The Christian Imagination

To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. IF we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ. (Foster, 33)

I really like that description, because it highlights the importance of the relational nature of prayer, and that prayer is a primary means of transformation. And really, if we don’t spend time with God, it probably should come as no surprise that we aren’t as like Him as we’d like to be.

Foster mentions both Martin Luther and John Wesley. I’ve always marveled at Luther saying that he “had too much business” to not spend three hours a day in prayer. How different we tend to see things in our busy culture.

For some Christian pioneers, prayer was the chief work of their lives. That too, seems out of reach, and counter-cultural. We pray, but do we really, really believe prayer makes that much of a difference? How often do we pray because it’s expected? And when we ask for things, how much faith do we have that it will make a difference? I, for one, have struggled with the last question more often than I care to admit.

That’s partly why I like the idea of communing with God. But if I truly trust Him, I can’t get away from petitioning and intercession, now can I? I don’t want my prayers to be functional though, as if prayer is a technique where I have to correctly insert a coin into the great slot machine in the sky.

In Foster’s view, “Real prayer is something we learn” (Foster, 36) over time, by doing it. As we pray, we get more tuned into God, and thereby find our prayers more often answered. But first, we must listen. Certainly verses like John 15:7 convey that God answers prayer: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” I’ve always liked John 15, though the challenge of that chapter is not to abide in order to get close to God as a task to get what we want, but to get to know God himself.

I grew up Pentecostal, so we prayed a lot, and definitely believed God answered prayers and moved among us. That might have carried more weight if the character of a number of people I knew lived up to their supposed prayer lives. Christians fail though, and ultimately, either what the Bible says about prayer is true or it’s not, and fortunately, there are always those Christians whose lives remind me why I believe.

Foster talks about prayer by using the imagination. Some detractors liken his description to astral projection or other Eastern religion practices. I’ll let others disect his methodology and just focus on my view of it. “Children also teach us the value of the imagination” (Foster, 41). As adults, we sometimes get too serious, too concrete. That’s not to say there isn’t a time to be serious, but there’s also a time to play and use our imaginations. I’ve used my imagination in prayer before, and it’s rather cool to form a picture of the person I’m praying for. Hey, if Peter, and Paul and John can see all the visions they saw (including the entire book of Revelation), and we are looking to the Bible for examples of how to pray, I’d say imagination has a place in prayer.

Foster also wrote a comprehensive book on prayer called Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. Anyone know any other good books on prayer?

I was given a tip for doing sound. I didn’t deserve it, at least I don’t think so. I did a good enough job with sound, but I still could have done more, been more.

And yet, I was blessed with money anyway. It reminds me that God’s like that. Generous, because it’s his nature. Not calculating. Not weighing the scales to see if I’m doing ‘just good enough.’ Instead, my heavenly dad will surprise me at times when I did nothing to earn it, nothing to deserve it. And those are the things I overlook. Instead, I’ll hold a grudge for him not giving me what I most desire, and I’ll start to wonder if I’m good enough to deserve it. Then I’ll try to manipulate Him (not that we ever call it that), do the right things, be a certain kind of person, to deserve it. He sees right through me. Doesn’t give in. But He’ll give me other things. It’s maddening!

Maybe though, I just miss His goodness, and that blessing isn’t tied to my performance, and that knowing Him is the ultimate blessing. I forget that faith is believing against what appears to be. And God, He may choose to give me a certain blessing or not. But that’s just it. There’s no formula to make God do my bidding. Prayer is not a methodology. It’s a relationship.

Rich Mullins talks about the ‘reckless, raging fury that is the love of God.’ God loves. That’s what He does. But it’s a love that I can’t comprehend, can’t grab onto. But it can be felt, sometimes with force. And sometimes gently when He stoops down and hands me a gift I don’t deserve. In that moment, I smile, for in that moment, grace is a real, living, breathing experience that touches my soul rather than an abstract concept. Eyes down, I finally look up, and He is there, where He’s always been.

I first heard of 826 Valencia on a plane ride to Reno, listening to the above TED video by Dave Eggers. While not a Christian organization, it’s a really creative model to serve their community.

Dave is an author, and when he moved to San Francisco, he and some other writers rented some space and thought it would be great to utilize their skills and space to offer tutoring to kids in their community. The space in front was zoned for retail, so they would have to sell products if it was open to the public. Sooooooo, they opened a pirate supply store!

It took some time and further networking for it to establish itself, and there are those who have emulated this model in their community, making it their own. What I really like about it is how they managed to mix their way of making a living with community service, and doing so in the same space. Business and service is often an either/of proposition. Writers like Dave certainly have a lot to offer students in need of tutoring. And now, there are all sorts of volunteers involved.

Watch the video or visit the website to learn more about 826 Valencia.

Also check out the idea site he mentions,
Once Upon a School

Not long ago, quite recently in fact, some guys started a blog, for fun, called, Things White People Like. It quickly became popular, really popular. They now have a book deal. And it has spawned numerous imitators…people writing about their own subcultures.

I was doing a Google search for Christian culture, and found Stuff Christian Culture Likes. She just started, in August 2008, and has 44 posts so far. In her about, she says, “Christian culture is funny because it doesn’t have much (if anything) to do with Christ himself.”

Her commentary is amusing, and sometimes satirical. Good stuff.

In #32, Formulas, she says: “Formulas are at the core of Christian culture: distract yourself from the unsavory realities of faith and relationship and focus instead on projects and being “certain” instead of “struggling with God.” It really is a lot easier this way, but the price is that you can’t be a whole person.”