BRINGING US BACK
I was sitting in church a few Sundays back, sort of listening to the morning prayer being uttered by a lay person.
These prayers are usually too long, a little off base theologically, and thoroughly boring. But to let the constituents know that the church belongs to all people, not just clergy our pastor wants lay people to pray on Sunday morning. Therefore, we endure.
My mind was occasionally catching a phrase here or there as I thought about what I had to do in the next few hours. I would call my children and chat. I would finish reading the biography of the great poet. I would answer e-mail messages in the afternoon.
Then I thought I heard the pray-er asking God to spare her kitty's life. My ears got bigger, like huge receptors gathering all sound. The pray-er explained that Kitty was precious to God (Disney theology.) Further, the pray-er said Kitty's recent illness was not her fault, that she had been a good kitty, and that all the people in church should pray that Kitty's life be spared (executioner's theology.)
This last type of theology, the executioner's theology, is a graphic thing where we envision God perched on a huge throne, giving the thumbs-up or the thumbs-down to each whining, pathetic petitioner. To this picture we were now being asked to add Kitty, meowing and purring on God's massive lap.
The Kitty prayer bothered me all day. I could not shake the vision of that sick little ball of fur lying on its deathbed waiting for a reprieve from God. My main concern was whether or not this kind of theology, where cats are as important as people, could be embraced by the church.
Finally, I talked to a friend who is a clergy in another denomination. When I finished he said, "Well, that's the kind of stuff people worry about; pet deaths, taxes, tornadoes, and any sadness connected to their kids. That's what they wish we would pray about. So when they get a chance, they pray for Kitty instead of the kid next door who gets beat up every night by his old man. Besides, it's easier."
That brought me back to a human level. Somehow I had floated too high into a misty world of correct theology. And I had become a bit crabby about it.
It began to make sense. When lay people are asked to pray in church, they have a right to pray about their own concerns. Perhaps this is the real dilemma for the church: if you let clergy run things the theology gets lofty with perfection, and if you let lay people take charge everything gets gummy with reality.
Somehow we have to find a church that sings with beauty and at the same time gets down and dirty in real human experience.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted For 6-12-02