In my earliest years of being Orthodox, when I went off to college "with holy chrism still dripping from [my] forehead", whenever someone brought up some distinctly Protestant doctrine, I would roll my eyes and debate with them the Orthodox way of thinking about it. It often lead to very heated discussions. I Bible thumped the Bible thumpers.
Fortunately I've moved away from that somewhat and have realized the importance of Christ over the importance of Orthodoxy. Or at least I thought I had. Last night I got roped in to coming to my roommates' Bible study. (I had eaten their food and it seemed bad manners to peace out when they started opening their Bibles. Plus it was a great opportunity to test run my newly acquired (from Alana) Orthodox Study Bible New AND OLD Testament.) I managed to listen to what they were talking about and ignore the cynical, though funny, comments running through my head and everything was fine--up until it was prayer request time.
I couldn't figure out what stuck me as so uncomfortable about taking prayer requests. And when I tried sincerely to think of something to share, all I could come up with were either old prayer requests I remembered sharing in high school about my grandmother dying and my thumb being cut, or prayers for repentance. Neither seemed appropriate.
When I got back to my room and checked my email, I found a message from Alana with prayer requests from several of my favorite people and I was forced to reconcile the two. They say that praying for others is like spiritual alms giving. And being able to pray for these people made me feel close to them when we all live far apart. I guess praying for people is just another way of loving them. So, why not.
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Two Friends. Forty Days In Prayer.
1 comment:
I've experienced that so many times... the "uncomfortablness" in prayer requests. I had a family member give me a "praise report"about his life the other day - it made me grit my teeth with the pain of jargon. What he had to tell me was of course something to glorify God for... so why does it matter how it's said? I think sometimes the protestant words feels like Jr. High Christianity, and the Orthodox words are.. grown-up? My problem is I still find myself in Jr. high mode,,, and so end up saying nothing - because I don't know how to say it with the meaning it deserves. Thanks for letting me crash your blog, you two... and thanks for inspiring me to pray more.
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