 Passion
& Prayer
by
Alan Cohen The
powerful movie Dangerous Beauty recounts the story of Veronica, a 16th
century Venetian courtesan (prostitute for noblemen) who wins the
hearts of her clients. Veronica is beautiful, witty, and full of
passion for life and her profession. Her clients sense her terrific
life force, and they are lifted from the grayness of their lives. The
Great Inquisition overtakes Venice, and Veronica is brought to trial
on charges of witchcraft. The judge sternly tells her that if she
confesses to being a witch, her life will be spared. In a stirring
courtroom soliloquy, Veronica declares, “I confess…I confess that
I find more ecstasy in passion than in prayer. Such passion is
prayer.” For
those of us who have been taught that prayer or spirituality requires
denying our passion, Veronica’s statement may come as a shock. But,
as Phillip Brooks noted, “Prayer is not the overcoming of God’s
reluctance, but the taking hold of God’s willingness.” And what is
God’s willingness, but the experience of joy and abundance in every
area of life? While
giving a talk at a church in a conservative area of the country, I
noticed nearly everyone in the church looked the same. The women had
the same hairdos, the men wore the same suits, and most of the
conversations fell within a thin slice of the middle of the bell curve
of what is socially acceptable. If you saw the movie Pleasantville,
you get the picture. Frankly, I felt frightened. I feared that if I
had to spend a lot of time in this area, I might die of boredom. I
grew up in New Jersey, live in Hawaii, and spend a lot of time in
California. You get the picture. Then
a teenage fellow with orange hair walked into the church. Now I
confess I have had judgments about people who die their hair weird
colors and have metal objects inserted in various bodily orifices. But
that day I was really glad to see that guy. He was the only person in
that church, as far as I could tell, who was making a statement for
individual expression. At
another time I sat through a fairly boring church Christmas service.
As soon as the service was over and people were milling out, some
upbeat music came over the loudspeaker. I looked up into the balcony
and saw two teenagers who came alive and started dancing to this
music. Suddenly my heart lifted. It was the first shred of aliveness I
felt during the service. I think Jesus would have appreciated it, too. Then
there was the time I spoke at a small church in the Midwest. That day
the Sunday school teacher didn’t show up, so the church elders took
the class, of a half-dozen boys about the age of 10, and stuck them in
the first row of the church, hoping this would keep the kids in line.
My talk was on making the most of wherever you are. You can imagine my
surprise when I looked over to see all of these boys sitting there
with quarters in their eye sockets! At first I was jarred, then I had
to hand it to them. They were the only people in the church who put my
lesson into practice immediately! A
fun way to evaluate your activities is by doing an “energy scan”
on yourself and others in any given situation. Have you ever seen a
magazine or television advertisement for home insulation, where they
show a thermograph of a home in the wintertime? The photo shows most
of the home as blue, indicating the area that is well-insulated. Some
of the areas, especially around doors and windows, are glowing red,
indicating the places where heat is leaking out. Over
a long period of time we have been trained to believe that life is
about staying insulated rather than glowing with passion. God,
however, is most present and obvious where people are happy and alive.
This means there is more genuine prayer happening at football games
than most churches. If churches could work up enthusiasm, presence of
attention, and spirit as well as professional football, religion in
our country would really rock. But many people walk out of churches
more dead than alive. If next Sunday we made a rule that only those
people who would really love to go to church, go, I wonder what
attendance would look like. The good news is the energy in church
would be spectacular. I would rather teach to a small group who really
want to be there, than a large group whose mind was on golf. To that
group I would say, “Please, go golf. Let the golf course be your
church.” Such passion is prayer. |
