Touching the third rail

It's possible that what you are about to read might persuade my editors to retire this column -- given the loyalty this region has always given to the St. Louis Cardinals, now in the World Series.

Writing anything that has to do with the Redbirds may be akin to the third rail on a subway track. Touch it and you die. Here I go, plunging ahead, heedless of the danger.

I recently was part of a group at which someone opened the proceedings with prayer. Hold that thought for a moment of digression. Lord Tennyson once wrote that more things are wrought by prayer than is dreamed by this world. Jesus told his disciples to pray without ceasing. The Lord also gave guidance as to the content of prayer -- which is communication with God. The content may take four basic forms: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. It's not an overstatement to admit that most of us, most of the time, skip right over the first three and head straight to No. 4: Supplication. "Lord, please grant me _____."

Supplication has the blessing of Jesus as a prayer vector but the second person of the Trinity offers some boundaries. Since the World Series is on, let's use a baseball metaphor. Jesus gave us "foul lines" when it came to supplication. To wit: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask anything in My name, and I will do it." (John 15:7) The qualifiers there are hard to miss. If, if -- then ask.

This isn't the place for thoroughgoing theological reflection, especially when the subject of inquiry is a single verse in the New Testament -- but we can make a general statement. "If, if -- then ask" is a message to be careful about what we take to God in prayer. A former parishioner told me she used to pray for a raise, for enough money to take a nice vacation, for a ticket with the winning lottery numbers. Then her preschool child contracted leukemia and, at the age of 3, died. The woman's prayers changed dramatically. After her daughter's passing, the woman began to pray for the things God willingly gives to all of us, if we ask: patience, strength, endurance, compassion. That woman, in her grief, learned what "if, if -- then ask," means.

So, back to the prayer the other night. The prayer included the following petition -- and I paraphrase: "Lord, please help the Cardinals."

Friends, many things we do not know, and will be revealed only in the next life, when we slip the surly bonds of earth and enter into the joy of our Master's presence. But here's one thing we can be pretty sure of -- God isn't sitting around sporting a Bosox cap or wearing a Carlos Beltran jersey. God has no rooting interest in the World Series, and to invite Him to take a side is, well, disappointing in the extreme. Sure, there were titters of laughter the other night but that ill-chosen petition was meant to entertain those nearby rather than to communicate with the One who made us.

Ask yourself what prayer is. Is it an ongoing communication with the Almighty or is it a vehicle to impress and amuse the nearby listener? Too often in public, it is the latter. My prayers in public have changed dramatically because I realized how often my past language has tried to bend God to my will. Mainly when I'm asked to pray publicly now, my petitions have to do with gratitude. As a one-time clergy colleague likes to remind his parishioners, "Tell the Lord thank you." Asking God for a Cardinals victory is a stark reminder that we need to remember, "If, if -- then ask." If my column doesn't appear in this space two weeks hence, you'll know I didn't survive touching the third rail.

Dr. Jeff Long is executive director of the Chateau Girardeau Foundation, is president of the Cape Girardeau Public Library Board of Trustees, and is a retired United Methodist clergyman.