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Prayers

I know it is good for me periodically to reflect on the basics of my spirituality.  I like to chase novel thoughts, interesting tangents, and oblique possibilities in contemporary spirituality.  But then, like a guy who has had too many sweets, all I want is the basics.  And I am always helped by an incident or a story that orients me in basic directions.

One such opportunity came yesterday when I encountered two old friends in some writing they did.  And it landed me straight back in prayer---perhaps the most basic of the spiritual disciplines.  Every time I come back to prayer, I realize what a lousy job I do sometimes in my prayer life.  As a Quaker sage once said, when you have been flagging in your disciplines, begin again---begin again right where you are.

The story I read begins with Will Willimon, long-time chaplain at Duke University and now Methodist bishop.  Willimon comments, “I was at a community gathering in which a minister prayed, ‘Great One, source of all being, immerse us in the human condition. Amen.”  I must admit, I giggled when I read only this far.  But then the next line made me laugh out loud.

The author said, “I was seated next to Walter Brueggemann, who muttered at the end of the prayer, ‘Lord, this is Walt. I don’t want any more immersion in the human condition than I’ve already got.’”  I have known Brueggemann for three decades.  He is the pre-eminent Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) scholar in this country.  But he is a man of God and has a great sense of humor.

His response is wonderful.  I can just hear him saying, “Lord, this is Walt.”  It makes me connect to my own relationship with God.  I want again to get back to that place where I, too, can say, “Lord, this is Alan.”  And like Brueggemann, I don’t need any more immersion in the human condition.  I have it pretty good, but nobody escapes life’s suffering, disappointments, and failures.

Perhaps you laughed with me at Brueggemann’s response.  But let’s take it a little deeper.  What strikes me initially about Brueggemann’s prayer is its authenticity when compared to the praying minister at the community event.  Brueggemann may be a high-class scholar and could pray in many languages, but his prayer was simple and authentic. 

He did not say, “Lord, this is Dr. Brueggemann.”  No, he was Walt.  And so are we all in the Divine Presence.  Walt was connecting to God in the most basic way---heart to heart.  My heart---like Walt’s and like yours---is my center, my core self.  No doubt that is why we can say we love “heart and soul.” 

And I think we pray in exactly the same way; at least, we pray this way when it is heart to heart with God.  When I go back to the basics, I am leaving the world of flowery phrases in prayer.  I am leaving the superficial shows of my worldly self. 

A return to the basics is always a re-centering experience for me.  It is like a homecoming.  It is a restoration of a relationship that, honestly, I can’t believe or understand why I wander away.  “Lead me not into temptation,” I am sure I have prayed.

But I was either led or wandered away anyway!  So, it is back to the basics.  “Lord, this is Alan."

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