A Place for my mind to wander.

Tuesday, September 11

In the Quiet Places

Matthew 6:1-8

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your father who is in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by en. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 “But when you give to the poor do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Kathy Griffin is being censored for comments she made that were found offensive. She is quoted as saying “A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."
She went on to make some other comments but I found this one particularly interesting. Our culture is saturated with Christianity. There are those who would go so far as to say that America is a “God’s country”. I don’t follow this line of reasoning. Generally because I believe that God is far bigger than national boundaries. Also, considering the fact that I frequently leave and many times don’t wish to be a part of this country,
I find it hard to believe that an omniscient God would not rather choose the coast of Italy as a suitable place to call home.

I mean, seriously.

As I read her words, I was reminded of the scripture mentioned above. “When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father.” Last weekend I attended church with my aunt. I had promised her that I would attend a service with her at her church before I left. Last weekend was my last in Livingston, so it fell upon that Sunday to the great delight of my Aunt. As I sat in her small evangelical Christian church, I began to wonder why it was that I had waited so long to come here. The people weren’t too bad and the preacher was actually quite nice. Then, 10 minutes into the opening prayer, it hit me (no, not the floor because I feel asleep after ten minutes of praying): I like God in the quiet places. There’s something about these loud hot-air preachers that are going to storm the gates of hell if you will repeat Jesus’ name ten times with them that really get under my skin. When I imagine prayer, I am in a room alone, with the door closed, quiet before the almighty. What is the purpose of prayer? Do we believe that the “prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16)”? If we do not pray for something, will it not happen? Or is prayer a mode of communication between our soul and its creator? If this is true, should we pray in public? Would you put your phone on speaker when you are talking to the one you love?

So, back to the beginning. I would like to think that if I won an Oscar, or some other note-worthy award, I wouldn’t say a thing. I would stand up there tell everyone that really it was the director that made me look so good and then whisper a quiet thank you to the lord above.

3 comments:

Padraig the Almighty said...

Actually God prefers chillin with me in my room with a joint...he honestly just told me to tell you that two seconds ago.

- Hi Clare this is God...Pat is one cool cat...don't really have much else to say so later yo.-

See he even uses my computer.

Anyway, back to the important things. Faith is person specific. Your religion is true to you because it is backed by your faith, not anyone else's. I seriously doubt that God really cares if you go to an evangelical church, a catholic church, no church, or Pat Robertson forbid (I substitute PR's name in for God's because I don't think that it would be too wise to say God's name in vain with him in the room and all. So I figured PR sure thinks he is God so it would make a worthy substitute...and the think the big G-Man won't really mind...in all honesty he says it has taken a large amount of resolve to keep himself from smiting PR daily anyways) a jewish church. I think God is happy that people just believe. He doesn't sweat the small stuff. So in reality when your faith matters only to you it sounds kind of naive to gather in large groups to pray win it is only your personal beliefs that make your prayers mean something. I think that is what Joshua (his name is Joshua not Jesus, the damn greeks don't have a name for the Hebrew Yeschua so they just arbitrarily decided to fuck his name up for all time) was trying to get at when he said what he said. In your innermost room by yourself your prayers are only said by you, for you, and according to your faith, which is what makes them so powerful.

P.S. I don't know if you have heard of Christopher Moore, but he's great and he has a new book out called Lamb and it is Heretically Hilarious(well at least by PR's standards)...and you need to read it. I think you would really love it.

Padraig the Almighty said...

O btw school has not zapped my creative energy away, it has just raped my time.

O and I changed from a Buddhist monastery to backpacking around the world...I am hoping to write a post about it sometime soon, but at the moment I am slightly busy...

Je Dois said...

as usual, patrick, I find you both hilarious and brilliant.