Why I Don't Pray Like I Used to Pray

I don’t pray like I used to pray.

Really, the way I pray now looks nothing like the way I used to pray.

That’s right I no longer pray to a god who I think is situated somewhere out there, up there in heaven, looking down on us poor miserable depraved sinners while not sure that my prayer will even work.

If it does work I offer praise and thanksgiving to God; if it doesn’t work I attribute it to God’s purposeful will and move on.

That type of god and that kind of praying no longer works for me. Not now. Not at this juncture in my life. There was a time when I prayed in ways that were consistent with that understanding of God. 

Not anymore I don’t.

I also no longer pray as if God is some cosmic Santa Clause who will give me what I want, especially if I have been good. 

For example I no longer pray for God to give me a safe journey while on vacation. I would prefer to concentrate on driving more safely and driving while rested. That works more often than not.  

I have gotten out of the business of praying as if prayer is like some business transaction between God and me: 

“If I do such and such Lord will you do such and such for me.”

I no longer pray as if God is a nationalistic deity who favors America over all other nations. For example, I no longer ask God to protect American service personnel from harm while at the same time neglecting to ask for the same protection for the enemy.

For years there was this dear man in my congregation, a retired military officer who requested that we pray for our  “troops in harm’s way.” This was a weekly request. I was tempted to respond but never did: 

“Okay, but can we pray for the enemy as well?” I am sure he would have said yes.

God’s favorite colors are not red, white and blue folks.

No I no longer pray like I used to and I’m okay with that.

Last night I was having a telephone conversation with a dear friend and he blurted out to me, saying: 

“I’m not praying like I used to pray anymore and I’m not happy about it.”

I responded by saying: 

“Well, I’m not either so let’ talk about it!”

So we did. The conversation that followed was so helpful because it forced us both to verbalize what we were now experiencing at this stage of our lives regarding our prayer lives. 

As we were about to hang up he said to me: 

“This has been most helpful to me. Let’s do it again.” I assured him that we would.

Paul Tillich, I believe, was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. More than anything else Tillich has helped shape my own current understanding of God and prayer.

Tillich famously described God as the “Ground of all Being.”

In other words, God isn’t just up there, out there, or even situated in some cosmic location called heaven. 

No, God is with us, in us, among us.

Jesus once said that he and the Father were one. I believe he meant more by this than his just being divine. Jesus shared in God’s actual being, as all do. In a prayer recorded in John’s Gospel Jesus is reported to have said: 

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

On another occasion Jesus told his disciples: 

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

As the saying goes, God is closer to us all than we are to ourselves. God is indeed the Ground of all Being. He is not just spatially up there or out there somewhere looking down on us earthlings. 

God is the Ground of my own being. His presence abides within me. I am never separated from God. Not even my sin can separate me from His abiding presence.

This understanding of God changes everything for me, especially how I now pray. 

The expression “resting in God” has now taken on a whole new meaning for me. 

For me just being with God, being aware of His abiding presence within me, being aware of my presence in Him is prayer enough for me. If prayer may be compared to my being in constant communion with God then this kind of prayer works quite well for me now.

I’m pleased with my prayer life such as it is right now. 

But then again this too may change.