"The Difference
Prayer Makes"
Preached on May 21, 2000
by
The Reverend Joanne S. Miller
Text: Exodus 3:13-20 and Romans
8:26-30
Doctors believe prayer helps. Much research and
attention has been given to the relationship between prayer and
health. Doctors from some of the nation's leading medical institutions
have spoken of their belief that there is a link between a person's
physical well being and their spiritual health. It seems that many
medical professionals are encouraging their patients to pay attention
to their spiritual needs. Now in medical clinics, people with heart
disease, cancer, and other illnesses are being introduced to meditation
techniques and members of the clergy are available to speak to these
patients about prayer.
The Indian political and spiritual leader Gandhi
once said about prayer: "I discovered that after a time of prayer,
I was able to do a far greater amount of work. A doctor has testified
as a medical fact that my blood pressure was lowered by it, my nerves
calmer, my mind rested and alert, my whole body in better health
refreshed and ready for work, and if previously I had been in a
mood of pessimism and despair, after I prayed I was charged with
new hope and new confidence."
It seems the old slogan is true: "Prayer changes
things." But what does that mean? What does it mean, "Doctors believe
prayer helps."
It may not be what you would expect from a minister,
but I have to admit that this whole discussion about the effectiveness
of prayer is an area of faith with which I struggle deeply. My greatest
struggle came when I was in seminary and questioning a lot about
my faith, trying to reconcile how a loving God could permit such
terrible things to happen to people. I found that I simply could
not find the words to pray anymore because my belief system had
been turned upside down. It was only after I redefined my view of
God and the way God works in us and in the world that I was able
to begin to pray again. Eventually I found my faith, a new faith,
and I also found I was able to find the words to pray. Since that
time, I have not been drawn back in to that pool of confusion and
despair. And yet, I sometimes still find myself struggling with
what I expect when I pray. I find myself wondering what exactly
prayer accomplishes.
When I pray, do I expect God to alter the whole
situation - to completely erase the facts - to change the circumstances
of my life? Do I expect something miraculous to happen - a dramatic
healing of an illness, a reversal in the weather so my special event
will not be rained upon - a change in corporate policies so a friend
will not lose a job? If indeed prayer changes things, then what
things do I expect prayer to change?
The writer of Exodus recorded the faith of the Israelite
community who looked back at their experience of liberation from
the bondage of slavery in Egypt and told a story about the calling
of their leader, Moses. In that story, we hear an affirmation of
the faith of the Hebrew people that God heard their cry - God gave
heed to what had been done to them, and God broke in to make a difference.
God delivered them from their bondage, God healed their hurt. The
writer of Exodus testifies to a faith that believes that God is
not removed from our hurts and pains, but God is present - God hears
us, and responds. Yet, this is the faith statement of the Israelites
after their deliverance, as they looked back to tell the story after-the-fact.
I wonder if they felt God heard their cries and was responding to
their cries while they were still experiencing the hardship of slavery.
The struggle for me with prayer is not how to respond
after the fact, but how to respond in the midst of the difficulty.
Once the cancer is cured, once the problems in a relationship are
resolved, once the difficulties have passed, the prayers of thanksgiving
are easy.
The prayers that seem to be the most difficult are
the ones that are prayed in the midst of the hard times. If prayer
changes things, what things are expected to change, or do we expect
anything at all? If doctors believe prayer helps, what do they believe
is helped? If we believe in this God of the exodus who is not removed
from humanity and our troubles, if we believe in a God who is present,
who breaks into our lives, then how does that affect our prayers
and our expectations?
One theologian once remarked, "Prayer may change
things; but much more important, prayer changes us."
The story is told of a shrine in the French Pyrenees
where people come to pray for healing. A war veteran who had lost
a leg appeared at the shrine after World War II. As he hobbled his
way along the street to the shrine, someone said, "Look at that
silly man! Does he really think God is going to give him back his
leg?" The man missing the leg overheard this comment and turned
toward the one who had spoken and said, "Of course I do not expect
God to give me back my leg. I am going to pray to God to help me
live without it!" That was the healing he sought - the strength
to change himself - to change the way he dealt with life.
Paul, in the letter to the Romans, declares "the
Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray
as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep
for words. And God who searches the heart, knows what is the mind
of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according
to the will of God."
Here is an image of a divine presence with us in
the midst of our difficulties, a presence that knows our hurts and
experiences our anxieties, a presence who understands, even when
words cannot express what we are feeling. Here is the God who breaks
in, who walks alongside us, holding us up when we are about to fall,
giving us strength when we are about to faint, giving us hope when
we are about to give up.
So perhaps what we can expect of our prayers is
a greater awareness of the presence of this God. Though we pray
believing prayer is about us and those we love, prayer is truly
about the God who is with us whatever our situation. And that changes
things. That changes us.
No longer do I hear those words of Paul, "We know
that all things work together for good for those who love God,"
as some mysterious assurance that whatever happens is for the best.
I do not believe that everything that happens is for the best. Some
things are simply awful! But now I hear those words as an assurance
that in whatever situation we find ourselves, God can work with
us to bring some good out of it - even if the only good which can
come is a greater awareness of God's presence by our side. And such
an assurance brings a healing that enables us to get on with life
and find hope. No longer are we only in the presence of our difficulty.
We are also in the powerful, loving, empowering presence of God.
Doctors believe prayer helps. Maybe prayer helps
because it lifts our eyes out of a focus upon ourselves and our
present situation and refocuses us upon the One who offers hope
for the future and a vision of life and a world made whole. Maybe
prayer helps because it changes our whole way of seeing and understanding
ourselves and others. Maybe prayer helps because it puts us in a
closer relationship with God, who our faith declares to be a God
who breaks in. Maybe prayer helps because it reminds us that we
are not alone.
Maybe prayer helps, because undergirding our prayers
is a belief that there is a God with whom we can talk and in whom
we can place our trust. Research has shown that the belief that
God is really interested in patients personally, listens to their
prayers, and actively responds to them, helps patients cope with
their illness. In these studies God is seen as more like a person
than anything else. Patients say they talk to God, turn over their
problems into God's hands, and trust God to orchestrate the best
possible outcome. They can then stop worrying about their problems,
and consequently experience comfort and peace.
The theologian observed, "Prayer may change things
but even more important, prayer changes us."
God said to Moses, "Tell the people I have given
heed to you. I will bring you out of your misery..."
Sometimes that is all we need to hear in order to
find healing and a greater sense of wholeness in our lives.
Today we sang the hymn, "Kum Ba Yah," Come By Here.
At the root of our faith is the deep conviction that the source
of life, the God of creation, the one who can bring healing for
all our brokenness has heard our cry, has come beside us to dwell
with us, has promised never to leave us, does break into the real
situations of our lives, is still working among us, and in us, and
through us by the power of the Spirit.
And that makes a difference. That changes things.
That brings healing for our lives. So pray - pray with fervor and
with faith. Like the observation of the doctors, the witness of
the community of faith throughout all the ages, the testimony of
scripture says, "prayer helps" because ours is a God who breaks
in - a God who breaks into the very real stuff of our lives.
