Thoughts

The prayer was lengthy. The prayer leader was rapping, his words incoherent, and his prayer unintelligible. My slight problem with ‘prayer’ is that it has become more like gambling. Let’s say as much as possible to God and if we are righteous or can quote copious scriptures, he would answer. ‘He is a prayer answering God, not a prayer storing God’ shouts the leader. Please……I have heard that before.

I   have always believed that the more selective, with words, one is during prayer, the more effective one would be. Jesus didn’t rap his prayer or utter lengthy, incoherent sounds. That is why His prayers were recordable. Imagine if we were required to write our prayers before saying them, we would all be very concise. One should remember the exact words said in one’s prayer. This approach would focus one’s faith and thus enhance it. Why should the potency of my prayer be judged by or be dependent on my demeanor during prayer, the volume of my voice, the violence of my gestures or the piety of my expression? Why should length take precedence over sincerity of heart? Why should communication with my maker have to be so exhausting? The picture of God forced on my mind by spiritual leaders has been one of a grand, overbearing boss, who constantly plays hard to get. Why can’t we fellowship with God over breakfast, in church? Is there a way church could be made more appealing, without diluting the spiritual content of the service?

Oya, stop! Stop! These thoughts are dangerous. They are not permitted in chapel. You don’t question the actions of the chaplaincy or of   your spiritual leaders. If you do this, it means you are not spiritual, and in extreme cases, not born again. Spiritual people just do as instructed. If they are told to pray, they pray. No questions. No opposition.

I couldn’t reconcile the voices in my head. I sat. Damn the consequences. I prepared myself to listen to the unquestionable sermon of today’s preacher. I dozed off………then the ‘grace’. Service is over.

I stepped out of chapel, hungry, disheveled and unsure of my standing with my creator, viewed through the lens of a monolithic, Pentecostal community , preaching a valid message, with the twin instruments of coercion and scare-mongering. Is scaring people into going to church and giving their lives to Christ, good evangelism? Is fear, solid bedrock for a sound Christian adventure? Oya, stop! I switched on my I-pod touch and plugged my earphones, as I strolled to my room.