How Then Shall We Pray

Dave Brisbin | 1.13.19 The passing of Shirley Boone, Pat Boone’s wife of 65 years has had a big impact on many of us. A close personal friend and staunch supporter and member of our community for the past five years, she will be hugely missed here and of course worldwide. But watching Pat moving through the final months of her life and through the week following her death has been a great lesson for me. Pat prayed for healing ceaselessly, but prayed in such way that his faith and characteristically cheerful attitude toward life and God’s presence continues now unabated. He described his wife’s passing as a simple change of address, a moving to a place he will visit soon. He described his prayers in the last few weeks as a search for God’s intention in whatever direction that moved—as finding a direction he could cooperate with. When we are faced with impending loss, as we desperately desire a specific outcome, how then shall we pray? Looking at Jesus’ modeling and teaching of prayer, we see the instruction to pray “in my name” over and over, but until we unpack that tiny phrase from an Aramaic point of view, we can’t see how Jesus and Pat are on exactly the same page…praying in such a way that any outcome remains right in the center of our sense of God’s presence in our lives.