Thursday, June 30, 2011

Public Prayer

I attended a local civic group's meeting yesterday. My husband and I were guests because our son won a scholarship from this group. They had a very nice lunch and a very short, sweet and to the point meeting. I'm slightly familiar with this group because the school where I teach works with them on a character education program for our students. Oh, whatever, I'll just tell you: it was the Rotary Club. Anyhow, I'm not much of a "joiner" and neither is my husband. Besides the kids getting scholarships, I may have been the youngest person there. They had many little traditions and things that if you hadn't been there, you were clueless as to what they were doing. However, I think that's true of most groups, including churches. We were just very grateful and proud of our son, so I was prepared to deal with anything.

I was pleasantly surprised. It's not like I expected anyone to be rude or anything. Quite the opposite. They were all very welcoming, polite and kind. We were personally greeted by almost every member who came up to us, introduced themselves, we spoke briefly, and all in all, it was a very nice experience with total strangers. I did know one member, as I taught her son. I find it very gratifying to run into people like that. Well, if they like me, I enjoy it. At any rate, they did what most clubs do. They said the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag and also the Texas pledge, and there was a prayer at the beginning. Now, anytime anyone attempts to "pray" publicly, I usually get uncomfortable, perhaps annoyed, maybe slightly angry. Remember, I'm not Christian. I don't pray to Jesus, and most people around here do. I understand that. I am all in favor of everyone worshiping as they see fit, as long as they don't force it on me. For God's sake, I attended a Southern Baptist university! Chapel attendance was mandatory every week! Clearly, I can handle being the "odd man out" at a religious service. If I am attending a service like that, I am respectful of the people and the church or hall or whatever, and I stand and bow and pray in my own way. So, when they said they were going to pray, I prepared myself for anger. However, this is how the man began:
"Please join me in giving thanks in whatever unique way you choose.." I thought that was perfection. He never mentioned Jesus until the very end. I was expecting to hear, "In Jesus' name WE pray, Amen." He didn't do that, though. He said, "I Jesus' name I pray, Amen." He stressed the "I" in the sentence. In other words, he was praying to Jesus, but he understood not everyone was. It was a very nice, heartfelt, thoughtful prayer. He gave thanks for the food, the fact that everyone was healthy and alive in the room. He gave thanks for the availability of the facilities they were using, he gave thanks for the fact that he woke up that day, and said although everything was unknown, even whether or not he'd live to see nightfall, he was thankful for what he had been given. All in all, a very good prayer, in my opinion. I appreciated it greatly. I may even have appreciated that more than the money they were kind enough to give my child for college. Believe me, I am DAMNED thankful for that, too!

Too often, I am placed in a position where I am asked to bow my head and pray to Jesus. I cannot, in good conscience, so that. It goes against my entire belief system. I have no problem with anyone ELSE doing it, just don't expect me to do it. I have been in many situations where I am asked to "offer thanks to Jesus". No. I am sorry, I cannot do that. Other times, Jesus is mentioned so often throughout the prayer that I want to walk out. However, I try to be respectful and just do my own thing without interfering with their prayer. Many times, Jesus isn't even brought up until the very end when they say, "In Jesus' name we pray". Then, I feel almost like I was tricked into betraying my own faith.

If I were to be asked to lead a prayer, first of all, I probably would decline, because that to me is exceptionally personal and private. If someone asks for prayers for a sicked friend or loved one, I do pray for them. However, it is important to remember that there are many ways to pray, and not everyone prays in the same way. Many people who know me probably think I don't believe in prayer. However, I firmly believe in the power of sincere prayer. I pray all the time, I just don't make a show of it.

So, I just wanted to let the Rotary Club of Killeen know how appreciative I was in more than one way for yesterday's meeting.

2 comments:

Carlos said...

Great post, and what a nice way for someone to handle the public prayer thing. We had a big stink at a high school in a little town outside of San Antonio a month or so ago. An agnostic family wanted to block prayer at the high school graduation. A judge granted a temporary injunction (think that's what it was), while things were hashed out. Many good "Christians" were so offended they offered death threats to the agnostic family. Nice.

I'm not sure when or why it became so necessary to scream one's religion all over creation, and assume everyone in Amurca is Christian, but I'm growing very, very tired of it.

Religion and prayer, as you alluded, should be private. Somehow I don't think Jesus would approve of some of the more aggressive fundamentalist Christians in our midst.

Jacksmom said...

I agree with you 100%. I'm part of the minority. I'm Jewish. In a small Texas town. It can get overwhelming getting asked, "Where is your church home, honey?" all the time. I'm from the South for God's sake, too!