Tell me what you're praying for

November 1, 2008
Tell me what you're praying for

BY NORRIS BURKES
FLORIDA TODAY
How many times a day are you asked the question, "How are you?"
Each time you're asked, you likely respond, "fine."
Really? Are you always fine?
We go to church, support groups or mother's house for Thanksgiving and proclaim that we are fine. Then we turn to the next person to repeat the question.
What a coincidence. Everyone is fine.
Recently, I've begun substituting that question with a new one.
This past week, I challenged audiences in Florida, Colorado and Ohio to make the same substitution and ask, "What have you been praying for?"
If the word prayer is too religious, the alternate would be to ask people what they are hoping for (or visualizing.)
I first started asking the question earlier this year with the encouragement of a hospital colleague named chaplain Gerald Jones. When visiting patients, he gives them a chance to breach the mundane and to share their heart's desire.
There are a few who'll respond with the stereotypical answer of a beauty contestant and proclaim they are praying for world peace.
But most will answer it with the kind of honesty I heard earlier this year from a woman facing her pending death.
She was leaving high school-age children and was praying everyone would find some kind of meaning in her death.
After our visit, I went to my computer and paraphrased our visit into a prayer. After I wrote it, I offered this prayer as a gift.
God,
There may be those who think I should be mad at you; I need you to know it's nothing like that. I know things like this happen in a world you created, and there is no purpose in being mad at you.
In fact -- and this is the crazy thing -- I actually think you've given me a gift. It's the gift of seeing. I now see what was always there. Now I see the wonderful network of friends and family you have put here to help me. I feel your hands through their caring hands. I know your love through their protective love. Thank you for this gift.
There's a road ahead of me that I cannot see, and that's OK. It's OK because you can see it, and you've got it taken care of. It's OK because my life has always belonged to you. You created me and you sustain me. You take care of me the way I love my children.
Speaking of children, that's my only worry. I know they cope with things differently because you blessed them with their own individual personalities.
But, I also need to know that you take care of them. Hold them in your hands and help them to cope. Help them see the blessing of family that you have given us. Help them see that this blessing is the only thing that will sustain us through this difficult time.
Thank you for your love for me. May I be a light that shines with your love.
Amen
I left our visit with a new perspective.
So, today I challenge you to ask one person what they are praying for. I think, you'll find what I found. In an election year that finds us so divided, this simple question has a powerful potential to bring us together.
Go ahead, ask.
Then, take a moment to tell me what you are praying for. E-mail me at norris@thechaplain.net or write me at P.O. Box 19522 Sacramento, CA 95819-0522.
Norris Burkes is a former civilian hospital chaplain and an Air National Guard chaplain. Visit www.thechaplain.net.
Revisit the spot where you first met God

BY NORRIS BURKES
FLORIDA TODAY
There's an old story about an American serviceman who witnessed a Shinto worshipper distributing rice over his ancestor's grave during the U.S. occupation of post-World War II Japan.
The soldier asked the Shinto, "When do you think your ancestor will come up and eat that rice?"
The Shinto politely replied, "About the same time that your ancestors come up and smell your flowers."
The Shinto found what I'd call a "God Spot" near his ancestor's grave. While the Shinto's reply may have seemed impertinent, he was simply reminding the soldier that all cultures have their God Spots in which the presence of the holy is revealed.
What is a God Spot?
Some have suggested that it's an elusive spot in your brain that makes you believe in God.
My friend Tamara Chin describes it differently. She describes it as a physical place where you feel God's presence. Sometimes it's a field, a mountain, a space in your home, or place of worship. Mostly, it's a place where you find a moment of peace and presence outside yourself.
As I visited the home of reader David Jackson in Cape Coral this past week, he introduced me to a God Spot on his back porch where he sat alone reading his book of prayer. Incense burned from an ashtray while he occasionally noted the wildlife parading across a beautifully manicured golf course.
He was doing his daily prayers, but this day brought him to a special God Spot. He was praying a sequence of prayers in remembrance of a religious brother who died.
The incense was made at the monastery where his religious brother had served. By burning this particular incense, David was able to bring himself to a God Spot that would honor God as well honor his friend's memory.
My most regular God Spot source is portable. It's my MP3 player that plays my hymns.
A minister who listens to hymns might sound cliché, but I don't think it has anything to do with the fact I'm an ordained minister. I think it has to do with the ability of the hymns to bring me to my God Spot, a place where I first encountered God.
I was a small child in a hymn-singing storefront church where my father preached. My father taught me through his preaching, but it was my mother who infused me with favoritism for faith through her music.
As a child of 5 or 6, I often placed my head on my mother's lap as she sang. From her lap, I could feel the words and notes pass through her diaphragm and erupt with an operatic tone. As she sang songs such as "Amazing Grace" and "It Is Well With My Soul," a peace would pass through my body that told me life had a purpose.
My friend Tamara says, "God Spots are these tiny geographic spaces, yet they span across time, allowing a person to re-enter that moment anytime, anywhere, just by thinking about it again."
My mother lives 500 miles from me now. We're not as close as we'd like to be, but the hymns span the time and space and bring me back to where I first met God, on my mother's lap.
So whether it's through hymns, incense, flowers or food, do as my friend Tamara suggests: "Find your God Spot and go there often."
Burkes is a former civilian hospital chaplain and an Air National Guard chaplain. Contact him at norris@thechaplain.net or visit www.thechaplain.net.