An Uncalled for Call to Prayer?

On June 15, Rachel Maddow reviewed President Obama’s speech about the gulf oil spill. She did not much like it. She expressed shock that Obama would suggest that a big part of the solution to the oil spill crisis might be prayer. After showing the clip of that part of Obama’s speech, she said, “Presidents don’t always end speeches like this by saying, “The way we’re going to get through this is by prayer.” Maddow did not object to the president sharing his convictions. What she said was that prayer is not exactly a plan in dealing with this crisis. She was frustrated the president did not offer more clear cut proposals, and that made, for her, the call to prayer more shocking.

I’ve included a link to this segment of her show, and her reaction to the call to prayer comes at the beginning. In addition to this discussion, the opening promo for the show, she was even more dismissive of the president’s call to prayer. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#37720373)

I don’t agree with Maddow. For those who get what prayer is about, I actually think that prayer is an appropriate response. I say this not just because I am a Christian minister who one expects to speak out for prayer (that’s in the job description, right?), but because true, honest prayer is a powerful act of humility. The gulf oil spill could be in in some large measure due to human arrogance: the arrogance of a company who made assurances they could handle any problem in the event of a crisis, the servicing of corporate greed by engineers who consistently made cost effective decisions at the expense of maximum safety, the naiveté of a government that did not regulate well nor enforced the regulations it had in allowing a drill-for-profit venture in deep water, and a country that lives as if fossil fuel is an endless resource. Real prayer- that is, not the prayer of the self-serving, self-justifying, not-thy-will-but-my-will be done variety- is to go to one’s knees in the acknowledgement of sin, a humble awareness that we do not have all the answers, and a desire to listen and learn to a voice that is greater and wiser than our own. Like Maddow, I want competent engineers who know what they’re doing. But arrogance in our “having all the answers” helped get us into this environmental crisis, and Maddow wanted a speech from a president with the answers to get us out?

Rachel Maddow is a Rhodes Scholar and obviously is smart. Also smart are the BP engineers and executives in their respective fields, and many of the politicians who shape policy. But those who pray remember that part of the human problem is that we are often too smart for our own good because we can’t help but put self-interest ahead of the common good.

My reaction: Yes, engineers, get to work and figure out some answers. But, unless we learn some humility and remember the dangers that come of the sins of arrogance and power, we will more likely get ourselves into other disasters that could be even worse. I know everyone doesn’t believe in prayer, but I personally don’t mind those who do calling the rest of us to get on our knees so we’ll quit acting like little gods.