Praying for Public Events

Recently, I was asked to pray for the Board of Trustees meeting at the University where we minister.  I had done this some years back at different times when I led the campus based BCM ministry there.  In the past, the invitation had always cautioned me to be sensitive to the fact that there would be several different beliefs represented, etc.

This time the invitation had attached to it a brief written statement by the University Attorney stating what some acceptable things to pray were and were not acceptable to say.  For some, this is the "automatic no" point.  They say, "If someone tells me what I cannot pray in a setting, then I will not pray there."  And, I do not completely disagree with that answer.

Here is why I chose to pray at that event.

 First, I thought, can I say and pray things I genuinely would want to pray in this setting?  I don't pray for my lost students by name in public settings.  I don't generally pray lots of things in public settings that I pray in private.  I genuinely want to pray for the well-being and wise decisions of those who work with our students and make decisions that affect all of them.  Lots of things I pray are not for all settings.  So, what I pray is almost always affected by the setting.

Secondly, I want our University administration to see our faith groups as partners in working for the benefit of students.  If I want them to partner, I have to work at partnering.  I have learned that in those settings I always meet people that it is beneficial for me to know and have a relationship to.  Those settings help them to see me and others like me as more of a peer.  That is always beneficial.

Third, if I show up and "play by the rules" they are more likely to trust me in other situations.  That continues to open doors or at least gets me a fair hearing when I ask permission to do something or use a facility, etc.

Fourth, I believe in freedom of religion.  I believe folks have the right to believe things other than what I believe and they even have the right to believe things I think are "nutsy" or to believe nothing at all.  Many public entities have chosen to have no religious activities of any sort so as to offend no one or to avoid having ones with whom they disagree.  I believe it is much more healthy to have a variety of religious expressions represented in University circles instead of trying to have NO expressions of faith.  Hear me correctly, I did not say I believe that all religions are valid!  I said, people have a right to believe whatever and that Universities are to be a place where there is an open expression of different ideas.  That is a much healthier place than NO discussion of faith in any way.  I believe the Christian faith holds up real well in discussions with folks of all different beliefs!

The FIFTH reason I can show up and pray at such an event is, even I am smart enough to pray what I genuinely want to pray without using the exact words they have told me I cannot use.

The Chairman of the Board thanked me; the Chancellor thanked me, and the person who invited me thanked me and said, "it was perfect".  Sometime I will tell you about the call I got asking me to pray before "The greatest fiddler in the world'.  I turned that one down.


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