Keep them in your prayers...

Tragedy hit with the shooting of a congresswoman form Arizona and the death of 6, including a child.  The newscaster on NPR encouraged listeners to "keep them in your prayers."  And we all will...or we all will say we will.  Perhaps all of us will lift a prayer for them, for their families...and I find that interesting.  As of May 2009 in a Pew survey, only about 40% of us attend worship at least weekly (or say we do).  Now certainly we can pray without attending weekly worship, but I wonder what God thinks.

American behavior reflects belief in an interesting God.  God is to be turned to in times of tragedy.  God rescues people personally from train wrecks, plane crashes, or tornados...especially tornados.  God is on our side in war and definitively against our enemies.  God punishes people who live lifestyles we don't agree with (OK, not really when we ask him, but when something bad happens to them, we credit God).  And most typically, we invoke prayer to God in times of tragedy.  "Our prayers are with you."  "We'll be praying for you."  "We encourage you to keep the victims in your thoughts and prayers."

So, if we are making a movie about a "good person" and need a foil, we get a Jesus Freak.  If something bad has happened and we need a band-aid, we get encouragement to "pray."  So what kind of God is this? Is what we want a God-in-the-box that we can take out when we need something, then put away, out-of-sight, out-of-mind while we live our "regular" lives?  Is God someone who doesn't want to be bothered with us on a day-to-day basis, but wants to help us feel better or reward us occasionally when God feels like it or we manage to get God's attention?  Is God our own personal giant gavel, pounding order back into a disorderly world?

And how do we know who this God is anyway?  Do we learn about God from a church?  from our neighbor?  from the movies/television/radio evangelist?  or do we just function out of a vague set of assumptions that have coalesced from different kinds of exposure over the years?  Is our God one part television, one part crazy Aunt Bettie fundamentalism, one part occasional Sunday school with a friend, and one part Christmas and Easter service?

The Presbyterian tradition teaches that if we want to get an authentic glimpse of God - if we want to know who God "really" is, and not just the coalesced version that suits our collective whims and needs - then we cannot do better than to grab our Bible (it's that best-selling book on the shelf that few actually read), go to church, and together with others, struggle with the texts and listen to what God wants to teach us.

I want us to pray for the victims of this tragedy, as well as all others who suffer.  But I want the prayer to grow out of a consistent relationship with God every day, and not a pop culture quick fix for what ails us.  Because, real prayer doesn't fix others, it changes us, so that we become a part of the healing that God works in the world.