“What Is Missing?”

 I’ve read that prayer at least once a year, but for the first time it struck me how unusual it is. Unusual, at least, in modern American Christianity.

Some of this is nothing you won't hear in many churches today, just without the context of the rest of the prayer.  I'll highlight what I mean by "the rest of the prayer":

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we call to remembrance thy loving-kindness and the tender mercies which have been ever of old, and with grateful hearts we would lift up to thee the voice of our thanksgiving,

For all the gifts which thou hast bestowed upon us; for the life thou hast given us, and the world in which we live,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the work we are enabled to do, and the truth we are permitted to learn; for whatever of good there has been in our past lives, and for all the hopes and aspirations which lead us on toward better things,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the order and constancy of nature; for the beauty and bounty of the world; for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; for the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every season brings,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the comforts and gladness of life; for our homes and all our home-blessings; for our friends and all pure pleasure; for the love, sympathy, and good will of men [sic],

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all true knowledge of thee and the world in which we live, and the life of truth and righteousness and divine communion to which thou hast called us; for prophets and apostles, and all earnest seekers after truth; for all lovers and helpers of mankind, and all godly and gifted men and women,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the gift of thy Son Jesus Christ, and all the helps and hopes which are ours as his disciples; for the presence and inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, for all the ministries of thy truth and grace,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For communion with thee, the Father of our spirits; for the light and peace that are gained through trust and obedience, and the darkness and disquietude which befall us when we disobey thy laws and follow our lower desires and selfish passions,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the desire and power to help others; for every opportunity of serving our generation according to thy will, and manifesting the grace of Christ to men,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For all the discipline of life; for the tasks and trials by which we are trained to patience, self-knowledge and self-conquest, and brought into closer sympathy with our suffering brethren; for troubles which have lifted us nearer to thee and drawn us into deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ,

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

For the sacred and tender ties which bind us to the unseen world; for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth, and fills the saddest and the last moments of life with the light of an immortal hope.

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD.

God of all grace and love, we have praised thee with our lips; grant that we may praise thee also in consecrated and faithful lives. And may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.

AMEN.

I don't mean these sentiments are banned from modern worship, or even completely absent.  I can think of churches where I'd be surprised to hear such humility, though.  Especially in these words:

For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,

We despise Trump's narcissism and Musk's egotism, but are we culturally really that far removed from them? I know people who aren't at all egotistical or convinced of their own importance. But our culture teaches us we should be, and many of our churches gladly reflect that culture.  Imagine them, instead, emphasizing this teaching.  And if you don't get that lesson in church, where do you get it? The world may tell you “Be nice, be kind, be thoughtful,” but will it teach you the virtue of humility? When was the last time any public figure or forum praised “all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves"? My mind goes to the neo-atheists who insist science is all you need to know: literature and art are meaningless, or at best just entertainment. And yet here is a prayer of the church offering thanks for “all the privileges we enjoy….” We in our lives; enjoy. Who even speaks of “we,” anymore, except to exclude and draw boundaries and set ourselves apart? Again, if we don’t get this lesson in church, where do we get it?

The prayer for the harvest is much the same. It’s not a prayer of gratitude for what we possess, it’s a prayer of recognition for the physical world we live in; for the people in; for family and friends. And it’s all directed outward; it’s about them and the world, not about us and what else we need. It’s not just humble, it removes us from the center and places that “center” out there. It makes us the servant, the last who is first only because we are last. Who preaches that anymore? Or makes us think of ourselves as a whole, a community, a society, and not first as an individual, a”me” who must be served before I can serve?

I’m not decrying a church or a creed or Christianity in general, I’m just asking a general question. Where else in the world do we learn that the first of all should be last of all and servant of all? If you look at the words of John Kennedy, that’s where he was putting us: in service to the party, and in turn in service to the nation, and in turn in service to the world. I don’t mean his words were Christianity, but they were a far sight wiser than our common public discourse today.

Where do we go to hear such words today? To think such thoughts, to imagine such a world. To paraphrase Walker Percy: “Find it!”*

*What happened to marriage and family that it should have become a travail and a sadness?...God may be good, family and marriage and children and home may be good, grandma and grandpa may act wise, the Thanksgiving table may be groaning with God's goodness and bounty, all the folks healthy and happy, but something is missing...What is missing? Where did it go? I won't have it! I won't have it! Why this sadness here? Don't stand for it! Get up! Leave! Let the boat people sit down! Go live in a cave until you've found the thief who is robbing you. But at least protest! Stop, thief! What is missing? God? Find him!