The Who of Prayer: Creating Right Relationships

This week we consider who is involved in prayer. While the central answer to that is God, we often overlook other people who are involved in our prayers. In fact, because we are so focused on God when we pray, we overlook the relationships involved in prayer.

One of the most important aspects of prayer is to develop better relationships. The central relationship that prayer shapes is between the you and God, but prayer also molds your relationships with people you pray for and people you pray with.

Prayer forces us to look outside of ourselves. Even though you may pray only for yourself sometimes, the act of prayer is itself a recognition that we are not the center of the universe, however egotistical we may be. And as we continue to prayer, we start to recognize even clearer the delicate strands that bind us to other people, and the circumstances in which those ties are strained or broken.

Sometimes prayer is used as a weapon, even in the scriptures. For all of the beautiful images of the psalms, there are gruesome desires there too, where the children of Israel prayer for the death and destruction of their enemies. Such emotions of violence and retribution are very human, and we cannot hide them from God; however, there is a difference between admitting these emotions and praying for God to act according to them.

The world is broken enough. We need to pray for healing. We do not need to pray out of hatred, directing God's punishment where we see fit. This strains our relationship with others -- including the very poor and outcast that Jesus calls us to serve as if they were Christ himself -- and it strains our relationship with God.

Instead, let us work to create healthier, more tolerant, more loving (even of our enemies) relationships that begin to recognize the complexities of the world in which we live and that demonstrate our growing understanding that we need each other. Prayer is a good way to build such relationships.

Today's Prayer Prompt: Think about a cherished relationship in your life that is strained right now, and be honest about your own actions in nurturing the conflict. Include a request for God's reconciliation in that relationship in your prayer today.