STILL WORKING AT INTERCESSORY PRAYER [F, 1-26-24]

 CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter—STILL WORKING AT INTERCESSORY PRAYER [F, 1-26-24]

 

A woman I know--approaching old age, maybe even in it--recently asked for prayers as she faced some medical tests. She is not a churchgoing woman, although she is accepting and non-judgmental about churchy folks. She is educated and scientific in her thinking. So she pointed out that her request for prayer was based on science. She had read all the reports of double-blind experiments, etc. that showed that prayed-for people got better.

When I was doing Clinical Pastoral Education in the University of Iowa hospitals as part of my doctoral work, I got acquainted with Larry Den Besten. He had been a missionary surgeon in Nigeria before becoming chief of surgery at UIA hospitals. He always prayed with his patients before their surgery. The nurses told us, “Most of the patients could have gone on home right then. His prayers were that powerful.”

I’m sure no patient ever said following the prayer, “That’s okay, Doc. I can go home without the surgery.” And I’m sure that Larry would not have let them go. He was a man of science. He knew they needed that surgery. But he was also a man of faith. He knew they needed prayer.

Larry Dossey, MD, in his book, Healing Words, says that prayer is the only healing approach of which we require perfection. If we pray for someone, and they don’t get well, we say, “See, prayer doesn’t work.” If we give a patient chemotherapy, and they don’t get better, we don’t say, “See, chemo doesn’t work.” We keep on using it, because sometimes it works.

Yes, I know I have written about intercessory prayer often, but I have to keep doing so, because I don’t have it figured out. I was talking about this with friends during breakfast at church one Sunday—back before covid, when we did things like breakfast at church—and I said, “All I know for sure about intercessory prayer is that I have to do it.” “Exactly!” Mary Jane said.

That’s not very convincing to someone who does not pray and does not believe in it, but that’s okay. Faith, prayer, hope… these are all individual matters. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to prayer.

Of course, a real doubter would say to my “I have to do it” reasoning, “Well, see, you’re just doing it for yourself.” Partially true. The people who claim that there is no purely altruistic act are correct. But isn’t a kind act that is only partly altruistic better than a non-kind act, or a non-act? Frankly, I don’t much care about the motivation of someone who is kind to me; I just appreciate the kindness.

If I care about someone, and prayer is a tool I can use on their behalf, often the only tool available to me, it would be actively unkind of me to say, “Well, I’m not going to pray for you, because I don’t know if it will work.” Its like saying to a drowning person, “I’m not going to call for help because I’m not sure it can get here in time.’

Well, I prayed for that woman whom I mentioned in the first paragraph. Still praying for her. I don’t know what difference it will make, but I know I have to do it.

John Robert McFarland