Christians are so funny: The Series; Part III - Prayer Dressing

"Before we begin, let's pray."
"Let me pray for us really quick, and then we can get out of here."

Prayer is Christian culture's bread and butter. It happens at pretty predictable moments--most commonly before an event starts or when an event ends. And before meals, of course. It is a staple of many large Christian gatherings. I suspect that this might actually do more harm than good.

I was talking with a really close friend of mine, and we shared about what was going on in our lives. After we shared, he said, "I feel like we should pray. Do you want to pray?" And my response was, "No, because I wouldn't be in it at all." He said he felt the same way. But he felt some kind of an obligation to pray, even though it would have been an entirely forced and probably inauthentic prayer. This is similar to what I'm talking about--why do we feel a pressing need to ritualistically pray, even if we're not going to actually mean it or engage with it?

I think that praying just because "you should" or because "you're supposed to" trivializes the practice of prayer. Notice the quotations that began this post; they seem to imply that a beginning or closing prayer is a hurdle that must be leaped over before we can continue with our lives. It views prayer as an obstacle that must be overcome, rather than as an opportunity to deepen one's relationship with God the Father.

This is why I don't pray before meals. I realized my first day away from home in my college dorm that praying before meals has no significance for me; I only say words because it's something that I'm "supposed" to do. I realized that it's extremely hard for me to care about what I'm saying if I am doing it out of compulsion rather than out of sincere desire. So I stopped praying before meals. Which makes it really uncomfortable for me when I'm asked to do so at my fraternity dinner table or in fraternity meetings.

I don't want prayer to be used just as a dressing to cover certain Christian gatherings--I think it needs to be treated as something more than that. It's kinda lame to just blow off a hangout session with God like that.