An Inkling
Today as I write I have joined with many here at St. Giles in answering our Session’s call to fast and pray on Tuesdays this month. This call is in response to our denomination’s recent decision to change our ordination practices in ways that both put us on a track toward schism with the global church, and render our church councils as caricatures of biblical leadership. And the call is in anticipation of a Gathering in Minneapolis at the end of August, at which hundreds of leaders from concerned congregations will consider our options. The seriousness of such matters certainly warrants a call to fasting and prayer.
But to what end? Isn’t God going to do what he’s going to do whether we pray or not? No. Sovereign though he is, our prayers count – they actually affect the outcome. And are more pray-ers actually more effective than a few? Though it’s certainly not magic, that’s what the scriptural promises affirm about agreement in prayer. I can cite chapter and verse for those and many other affirmations about prayer. And yet much mystery remains.
Gratefully we can serve God in prayer even with our limited understanding. Indeed our grasp of some aspects of prayer deepens more in practice than analysis. A season of urgent fasting and prayer will deepen our understanding of prayer’s mysteries in ways that theological discussions cannot.
That’s how it works, too, with one of the scriptural metaphors for prayer – travail. By “travail” I mean the old sense – the struggle to birth new life. A woman who has travailed appreciates birthing in ways beyond what birthing classes can teach. Classes and discussions have their place, both in prayer and in birthing. But the deepest understanding comes in the travail.
What new life might God call forth through this season of travail in his church, and in its focused expressions of fasting and prayer? I don’t know. But we can be sure that in God’s good time we’ll be lighting up some celebratory cigars. And it can’t come too soon!
Blessings,
Keith
