ARE OUR PRAYERS WORKING?

Of the many prayers that the Jewish people recite during the course of the day, there is no prayer dearer to us than the prayer for shalom, peace. The rabbis taught us that all prayers must end with a prayer for peace, which would explain why, at the end of the Amidah or the end of Kaddish, we sing with great gusto Oseh Shalom—May the One who makes peace in the Heavens above grant peace onto us and onto all Israel. It is for that reason that we might legitimately ask whether our prayers are actually working, for dear as the prayer for peace may be to us, the world around us seems to be sinking further and further into violence and anarchy.

Mr. Bashar al-Assad of Syria has struck out against his own subjects in order to quash all reform efforts. United States officials estimate that some 10,000 have been tortured and killed over a two year period. Boko Haram, a group of militant Islamists, has kidnapped 200 high school girls and forced them to convert, as part of their terrorist tactics against the Nigerian government. An estimated 5000 people have been murdered at their hand over a three-and-a-half year period. The term “Boko Harum” is typically translated as “Western Education is a Sin.” A new radical group known as ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is effectively ruling major territory in both Syria and Iraq and has done so via beheadings, crucifixions, and mass executions. Mr. Putin of Russia has had no qualms in walking into Crimea, violating another country’s sovereignty, and granting financial and military support to the pro-Russian separatists. His ill-advised tactics led to the tragic downing of Malaysian Airline Flight 17, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members. And even closer to our own hearts, we have witnessed the tragic loss of life in Israel and Gaza, as that area of our beloved MidEast has erupted into war again.

All this brings us back to the original question: are our prayers for peace working?

In answer to that question, another more fundamental question must be asked: what is it that we actually expect prayer to do? If our expectation is that upon petitioning God, God will either grant our request or deny it, then there’s good reason to believe that our encounter with God will sometimes leave us satisfied and other times leave us disappointed. But suppose the encounter with God through prayer galvanizes the pray-er to some new insight or bold action. Then the effects of prayer bcomes a whole different dynamic. It might be helpful to think of prayer like this: a means by which we are strengthened to move in the very direction we have asked God to move. Are we praying for health? A good prayer will move us to live healthfully. Are we praying for wisdom? An effective prayer will move us to seek the sources of wisdom and learn from them. Are we praying for peace? A great prayer will move us to promote peace, in our own words and actions. Are our prayers working? I fear that we have too often prayed with the expectation that God will do the work for us. But that’s exactly how it doesn’t work. Humankind is the agent of God on earth. We pray to further understand God’s will in the Heavens above that we may carry it out, as God’s agents, on the earth below.

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), the English poet, academic and lay theologian wrote, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says ‘all right, then, have it your way.’” It is during the darkest hours that the possibility of salvation is greatest. These days, the world is very dark. The world may have come to that point when the power hungry, parading about in religious garb, have tightened their grip mercilessly on the common folk. It is not easy to stand in opposition to these demagogues for one does so at great personal risk. Thus prayer: a means by which we are strengthened to move in the very direction we have asked God to move, even in the face of tremendous evil and moral turpitude. If our prayers have not worked up until now, maybe we need to change our expectations of exactly what it is prayer is to do. We pray to God not in order to move God. We pray to God that God be so inclined as to move us. Yehi ratzon…May it be Your will God that you so move us, and may we be instrumental in the establishing of peace on earth as capably as You establish peace within the heavens above us.