Missed Him At The Pole

Today is officially "See You At The Pole" day - a morning when a whole bunch of Christians officially gather at flagpoles and celebrate the first time that pilgrims invited native americans to relocate to the North or South Pole. Usually, the celebration starts with prayer, and ends with a gluttonous consumption of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Honestly, I have nothing against the people participating in "See You At the Pole" (or SYATP, which, ironically, is also the abbreviation for "Surely, You Aren't That Pretentious). I have participated in one or two SYATP days myself, and, well... I saw people at the pole. Yesterday, I came across an interesting blog at Stupid Church People, which actually prompted this post. Steve (President Emeritus of Stupid Church People) really hated the idea of praying in public as being showy and hypocritical, and in direct contradiction with the ol' Matthew 6:5 "When you pray, don't be a retard like the Pharisees and do your gig on street corners so people will check out your chiseled butt." (Roughly Summarized Version, RSV). I don't have a problem with praying in public or where others can see me (Jesus did it)... but I think the heart of Matthew is, "Don't pray for attention. Or Krispy Kremes."

The SYATP national website is what really made my eyes roll. I quote them as saying:

"How desperately do you desire for God to come in power?

Is your heart truly broken for your non-Christian friends and the sin on your campus?

When you are seriously sold out and passionate about God He will honor your humble, broken, desperate cry. He wants to hear from you!...

If you are serious about selling out for Christ — hold on for the ride — you will be amazed at what God will do. God can use you beyond your wildest dreams! There is no better way than to pray, believing for the unimaginable. Dream big and pray with faith!"

Now, back in the day, I could pray down the heavens with the best of 'em. I knew for a fact that prayer was answered in proportion to my passion while praying... if I really, really meant it, then maybe I could convince God to do what I was praying for. Usually, the grander I prayed, the more He perked up: "Oh Gaaawd... Oh Faaaather. Come now in power!" I could stay up all night flinging bright, flaming arrows of prayer into the heavens. I would sign up for all of the big events: "Speak Deep," "Penultimate Awesome Prayer Siege," "Luv U All Nite" and such. If I was fasting, it was an even better way to get his attention - "Hey you! I'm starvin' down here! Com'on Jesus... save your people. Puh-leeeease! Otherwise, I'm not eating! Do you really want to kill me? Oh. Really?" I was definitely serious about maintaining a passion and vision for the fire of God to fall, lest He forget it was something He wanted to do. Incidentally, this type of prayer/fasting discipline dates back to the order of St. Constipatious, who was widely known for his spiritual gift of facial contortion when he was taking care of business in prayer (or while on the toilet, post-fast).

I wish all the people at the pole (also known as pee-poles) the best. But I hope they don't get a hernia trying to pray down the Spirit of God. For one, it's always awkward to lay hands for a hernia-healing, but two - I really don't think we need to convince God that He should move...as if He doesn't want to get off of the cosmic couch to do something. I hope those that feel the need to wake up on tomorrow morning in particular (as opposed to every day) can ask Father what He is doing right there, right then. And I hope we can all be satisfied with His presence, which is already in us and with us- not far away that we need to summon it, and not at work within us because of the passion or brokenness or "seriousness" of our prayers. He loves us - and He invites us to share and take part in what He is doing right here, right now. That's an invitaiton I'm interested in.

And tomorrow morning, that invitation happens to be in my bed, receiving the ministry of the Holy Comforter. If you think to pray for me this week, I'd love it; it's my busiest week of the year at work, involving 16+ hour days (organizing sorority recruitment). Just think: 800+ sorority women who are getting increasingly tired, cranky, and competitive with one another... and statistically, 150-200 of whom are probably experiencing a special time of the month. I'm the guy in charge. So yeah, I'd better see you at my stinkin' pole every morning this week. Goodnight!