Guest Author, John Waak
Weeks of worry brought a woman to the surgery waiting room. Nagging symptoms in her husband’s body grew to the point that not even manly denial could dismiss the feeling that something was not right. His wife, with womanly strength, bore the torch of hope -a hope that said, ”You’re going to the doctor!” He went. The prognosis was serious but hopeful, but surgery was required to understand what was truly going on. So, there we sat, she and I. We chatted about meaningless things, and then in words that were few, she talked about her worst-case fears. I am sure that somewhere in there we prayed. Then the Doctor came out. As compassionately as he could, and with words that plainly explained what he found, he shared that the situation was terminal and fast-acting. She was stunned into silence until at last, realizing that she needed to say something, quietly uttered a one-word expletive. In that word I clearly heard something that came from the depth of her soul. It wasn’t offensive, but honest; not dirty, but pure; not profane, but prayer. It was the most authentic prayer I have ever heard next to Jesus praying, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
The ancient teachers of Christian faith have taught us that two situations teach us to pray authentically, that is, from the heart. One is the experience of being awed at the magnificence of something astoundingly beautiful. The individual experiences a kind of emptying, and rises in heart-felt worship for that which one has now experienced. And when experienced, the experience longs to be shared. The other situation is in great suffering. Here, too, there is an emptying, but in anguish. The mind fails for words, but the heart speaks its own prayer in a language known and heard by the Spirit of truth. Here too. where there is an emptying there is a great filling, a filling of grace. The woman above uttered a one-word prayer. She was filled with a grace that bore her husband’s suffering and eventual death. She was, by grace, the incarnation of God’s love, and was herself healed by her faith.
So there you have it. Emptying and filling, dying and rising. One is in the presence of overwhelming beauty, the other in the presence of overwhelming suffering. Yet both result in worship and the experience of the Love that surpasses all understanding. Both are sacred. Both are missional. Both situations demand that you be present to that which is right there before you. Both demand that you pay the price. Both result in divine love flowing like a torrential river for your neighbor. Are you willing to rejoice for the love God has for your neighbor? Are you strong enough to be weak in tears and steadfast in compassion? Do you really want the Lord to teach you to pray? You may find He is teaching you to love. You may find He is teaching you to live. You will certainly find that you are not the object of your prayer, but its fulfillment, by grace, to His glory, as it was for the disciples of old.
