Praying the Absurd

The other day, at a busy intersection in town, I stopped at a red light beside a woman holding a sign asking for some kind of help. Truthfully, I prefer not to sit by and do nothing when I have something to offer.

Thankfully, I did have some cash with me. I don't usually carry cash, which I may use to my advantage when asked for favors by people such as this woman. As an aside, non-perishable food would have been best, I think. Keep a bad in your car for such an occasion as this. Or perhaps food stamps or coupons. I will say the restaurant coupons (e.g., McDonalds) are tricky because I'd rather not super-size America anymore than it is, but all the same, it's probably better than nothing.

I digress. The thing is, when I gave the lady my cash, she started crying. She said, "Thank you so much, I've had to prostitute myself to feed my children." And then she walked away. In hindsight, I'm not even sure this lady was wearing pants. It really could have been just a long shirt. Regardless, my window goes back up and I am back in my air-conditioned cocoon of comfort. Except I'm not comfortable. In a movement of the Spirit, my lips uttered these words, "Oh God, please let that not be true. I would much rather be taken advantage of than that poor woman be living the life she just described. Please, God, let that story be a lie."

I tend not to believe the stories I hear. I recall a friend and I hearing a story from a guy one day, and the following week, she heard the same guy tell the same story in a different part of town. Weird. Dishonest. Way to give panhandlers a bad name, right? Wrong. Part of being a follower of Christ has never included the right never to be taken advantage of. In fact, it may be the exact opposite.

Put simply, we need more absurd prayers. Call it The Sucker's Prayer. It might sound like this:

"Father, I just did something the world might consider stupid. I gave a drunk money. I talked to a panhandler. I opened the door when the Jehovahs Witnesses knocked. I talked to my crazy neighbor. I paid for the meal of the people who held the door for me when I entered the restaurant. I picked up a hitchhiker. I stopped to help someone push their car into the gas station parking lot. By all accounts, Lord, it was stupid. I could have been shot, stabbed, robbed, punched, kissed, bothered and annoyed, or even late. On the other hand, God, you could have not been glorified had I not done that ridiculous thing. And, to me, that's absurd. Why would I ever choose not to glorify you? So let me be a sucker. Let the world take what it will, only let me give it all away before it asks. Amen - let it be so - hallelujah!"

(For those who read the first version, I decided to take out the part about Jesus being a sucker. He wasn't really. So now, this prayer is not in his name. Get over it.)

In case anyone might miss the point of what I am writing, it's this: you probably need to be taken advantage of more than you are. Americans have more rights than Christians, but I'd still rather be a Christian.