It is the danger of conflating the divine intent with my own, and to turn to God to give me power.
I have, without question, certain sociopolitical predilections. They fall, generally, somewhere in the peculiar Venn diagram of anarcholibertarianism, liberalism, and social democracy. This means I'm politically a bit on the odd side, but, eh, I'm the sort of weird that isn't afraid to be weird.
This has, generally speaking, meant that my voting falls on the Democratic side of the rigidly binary US political spectrum.
That hasn't lessened, as the political heat has intensified and American conservatism has gone on a drunken bender in Trumpsville. When you're a faithful person with a great deal on the line, the Tempter whispers in one's ear: pray for power. Power over them. Pray for the reins of the Wagon of State. Pray for the sword. Ask for dominion. Manifest the success of your party, and the grovelling, complete demise of your adversaries. You pray for Gott Mit Uns, as the Germans used to pray it.
That's certainly been the case on the American far right, where the operating assumption is that Trump is God's Perfect Righteous Anointed, chosen for such a time as this, and prayers for God to give power to the One have become the norm.
Beyond the self-evident absurdity of that core premise, that's a terrible way for Christians to pray. It is, bluntly, an AntiChristian form of prayer.
Over the last six months, and with the help of some fine editors, I've put the finishing touches on an upcoming book about the point and purpose of the Lord's Prayer, which is the beating heart and solid rock of my prayer life. At the center of that simple prayer is a turning away from all but the most necessary things of this life, and a refutation of the human ego and its grasping for power. In the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, the only thing we ask to be given is our "daily bread." Nothing else. Everything else is about emptying ourselves to make room for God's spirit, and about turning our hearts away from evil and the seductions of the worldly realm: moral decadence, political power, material wealth, social status, all of it.
It's a tough prayer to offer up in a fiercely partisan time, but a necessary one.
It checks the ego against the lie that rises from willfully misrepresenting one's opponent, the Luciferian bargain that Alinsky would have radicals of every persuasion make. It challenges the partisan unwillingness to show grace and mercy to those who are on an opposing path. It reminds the one praying it, if they're paying attention, that blind fealty to a party or a leader is a form of idolatry.
As is praying for power, even and especially if you're sure you're right. Sure, we want power. But that desire is a broken thing.
And our broken wanting breaks the world.
Posts
