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How to Pray for the Broncos
Here’s the problem: it seems trite to pray for a game. Is God interested in the outcome of the Super Bowl? Does He have a favorite team, or is He taking suggestions?
At the same time, just about every conversation I’m having these days is about the Broncos, about the discipline of the offense, about the strategy of Peyton Manning, about the defense and their excellent work through the playoffs. Even my children are wearing blue and orange bracelets made from those little rubber bands.
How is it, then, that the constant content of my conversations with my neighbor doesn’t make it into my prayers? Or, to come at the question from the other side, how should this conversation about football come into the heavenly council, the conversation with God?
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We pray because God commands it. He tells us to. “You shall not misuse My name.” We use His name rightly when we pray, praise, and give thanks. This command is not to be understood legalistically, but rather as a granting of a great privilege.
Access to powerful people is rare. Especially in the ancient world, an audience with the king was a rare and precious honor (although I suppose access to our political and social elite is equally rare). Consider Esther, who feared for her life if she would speak to the king (who also happened to be her husband, Esther 4:11)! But in the Second Commandment the Lord calls us into His halls to stand before Him and petition Him for the things we need. Imagine it!
Neither is it necessary that our petitions match in greatness to the occasion. We can pray for great and marvelous things, for the Lord’s kingdom to come, for His will to be done on earth even as it is in heaven, but we also pray for the small things, for daily bread. In fact, the Scriptures will often use the words “whatever” and “anything” to describe the content of our prayers.
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith, (Matthew 21:22).
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it, (John 14:13-14).
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you, (John 15:7, see 15:16).
In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you, (John 16:23).
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him, (1 John 5:14-15).
This “whatever” of prayer is another wonderful gift. The Lord does not rank our prayers according to significance and filter out the things that are unimportant. Like a dear father listens to his children, so our dear heavenly Father hears our prayers.
We can apply the “whatever” to football; the “anything” to the Broncos. In His kindness Jesus lets us know that He is interested in whatever we are interested in, because He, in His astounding mercy, is interested in us.
But what should we pray for? That the Broncos win the Super Bowl? That no one is hurt? Is there something more?
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James calls us to a certainty in prayer. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind,” (James 1:6). So the Christian prayer ends with “Amen,” that is, “It is so.” There is a certainty in our prayer, but this comes not from our praying, but from God’s Word. When we pray for God to keep His promises, we pray with certainty and boldness.
We don’t pray, “Give us this day our daily bread if it is your will.” Why? Because we know our daily bread is God’s will. He has promised to take care of us, and even taught us to pray for this. The same is true for all of the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, and all of the Psalms and prayers of the Bible. We pray them with great confidence knowing that they are prayers for the Lord to keep His promises. There is no “if”, no conditions on these petitions.
There are times, though, when our prayers need an “if”. When we are praying for something without a promise, we ask freely while trusting that the Lord knows best. We pray for what we think is best while confessing the failings of our desires.
Jesus is our example. This is how He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. In that hour of stunning humiliation God’s will is hidden from Jesus, so He prays, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done,” (Luke 22:42).
If the winner of the Super Bowl is in God’s will, He has not revealed that to us. We do not have a promise that the Broncos will win, or that no one will get hurt, or that the weather will be nice, so all of our prayers for these things are conditioned with an “if”, with a trust that our heavenly Father is mysteriously working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
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“Who is my neighbor?” This is a dangerous question. The lawyer asked it to Jesus to “justify himself,” (Luke 10:29). If he could limit the number of people on his neighbor list he would be that much closer to keeping the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” If he could exclude, say, all Samaritans, then he still has a chance of being holy, all the while hating these wicked Samaritans. Jesus will not let this stand. There is no marking people off our neighbor list. We owe a debt of love to all.
But there is danger on the other side. I make my neighbor an abstraction; my neighbor is “everybody.” This might be true, but it is not helpful. “Everybody” is an idea. I cannot love “everybody.” I can love Fred. I cannot be of service to “everybody.” I can be of service to Mike and Carolyn.
I am not a husband in the abstract. I am the husband of Keri. I am not an abstract father, pastor or citizen. I am the father of Hannah, Andrew, Daniel and Isaac, pastor of Hope Lutheran, citizen of Aurora, Colorado.
My neighbor might include more than the people who live on my street, but not less. My neighbor, at least, is the person who lives next door, who works in the cubicle next to me, who prays in the pew with me. While the command to love my neighbor will never be finished, I at least have a place to start.
There is a wondrous specificity to being a neighbor and having neighbors. This specificity includes being in a place, having a location, and all the uniquenesses of that place.
God’s ordering of things is chaotic and frenzied, and wonderful. Rivers don’t run in straight lines; mountains are not built with bricks. Each place is uniquely created by God and shaped by the dominion given to humanity (Genesis 1:28).
Jesus has put each of us in a specific place, given us an address, a home, and with that home comes a history, a context, a neighborhood. Each place in the world has a language, an accent, different traditions and cuisine, different geography and culture, all of which are part of the people who live there.
I’ve heard theologians call this “Locatedness.” Political philosophers and economists call this “Territoriality.” The Bible calls it being a neighbor.
I have neighbors, and we neighbors have things in common. We have mountains, the 16th Street Mall, Rocky Mountain oysters, Coors beer, and pot shops on every corner. Territoriality. We share the same weather, watch the same news, read the same newspaper and listen to the same radio stations. Territoriality. We have Beau Jo’s, the Buffs and the Rams and the Rockies, and we have the Broncos. Territoriality.
Denver Mayor Hancock declared Friday, January 17 “United in Orange Day.” You can almost hear the cheers from over the fence when the Broncos score a touchdown. We recognize the voice of Dave Logan, the radio play-by-play announcer on 850 KOA. All of this is part of the uniqueness of Colorado, part of the specificity of my neighbor, and part of me.
Even if the vicar is a Colts fan because he’s impressed with the honorableness of Tony Dungy, and even if my neighbor is pulling for Seattle because they grew up on the west coast or because they love Nirvana, that’s okay. This is territoriality as well, part of the uniqueness of my neighbor. There is no coercion here, only the joy of having specific neighbors, and knowing that these neighbors of mine with all their quirks, are gifts from God.
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We pray as we live. That is, we pray for the things that make up our lives. The command “love your neighbor as yourself,” tells us not only what to do, but also what to pray. Jesus binds up doing good with prayer, (Matthew 5:44).
We pray, then, according to our vocations, according to the station in life where the Lord has placed us. Husbands pray for their wives. Mothers pray for their children. Pastors pray for their congregations. Citizens pray for their government officials. Workers pray for their boss and co-workers. Christians pray for their neighbors, and give thanks to God for our neighbors, and for the things that bind us to one another.
I share a bit of Bronco hope when I talk with the stranger bagging my groceries. I give a high-five to the fellow wearing the Manning jersey as we pass on the street. I eat and drink together with friends as we watch the game. We yell at the TV, laugh at the commercials, complain about the officiating, and rejoice at the Broncos’ victory.
All of this comes into my prayers as thanksgiving, the joy of having and being a neighbor. This, then, is how to pray for the Broncos: I give thanks to God that He has given me a very specific set of neighbors, and pray that I might begin to keep His commandment and love them. And it comes into my prayers as a petition for my neighbors, for continued conversation, and for a strengthening of all the bonds that hold us together.
I don’t know if the Lord has picked a favorite team. I don’t have a promise about who will win the game. But I do know that the Lord has given me my neighbors, and the command to love them, and the promise that He hears our prayers.
Go Broncos!
BW