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Why Prayer Isn't Like God's Gumball Machine

by Vicar Lisa Rygiel

Some of you may be aware that Nadia Bolz-Weber is my Relator with the Rocky Mountain Synod. I subscribe to her blogs and although most are meaningful to me, occasionally one crosses my desk that I feel compared to share. I read this right on the heels of receiving a text from a beautiful person that her prayer had been answered. And, it made me wonder, why some prayers are answered, and others are not. Why sometimes, a person gets great biopsy results and others learn they are now battling cancer. Below is a letter from a person named Martin and Nadia’s response to that letter. (Note, some of Nadia’s more colorful language has been modified.)

Dear Nadia

How do you conceptualize ‘prayer’ outside of the stereotypical on your knees, shopping list prayer taught to many children!? – Martin

Dear Martin,

When becoming a mother in the 1960s, Peggy Bolz learned she had RH factor; a condition in which her body developed antibodies against the blood of her baby. These antibodies grow in number with each subsequent pregnancy, so one baby was a blessing, two was not recommended and three wasn’t considered possible. Which is why, after my sister and brother were born, Peggy was instructed to be on birth control for the rest of her life.

Then one day Peggy walked by my sister Barbara’s room and heard the sound of a 5-year-old praying fervently that God give her a baby sister. To which Peggy muttered under her breath, “Um, not happening, kid”.

And yet, here I am. Peggy’s 3rd baby. And in some ways, Barbara’s first.

Last year several of my friends prayed to have babies. They tried the low-tech way. Nothing. They prayed to God that maybe the slightly higher tech way would work. It did not. They prayed their insurance would pay for IVF, which it did, but still, no baby. They prayed maybe it would work the second time, or the third. One got pregnant only to miscarry. My friends endured countless injections and doctor appointments, they spent all the money and said all the prayers, and did all the things and still, heartbreakingly, unimaginably, infuriatingly, none of it worked.

I have always loved the notion that the prayers of my 5-year-old sister were “answered”.

But I find the extension of the very same idea difficult to stomach that the prayers of my friends were ignored.

So yes Martin, unless we are all willing to think God capricious and cruel, we must claim that the shopping list prayer thing is kind of bull. How in the world could we ever make sense of why some people have their prayer requests filled, and others do not.

And yet, I myself still ask.

I ask God for the provision of what I want, and for the extinction of what I fear. 

I do.

But Martin, I no longer believe that if God is good, I will be provided what’s lovely and protected from what’s ugly. Nor do I believe that what happens by chance is a referendum on my goodness and deserving.

Even though the following violates our innate sense of justice, the fact is: sometimes good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. And when it does, we scan the scene for blame, because humans love pattern recognition. But this world we live in isn’t always governed by recognizable patterns that lend themselves to cause-and-effect conclusions. Sometimes, maybe even most times, there is not a satisfying answer to the question of “why” bad things happen, so we continue to just make stuff up. We blame God or blame ourselves or blame others so that we can pretend it all could have been different - that we could have had control over the uncontrollable. Because the alternative is terrifying: stuff just happens.

So even though I don’t believe in the gumball machine idea, that if I put a shiny quarter of prayer and righteousness into God’s vending machine that a shiny round gumball of “blessings” will drop into my hand, I still pray.

I pray because I have fears and longings and concerns and gratitudes and complaints that are best not left unexpressed. And so, I hold these up to God, I repeat them in my mind and ponder them on my walks; I whisper them into my pillow and press them into the soil; I write them on ribbons; I say them in the single, choppy syllables managed between sobs. And I believe that God somehow catches them and will not let a single one land unheld in God’s divine knowing. Not because God is good and I am good so I get what I ask for, but because God was, is and will be, meaning that God is already present in the future I am fearing and already loving me through the grief of the bad thing happening, and already and always ready to comfort and sustain me. God abides all around me even in times of collapse, even in times of boredom, even in times of selfishness, even in times of effervescence when I forget to be grateful. I know this to be true even when I do not “feel” it.

Martin, I hope, rather than taking on something new, you can count as prayer that which you have already been doing. Because there is just more holiness around us than we have been led to believe.

There is much to say of prayer. These are just what came to mind on this October morning.

Love, Nadia

23rd Sunday After Pentecost -- Reformation Sunday -- October 27, 2024

10 a.m. Worship with Communion

Flowers: Given by the Congregation of Zion’s in celebration of our clergy who serve Zion’s now and through the ages.

Council Meeting Notes

Zion's Lutheran church council met for their regular meeting on Oct. 13. Vicar Lisa began the meeting with an invocation. The secretary's report, treasurer's report, financial secretary's report and acting Trust Fund Officers report were approved as submitted.

Terri Watson and Keeliey O'Hara were welcomed into membership at Zion's; Terri by baptism and Keeliey by transfer of membership. We continue to seek volunteers to serve on the Board of Trustees.

The RIC Core committee unanimously approved the draft Welcome Statement and presented it to the church council where it was also approved. Vicar Lisa reported that the group Reconciling Works has also approved it as part of our becoming a Reconciling in Christ church partner.

Church council voted to call a special meeting for Nov. 10, for the final vote on becoming a Reconciling in Christ church partner. Notices will be sent out to all voting members the week of Oct. 21 to 26 via email. Those without email will receive the notice via regular mail Please contact Julie Wersal if you have questions or do not receive the notice.

Respectfully submitted

Julie Wersal, Council President

 

Announcements

Favorite Scripture of the Week: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

  • Fellowship Time: Plan to join us after worship for our coffee and conversation as we continue our Let’s Chat discussions.
  • 5-Loaves Volunteers Needed: Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with 5-Loaves on Saturday. We have plenty of help for both Friday and Saturday.
  • Weekly Bible Studies Continue Oct. 23 & 26: The Rev. Dr. Becky McNeil continues the weekly Bible Study entitled, The Bible from Scratch, The Old Testament for Beginners by Donald L. Griggs. The sessions are presented on two different days of the week, Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m., which gives participants more flexibility. Even if you missed the first sessions, please consider joining us now. There will be no Bible study on Wednesday Oct. 30 or Saturday Nov. 2.
  • Next Sunday is Reformation Sunday: Please join us in celebrating the Reformation by wearing red. Also, the following Sunday, Nov. 3, is All Saints Sunday, we will be displaying photos or mementos of people who are important in our lives for a special bless, so begin planning for that too.

E-formation – 23rd Sunday after Pentecost -- Reformation Sunday, October 27, 2024

Over the centuries, Lutherans have kept a special day to thank God for the freedom that the word of God grants to believers and to pray that with the help of God’s Spirit, the church will be continually reformed and renewed. You are invited to worship with us on this Reformation Sunday, in praise and petition to God for the ongoing health of the church.

The Readings in the Bible

John 8:31-36

Written perhaps in the late first century, the Gospel of John is a two-part theological proclamation of Jesus as the Word of God, the incarnation of God, and the divine I Am, whose glory is shown forth at the crucifixion. John 8 is in the first part, the Book of Signs, in which Jesus enacts seven miraculous signs that manifest his divinity. Speaking in characteristic Johannine fashion, in this excerpt Jesus delivers a poetic, almost philosophical statement about his identity, the word he embodies, and the life he offers believers. The perennial search for human freedom, in Jesus’ historical context also political freedom, is illumined with the imagery of a slave and a son. It is not clear what the evangelist means when the Jews claim never to have been slaves: perhaps it is a theological statement. Recall that Pilate asks what “truth” is (18:38) and that in 14:6, Jesus calls himself “the truth.” For John, Jesus is the word, the truth, the son.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

About 600 bce, much of the Middle East was at war. Nebuchadnezzar deported many Jews to Babylon and in 587 sacked Jerusalem and the temple. Thus, during Jeremiah’s lifetime, the monarchy, the city, and the temple were destroyed. Like other Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah believed that these disasters were divine punishments, and his oracles called the people to hear and obey the word of God. In chapters 26–45, Baruch added biographical information about Jeremiah. Since it appeared that the old covenant had been obliterated, the Lord promises a new covenant, with forgiveness and the knowledge of God for the people.

Romans 3:19-28

Probably written in 57 ce, the letter to the Romans includes the fullest extant essay of Paul’s theology: that through Christ God has freed us from the power of sin and gives us the Spirit to live the way of salvation. The appointed excerpt is replete with Pauline vocabulary: law, justification, sin, righteousness, faith, grace, redemption, atonement. Verse 28 proclaims the Reformation emphasis on faith in Christ rather than works of the law. Paul’s especially negative reaction to Jewish Torah contrasts with the understanding of devout Jews today who see the law as a divine gift that lays out the good way to live in community.

Zion's Lutheran Church

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