Prayer of the Radical

True Prayer  is ‘radical’   because those who pray are fundamentally changed by it.  This morning, I will attempt to illustrate one aspect of the radical nature of Prayer… by focusing on  Prayer as a Movement’,  and not just any movement.. It’s the very ‘movement of God’s Compassion’.

In the Song of Solomon,  human love becomes a metaphor for Divine Love.   The problem of blatant eroticism of the Song of Solomon.. has been dealt with by allegorizing it.  This is about the love between God and His people,  or the love between God and the soul.  Sexual intimacy is used as a metaphor for God’s passionate involvement with His people.  Union between two partners or lovers become a symbol for expressing the intimate bond between God and His people. 

In the Song of Solomon, the intense yearning and desire causes the Shulamite woman to search vigorously for her Beloved.

“All night long on my bed, I looked for the one my heart loves; but did not find Him.. I searched
in the city, through its streets and squares..  And when I found the one my heart loves.. I held him and will not let him go”   -   Song of Solomon  3: 1-4

Here we get a glimpse of the intense love that God the passionate lover has for us  (when God in the role of the Shulamite woman search vigorously for her beloved).  Or conversely,  when God in the role of the beloved,  yearns for our return and waits patiently, longingly to be sought after.

Prayer as  a ‘language of passion’, is expressed as a deep-seated longing and desire.  In Prayer, we first become conscious of the deep stirrings within… When we respond to this movement in our heart, we feel strangely attracted and drawn as if by an irresistible force.. We sense our own thirst, hunger and yearning to be connected with our Source or Maker.

The Psalmist says,   in Psalms 63: 1

“You are My God..  I will earnestly seek after you.. My soul is thirsty for you.  My flesh yearns for You as in a dry and weary land where there is no water”     

In Prayer, God draws us to Himself.  We sense this longing in our soul as ‘a movement’.  As God’s yearning in us, for us.
            
“Theologians call the divine sometimes an erotic force, sometimes love, sometimes that which is intensely longed for and loved.  Consequently, as an erotic force and as love, the divine itself is subject to movement – since it produces an inward state of intense longing and love in those receptive to them;  it moves towards itself everything that is receptive of this force and love.  It attracts the desire of those who are drawn towards it… In short, this divine force and love moves others and itself moves since it thirsts to be thirsted for,  longs to be longed for,  and loves to be loved.  This divine force also compels those who love to belong not to themselves but to those whom they love.  Because loving desire is poured out from GOD,  GOD Himself as its originator is said to be in movement, while because He is what is truly longed for, loved, desired and chosen.

He stirs into motion the things that turn towards Him, and which possess the power of desiring each in the degree appropriate to it..”   -  Maximus  the  Confessor (Greek Orthodox Theologian, Saint)

Step by Step  Explanation   of the above quote….

1.)      God longs/desires for our companionship
2.)      God instills in us a similar thirst and longing to be loved
3.)      To the extend where we are receptive to this divine movement within,  we are drawn towards God like a compelling force.
4.)      As our inner being reaches out to God, God’s being is drawn towards us and does not let go us.

The apostle Paul, who experienced this divine compelling force was inspired to say… “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”  (Gal 2: 20).  He uttered these words as a true lover… for whom Christ has become his all-consuming passion.

“You must not imagine that you are being drawn against your will… Show me a lover and he will understand what I am saying.  Show me someone who wants something, someone hungry, thirsty, he will know what I mean… He is drawn because he desires, drawn without any physical pressures, drawn simply by the pull of his appetite.  If then, the things that lovers sees as the delights and pleasures of each can draw them, because it is true that “everyone is drawn by his delight”, then does not Christ draw when he is revealed to us by the Father?”
 -  Augustine  of  Hippo  (Carthaginian saint,  philosopher)

In Prayer,  we experience this yearning and desiring for God, in varying degrees of intensity.  It is a paradox of the God who desires our companionship,  who longs to be loved,  puts that yearning and longing in us.  But leaves us with the choice to respond to it,  to ignore it or to suppress it.  God takes the initiative to draw close to us,  who puts that desire within us to long for deeper levels of intimacy.  And yet, God chooses to respect us as individuals;  He bides by our time and waits for our freewill response.  A response that is often than not shaped by our perception of God’s faithfulness and love.  And is measured in terms of whether our prayers are answered in accordance to our will and expectations.

In 1 Samuel Chpt 1,   prayer as a ‘language of passion’ is expressed as an outpouring of the soul.  Hannah’s intense longing for a son let her to pour out her soul in prayer.  1 Sam 1: 15,  “I have poured out my soul before the LORD”.   It is a gesture of self-emptying and humble dependence on God’s will.  Hannah’s prayer express the stirrings of God’s Spirit within.  Emotions so deep that words cannot articulate.   Eli the priest initially mistook Hannah for being drunk.  But upon realizing the plight of Hannah, Eli was moved by compassion to bless Hannah.   1 Sam 1:17.  “Go In Peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him”.  

Eli’s blessing or timely intercession highlights an important movement of prayer.  A demonstration of the active love of God, which moves others to Compassion.  Here we see Prayer as a movement of God’s Compassion.  This is not to say that God is compelled by His Compassion to answer every prayer according to our needs and expectations. 

I was disturbed when a close friend one day confided that she was inspired to pray in the manner of Hannah, for a child.   After about 2 yrs of intense pleading, fasting, and costly medical interventions.. she gave up and became disillusioned, and eventually dropped out church in the process.  Hannah the barren woman found favor with God when she gave birth to a son whom she called Samuel (meaning, ‘Because I have asked of the LORD’).  Does it mean that my friend was less favored because her prayer was not answered in a similar manner?

Some of you may at one time or other have  wondered why some prayers are apparently more effective than others in  ‘touching the heart of God’.  Prayers such as …
“LORD,  I’m desperate for a job, and you know the number of interviews I’ve been.. Please help me before I get evicted by the landlord.”

Or,  “LORD, you know my partner walked out on me without even giving me the reasons why.. and I’m really hurting, confused and lost as to what to do.   What should I do to get him back? 
Does God have ‘favorites’, and is He at the beck and call of His children,  to satisfy our every need and desire? 

Or is God just ‘capricious’ who picks and chooses at random whichever prayers He pleases?

HOW  IS  PRAYER  A  MOVEMENT  OF  GOD’S COMPASSION?

I would like first to make a distinction between ‘Compassion’ and ‘God’s Love’.

‘Compassion’  is a uniquely divine attribute which forms the core of all God’s activities.  God’s Love is an active component or expression of God’s Compassion.  It is God’s nature  ‘To Love and To Be Loved’,  and this is expressed as

‘Storge’  -  (Love between Parent and Child)
‘Eros’  -  (Passionate love and Sexual love)
‘Philia’  -  (True affection between close friends)
God’s Love (‘Agape’)   includes all these aspects and much more.

‘Storge’:   Prayer as a movement of Compassion is that of a Father or Mother heart of God,  reaching out to us, longing for us.  A God who desires to fill that missing dimension in your life, for those who have never experienced or known a father or a mother’s love.
                  
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the child of her womb? 
Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.. See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” -   Isaiah 49: 15-16

God’s love transcends even that of a Father or a Mother’s Love. 

‘Eros’:   Prayer as a movement of Compassion is that of a Lover and the Beloved, alluring and enticing each other.  The Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon understood this attractive and compelling force.

“Draw me, after you… Let us run together.. The King has brought me into his chambers”           
-  Song of Solomons  1: 4

God’s Love transcends the love of a spouse, or the love between 2 partners

“I will betroth you to myself forever with tenderness and love;  I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness” -   Hosea  2: 19-20

‘Philia’:    Prayer as a movement of Compassion is that of real, true affection between close friends.  It is the love which Jesus extends to his disciples as the Gospel of John records
         
“No longer do I call you servants.. but I have called you friends… Everything I have learned, I’ve made known to you.”  -   John 15: 15

Of course, God’s Love (‘Agape’) includes all these aspects.. and much more.

Prayer  puts us in touch with this invisible bond which God has with all of His Creation.  It’s a bond that is immutable, which testifies to God’s stedfast, loyal and faithful commitment to His people,  a relationship which God will never break.  For to do so, is to contradict the very essence of God’s nature – which is Compassion.

Prayer  takes us right into  the ‘the Womb of God’.  The Hebrew word for  ‘womb’  is  ‘raham’  which is singular for  ‘rahamim’  (plural) which signifys  ‘Compassion’.  For the Hebrews, the ‘womb’ denotes the centre of deepest affections.  So to pray, is to be drawn towards the centre of God’s deepest affections.  

To recap…   Prayer as a movement of God’s Compassion can be expressed as an outpouring of love in our hearts and in turn an outpouring of our souls in prayer.  It can be also be experienced as deep stirrings within… an insatiable thirst and desire on our part, a yearning to return to  ‘the Womb of God’,  to the Source of Compassion.  Conversely, it can be experienced as God’s attractive and compelling Presence within as He draws us. 

So now…   how  do we learn this  ‘Language  of Compassion’?

We learn it by   ‘speaking  Compassion  to  ourselves’.

One evening, on the way back after a prayer meeting (with some Catholic friends), I walked past a drunk lying next to a gutter.  I paused and took a cursory glance at him.  He smelled of Toddy.  Just then, the drunk reached out his hand and mumbled incoherently.  I drew back instinctively with revulsion.  Whatever feelings of peace, elation that I had after my prayer meeting was swallowed up by a wave of disgust, fear and distrust which welled up in me.  I turned around, picked up pace and retreated.  And  rationalized… “Look, I’m no Mother Theresa.. and this guy doesn’t look like he’s in imminent danger of dying in the gutter..”  Back in the safe confines and comfort of my room, as I was gathering my thoughts, looking in retrospect at the day’s events... the image of the drunk by the gutter began to haunt me.  Tried as I might, I couldn’t pray.  As I returned to that scene in my mind’s eye… I saw in the beseeching look of the drunk, a state which mirrored my own inner poverty.   

As I struggled to pray, I was overcomed by a sense of shame, guilt and failure.  I only managed the words..  “O God.. I’m sorry…I  really messed it  up”.  It was then that I learned the  ‘language of compassion’.  I sensed a gentle, calm and reassuring Presence who seemed to affirm me..  “It’s alright …It’s alright ..  I still love you even though you messed up”

In Prayer,  our journey to God is a journey to Compassion.  The more we pray, the more conversant we become with the ‘language of compassion’.

We learn  ‘the language of compassion’  by being open and receptive to God’s Healing Presence.  We become more forgiving and gentle with ourselves.  We are not unduly critical of our lapses and weakness, or to be burdened by false guilt.  Through prayer,  we begin to build a relationship of trust and intimacy with God.  Over time, our image of God changes.. and become less harsh, less distant.   Only when we have learnt  ‘the language of compassion’, we can then speak the language of compassion to others.

In his book, “Reaching Out”,   Henri Nouwen talks about how  “compassionate  solidarity”   is born in the solitude of the heart.

“Those who have entered deeply into their hearts and found the intimate home where they encounter their LORD, will discover that solidarity is the other side of intimacy.  It is to come to an awareness that the intimacy of God’s house excludes no one” -   Henri.  Nouwen   

Having learnt  ‘the language of compassion’,  receiving healing for our own brokenness and wounds, we speak the language of compassion, by instinctively reaching out to those who are in pain and suffering.  In place of our guarded  responses, our general fear and apprehension, we gather the courage and strength to accept our vulnerability, to transcend our own personal pain – and to relate with another in openness and receptivity, in honesty and humility. 

We reach out in Compassion -  Or rather, God reaches out in Compassion and embraces all of us in intimacy – an intimacy that excludes no one.

I remember attending a forum in the earlier part of May..  It was organized by a Catholic group and dealt  with the topic of ‘Homosexuality and Conflicting Desires’.   I bumped into both Miak and Alphonsus at the forum.  Towards the close of the forum, both Miak and Alphonsus took the opportunity, stood up and shared publicly attesting to their gay orientation and at the same time, their convictions of God’s love and acceptance of them, and what FCC meant to them.  I was struck by both Miak’s and Alphonsus’ courage, boldness and self-respect as they shared.  For many of the Catholics at the forum, this was probably the first time they heard of the existence of FCC.   At that moment, I felt they were the concrete expressions of God’s inclusive love.  As the moderator closed us in prayer, there was an awkward moment of silence as he struggled for the appropriate words to express his feelings. 

I watched intently and sensed he was visibly moved in the spirit.   It was a moment of the silent in-breaking of God’s kingdom in our midst.   As the moderator prayed, I sense the silent, loving and compassionate gaze of a greater Presence, embracing us, gently breaking down our defences,  our rationalizations which impedes us from receiving the Christ in each other.

Prayer creates  ‘a space of hospitality’  (to borrow Nouwen’s term),  a space where we can be open and receptive to the gift of each other’s presence, where our fears, hostilities, doubts, confusions dissolve in the all-embracing Love of God.

In Prayer,  in the shared intimacy of the Triune God, we feel safe to be vulnerable and receptive to the Spirit who moves in and among us. 

The Spirit who enables us to confront painful questions, with honesty and with humility.  Here words itself – may become a distraction.  And conflicting emotions are best expressed in silence.  In prayer, it is the Compassion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who draws us together as ‘guests’, where those who enter in prayer as ‘strangers’ – leave as ‘friends’

In Conclusion, I have attempted to illustrate one aspect of the radical nature of Prayer,  namely ‘Prayer as a Movement of God’s Compassion’. 

True Prayer is ‘radical’, because we are fundamentally changed by it.  To borrow Susan’s quote of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel…  “True prayer is subversive as it overturns our limited sense of ourselves transforming us into partners with God’s vision for the world.”

The following diagram  best summarizes  ‘Prayer as a Movement of God’s Compassion’..   

 

Notes to the above Diagram:
  
-      Where the 3 vectors of the Triangle representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit meets.. is the ‘Womb’  or  ‘Raham’  (in hebrew)

-       ‘Womb’ (raham)  denotes the centre of tender affections where  ‘Compassion’  is the core of all God’s activities.

-       The Red Arrows   denotes  ‘the movement of Compassion’  where ‘Prayer’  acts as  the interface,  a means of connectivity between God and His people

-       ‘Compassion’  being the divine attribute of the Triune God,  defines the essence of the interrelationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is a shared intimacy and mutual bond, a communion of Love where Unity and Plurality are embraced.  A diversity of characteristics, yet a unity of intention, will and purpose;  This analogy can be extended to the
Church, where Prayer serves as the binding force bringing together those from diverse background and theological persuasions..

-       In Prayer,  we too share in this quality of  ‘Compassion’  by being  caught up in this movement of God’s intimate expression of the Divine nature  -  which is ‘to desire and to be desired’,  ‘to long and to be longed for’, ‘to love and to be loved’.