Thomas's Prayer

      Check out this math.

      Fifty-five years of church going, give or take the times I have missed due to illness, travel, sleeping in (college confession), or just choosing to stay home  = hearing nearly 3,000 public prayers.  That's multiplying 52 (weeks in the year) x 55 (my age). 

      Consider the fact that some weeks a Southern Protestant churchgoer will hear multiple public prayers because those doors are open Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night in some churches.   At some services we pray not once but three times.  The 3,000 figure is now a low estimate. 

       For me, prayer is the staple of faith in both our worship services and in our personal lives.  Contrast prayer to church attendance.   I like to compare sitting in a pew to sitting in a doctor's office waiting room.  We know this wait is the protocol for getting in to see the doctor.  Likewise, we go to church and sit because we know at some point in that service there is a good chance--if we are fully engaged--that we will see, hear, and feel the holy presence of The Great Physician.    But the act of attending church in and of itself does not necessarily represent faith.  Church attendance is often a social thing:   we can attend to set an example for our children or we can go to be seen.   Even a  nonbeliever could walk into a synagogue, a mosque, or a church and blend right in, attending for the music or the ceremony or for a funeral or wedding. 

         Ah, but prayer.....prayer, unlike church attendance, is purely an act of faith.

        We are talking to someone who does not talk back in a conventional manner.  There is no physical voice response to our prayers. Is there really somebody on the other end?  I do doubt sometimes, but that is precisely what makes prayer so meaningful.  When we pray, we are in essence acknowledging God's existence and God's power.
          This past Sunday at the Gail Church of Christ, the small number gathered once again for our routine of announcements, prayer, song, song, prayer, song, communion, song, sermon, and invitation song.  The average attendance is 10-15, a mostly older crowd (including myself), and reflective of a small conservative rural community:  teachers, farmers, ranchers, and retirees.

          Thomas prayed the second prayer, words spoken with his halting Arkansas drawl.  A portion of his brief petition was this:

           "I don't know Your plan......but....if You would.....please send us a good rain."

           When it comes to public prayer, we often appreciate the eloquence of words. 

           God is more concerned with the eloquence of the spirit.

           With those fifteen words, Thomas did three things:   humbled himself, recognized God's will, and then implied that the Creator can do anything, even quench a thirsty land.  And Thomas said please.  That never hurts.

            God listened intently to that prayer.
            Since Sunday, Gail America has received over three inches of rain.  

            We have been publicly and privately praying a long time for moisture.  What makes me think Thomas's prayer did the trick? 

            I have no idea.  I just believe it.
            Faith.