Prayer Politics
Poison clouds in the sky
Acid rain in my eyes
Starving children of my TV
Victims of technology
Politicians, can't they see
Their greed is destroying me
Politicians, are they blind
Time's run out for mankind
Devil plunges into the sun
Things were said but nothing done
Now too late, can't you see
Human race wants their disease
(“Mourning Prayer” by Electric Wizard)

I don’t often write about issues of local or national concern.  But as a follower of Jesus I reside in a community and a culture in which I am daily trying to figure out what it actually means for me to live as a citizen of  “God’s Kingdom” whilst also trying to be a good citizen of my home country. 
 
For me it is impossible to divorce who I am from where I live.  If God had intended for me or you to be citizens of His Kingdom only, without any regard or responsibility for how we live here and now, there would be absolutely no point for us being here.  Our spiritual life cannot be separated from how we “live and move and have our being” as members of our particular family, community, and country.  
 
Recently I spoke at the Nova Scotia Leadership Prayer Breakfast
held annually on Cape Breton Island where I live.
Like civic prayer breakfasts around the world,
the event served in public acknowledgment that
as business, political, government, religious, and community leaders
we do not have all the answers or the power
            or sometimes even the courage to fix the problems
            in our cities, nations, and the world.
We recognize that we need help beyond ourselves,
             a power greater than ourselves,
            we need God’s help because we cannot always help ourselves.
 
Coming during the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Nepal,
     the expanding reach of ISIS extremism,
            the growing disaffection of youth in impoverished countries,
            and the increasingly contentious disparity between the wealthy and the poor –
            -- we came together to ask for ourselves and on behalf of others
            guidance and help that only God can provide.
 
But even as public officials and members of our community met to pray,
prayer was being marginalized, discounted, and denounced –
            as being an inappropriate, out of place, and an illegal practice
            for city council meetings and municipal governments across the land.
Prayer was ruled by the Supreme Court (Canada) as politically unacceptable.
And yet most people have a sense that ultimately without God’s help
            neither we, nor our leaders and the government
            are smart enough, strong enough, or sure enough
            to solve the deepest problems of our day.     
 
It has often been said that “there are no atheists in the fox-holes of the battlefield.”
So when cancer strikes, or we lose our job; or a daughter turns from us and slips into the seamy side;  or the safety of our family is threatened by tornado, fire, or cyclone;   or when bombs and killings encroach our sense of security – then we pray even if we have not often prayed before.
Almost every man or woman I have met in prison prays  –
            often it is a plea of desperation – “God get me out of here!”
            or just a fearful prayer for safety in the night or in the prison yard.
 
While most of us live in pluralistic societies comprised not only of Christians
but also of Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists – the fact is we are mostly a religious people who believe that there is a spiritual reality and power beyond ourselves.
What harm is there then for atheists, when believers agree to pray for God’s help
when, as far as those atheists are concerned, God doesn’t exist in the first place?
What would happen if believers objected to atheism and their lack of prayer
in the same way that atheists object to the prayers of believers?
It strikes me that there is actually power in prayer for it to become so politicized;
if there was nothing to prayer, the issue would be completely inconsequential!
The contention over prayer is nothing less than the cosmic struggle,
    pitting the politics of man against the politics of God –
            the assertion of human power as being all that there is or ever will be,
            even as the power of nature and the problems of the world
            wreak havoc among the nations.
 
“One way or another we will do the prayer,
and if I have to do that prayer in a public hallway outside of the [Council] Chamber,
-- that’s what I’ll do,” said Mayor Clarke (Sydney, Nova Scotia). 
And the prayer he has spoken so often in the Chamber simply invokes the help and guidance of God for the good of the community.  What can possibly be so wrong with, or offensive about prayers such as Mayor Clarke’s, for the Highest Court in the land to rule against political leaders like him invoking God to help them govern well?
 

God Our Creator,
bless us as we gather today for this meeting;
You know our most intimate thoughts;
Guide our minds and hearts
so that we will work
for the good of the community,
and help all your people.
Give us today the strengths
and wisdom to carry out our duties
in the most caring and respectful ways.
Teach us to be generous in our outlook,
courageous in the face of difficulty,
and wise in our decisions.
Amen

 In the Old Testament story of Daniel and his friends, who were public officials in training, were ordered not to bow in prayer to God but to bow instead to the “idol” of the nation.  In refusing to do so Daniel and his friends suffered the wrath of the king.  In the ensuing standoff, God’s power was shown to surpass the greatest power of the king.
 
I have a sense that the ruling against prayer to God by public officials in office is a ruling in favor of contemporary national idols of tolerance and pluralism and political correctness.   It is so ironic – but as much as we defer and bow to tolerance, pluralism, and political correctness – these are impotent idols that have no power to save our nation or fix what’s wrong in the world.  The fact remains that only God can help us because it’s clear that neither we nor the idols we create can help us now. 
 

The first thing I want you to do is pray.
Pray every way you know how,
 for everyone you know.
Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well
so we can be quietly about our business of living simply,
in humble contemplation.
This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.
He wants not only us but everyone saved…
everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned:
that there’s one God and only one,
and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus,
who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin,
to set them all free.
Eventually the news is going to get out.
This and this only has been my appointed work:
getting this news to those who have never heard of God,
and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.
Since prayer is at the bottom of all this,
what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies
but raising holy hands to God.
(I Timothy 2:1-9 “The Message”)

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THE CORACLE is published weekly as a reflection on faith and life.  It is available free by subscription.  The name CORACLE - refers to a small leather boat that was typically used by Celtic monks during the 8th and 9th Centuries.  One of the most famous was St. Brendan the Navigator who undertook a missionary voyage of faith. Without navigational maps and instruments he trusted that by waves and wind and current, God would bring him to the place and places where he was meant to be.  Yet far from being fatalistic, his voyage was the deeply spiritual account of a man’s journey in surrendering to the will of God and trusting God to guide and protect him from danger and disaster. Brendan’s voyage became famous as an ideal for the Celtic monks of Ireland who dared to venture into unknown and wild places in order to spread the gospel.  Setting sail in their fragile coracles was at once a courageous act of faith and a profound expression of their passion to follow Jesus Christ no matter where the journey would take them or what the journey would entail.

BOOKS by Ron -  Radical Love in a Broken World  and Your Journey with Jesus are available in print and Kindle format through Amazon  and Christian Focus Publications  
ARTICLES - Ron's articles frequently appear in the Huffington Post and many can be found online at The Huffington Post

Ron Nikkel is President Emeritus of Prison Fellowship International after having led served as the Chief Executive for 32 years.  Ron has traveled extensively meeting with political leaders, criminal justice officials as well church and community leaders in more than 140 countries.  He holds the distinction of having been in more prisons in more countries than any other person.  Considered a leading voice for Justice that leads to restoration and reconciliation, Ron is in demand as a speaker on issues of justice and faith, justice and society.
 
BOOKS by Ron -  Radical Love in a Broken World  and Your Journey with Jesus are available in print and Kindle format through Amazon  and Christian Focus Publications  

ARTICLES - Ron's articles frequently appear in the Huffington Post and many can be found online at The Huffington Post