TaxProf Weblog

bizadmin

April 3, 2023

[ad_1]

New York Instances Op-Ed: Within the Face of Tragedy, Petitioning God Is an Act of Religion, by David French (Creator, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Menace and Methods to Restore Our Nation (2020)):

The solar was nonetheless shining brightly once I pulled into the car parking zone of Christ Presbyterian Church right here on Tuesday. Site visitors was backed up outdoors the church, and I used to be a couple of minutes late for the beginning of a prayer service for the victims of the Covenant College capturing that had occurred only a few miles up the highway the day earlier than. Christ Presbyterian is a sister church of Covenant Presbyterian Church, a member of the identical evangelical denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, P.C.A. for brief.

The church was packed. The pews had been full. Males, girls and youngsters lined the partitions. Faces had been streaked with tears. As I walked into the room, Nate Morrow, the top of Christ Presbyterian Academy, spoke to the congregation. “Prayer,” he stated, “is the primary and strongest factor we will do.” …

It’s a horrible signal of our polarized instances that the very idea of prayer within the midst of tragedy has itself turn into contentious. “Spare us your prayers,” some will say. “We demand motion.” However what if individuals want prayer? What if grieving neighbors are determined for prayer? …

In an more and more secular tradition, there’s typically a misunderstanding of the true goal of prayer. If you happen to don’t consider in God, it could strike you as foolish, one thing helpful solely to the extent that it offers a placebo impact. At its worst it may possibly seem to be an inexpensive and straightforward manner to reply to a horrible, preventable tragedy. Prayer, on this formulation, is an alternative choice to motion. It’s a manner {that a} responsible tradition can be ok with itself even because it does nothing — nothing however watch kids die. Once more. …

However when there’s real perception and real humility, prayer is one thing else fully. It’s an act that — once more, presuming you consider something near what I consider — connects you to the creator of the universe. In that manner, Morrow is precisely proper. Petitioning God is extra highly effective than petitioning any president. In spite of everything, the Ebook of Proverbs declares that “a king’s coronary heart is like channeled water within the Lord’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.”

Petitioning God modifications us. It modifications others. Confronting an immense tragedy could make us really feel small. It will possibly make us really feel helpless. How do you consolation a group in ache? How do you reply to a guardian who misplaced a baby? How have you learnt when to talk, or what to talk, a couple of horrible wave of mass shootings that’s touching so very many American communities? And what’s the wisest response — personally, culturally and politically — to this horrific wave of mass violence?

For the trustworthy believer, prayer isn’t an alternative choice to motion; it’s a prerequisite for motion. It grounds us earlier than we transfer to serve others. It grounds us earlier than we communicate within the public sq..

Furthermore, petitioning God is a tangible act of religion. It reminds believers of their final sense of belief in an everlasting presence. It reminds us of the very idea of everlasting life. As my good friend Scott Sauls, Christ Presbyterian Church’s senior pastor, stated within the service, “We grieve, and we hope.” Prayer helps us grieve. Prayer helps us hope. …

I don’t for a second suppose that prayer is the one response to tragedy. However for me and hundreds of thousands of others it’s a essential response. On that horrible day and that mournful evening, when individuals I do know had been torn in two by unspeakable loss, I prayed with my pals and with my neighbors. I prayed that God would consolation the households of the fallen, that pastors and different caregivers would possess the knowledge to minister successfully, that households and pals would concentrate on and reply to the troubled younger individuals of their midst, and that lawmakers may additionally show the knowledge and (simply as vital) ethical braveness to enact the insurance policies that may make a distinction.

However the specificity of the prayer is way much less vital than its existence. Certainly, all the things I simply prayed for may be summed up in the identical cry that was texted to me as the small print of the capturing had been nonetheless unknown. It’s the similar cry of believers throughout the ages who’ve suffered on this valley of tears.

God have mercy, we ask. Lord have mercy, we plead. However then we should act — to heal wounded hearts, to bear each other’s burdens, and to deal with the horrible scourge of violence that scars our land.

Editor’s Be aware: If you need to obtain a weekly electronic mail every Sunday with hyperlinks to the religion posts on TaxProf Weblog, electronic mail me right here.

Different op-eds by David French: