Son, if you know how to cheat, now would be a good time. —Earl Weaver, Baltimore Orioles manager, during a mound visit to a beleaguered young pitcher who had just loaded the bases with no outs
* * *
Our nation is in the throes of destruction. We are beleaguered. Foundations crumble. Walls fall. Courts teeter.
Millions feel hopeless. Democrats look clueless. The vandals are gleeful. Resistance flounders.
Patriots, if you know how to pray, now would be a good time.
Let’s do it.
Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, hear our prayer. O thou great Jehovah, destroy our enemies and grant us victory.
OOPS. Too late. The other side beat us to it.
Their side gloats. Our side mopes.
And yet both sides pray to the same God, or so said President Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address.
Maybe then. Not now.
I don’t pray to their god. Their god is too small. Aloof. Vengeful. Judgmental. Fickle. White. Male. Christian. Republican.
An idol.
My god isn’t the mirror opposite of theirs. My god is nothing. No thing. My god is here, there, and everywhere.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
(Psalm 139)
As many mystics, including the apostle Paul, have said: God is the one in whom we live, and move, and have our being.
God is being, not a being.
God is the ground of our being.
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. (Psalm 139)
Prayer, for me, is alignment. Attunement. Attention.
Prayer is the intentions of the heart, spoken or not, vibrating through the web of life and back again.
Good vibes, indeed!
We and God are two sides of one coin. Two sides of one self.
Separation is an illusion.
This is indeed a good time to pray. But then, it’s aways a good time to pray.
So, yes, pray your heart out. But also work your butt off for change.
It’s not either-or. It’s both-and.
May our prayers embolden us to change the things we can and never accept the things that are unacceptable.
O God of every nation,
of every race and land,
redeem the whole creation
with your almighty hand.
Where hate and fear divide us
and bitter threats are hurled,
in love and mercy guide us,
and heal our strife-torn world.
—William Walker Reid Jr.
