, it certainly adds meaning to its power. And, it gives me an enormous amount of hope for what I'm praying for.

"Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. There will be an answer. Let it be..."

Amen, amen, amen, amen. There will be an answer. AMEN.