Saturday, December 8, 2001

Reread Mark 11:15-19

On this day in history -
1936 - NAACP files suit to equalize the salaries of black & white teachers.

In this scripture passage Jesus files suit to equalize our prayer with our habits.

Actually, I have had a most difficult time to make that a parallel. I tried all sorts of images to be equalized with prayer and finally gave up and picked one which hints in the direction of our routinized life, the unspoken and unexamined rituals of our day and circumstance - the unconscious.

What would you try to equate with prayer? Try spending only five minutes coming up with something and you'll see my dilemma.

The good part of this attempt to square a circle is that it brings back to mind the foundational bedrock that prayer is and the need for constancy in prayer.

Prayer breaks open the usual to finally get to the celebration we have so desired and found to be so out of reach (like pursuing happiness without capturing it). With prayer we experience the over-flowing cup, the fullness and abundance of life.

With prayer we knock and knock on GOD until GOD's repentance comes and a change is made. With prayer we wait in stillness, secure under GOD's wing and in GOD's hand. With prayer we stay awake to look death in the face and say, "Thy will...." With prayer we rail about being "Forsaken." With prayer we know what "enough" means.

With prayer we set out to rectify such injustice as inequities in the way we treat each other. Three cheers for the NAACP back in 1936 and their work between black and white teachers.

What will your prayers bring you to work for? We also need equality between custodians and teachers and administrators. We also need equality between educators and factory floor workers and CEO's. We also need equality between nations.

As you travel more deeply with prayer - beware - there will be many temples of commerce and prejudice that will need to be cleansed. Pray with others for the task of cleansing is larger than any one person, it is a community issue.

Wesley White

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