Performative Prayer:

[Comments to Monroe, NC City Council, 09 April 2024]

As clergy, prayer is important to me. Jesus taught us to pray. Jesus modeled prayer. Jesus also talked about performative prayer, prayer wielded as a public promotion of one’s piety. He said that kind of prayer short-circuits prayer’s validity. Rather than directed to God, it is directed only to a human audience. He did not mean all public prayer is performative. He warned us of praying to be seen, praised, applauded.

Jesus prayed in private. Jesus prayed when performing miracles. Jesus prayed with and for his disciples. He invited them into his dialogue with the Father. He deemed prayer conversation with God, taking multiple forms in diverse settings. Jesus’ other public prayers were from the cross. Those were communication with God inviting people to bear witness to that communication for their benefit.

Before the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod, Jesus does not pray. He never coerces his understanding of God upon others. Aside from the cross, he reserves prayer for those seeking connection with the Father he came to reveal. Prayer was never performative for him, never used to coerce, shame, or manipulate.

It is hard to see prayer at a government meeting as other than performative. It smells of whitewashing decisions taken as being in concert with God’s guidance and will. It functions like an empty ritual rather than an act of true piety.

We live in a pluralist society. Citizens of Monroe are Christians of multiple stripes. They are also atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Pagans, Indigenous peoples, and of no religious affiliation whatsoever. Elected officials are charged to represent all. Government-sponsored prayer violates Constitutional protections around religion by pushing particular religious views upon others.

Using city resources to promote particular religious leanings violates the Constitution officials are sworn to uphold. It is a weak faith that requires government support. It definitely does not trust Jesus and the ways of Jesus. He gave people the freedom to walk away from God. We can’t force love or trust. Faith and love require freedom—the freedom to walk away. Partisan prayer tied to government action does not lend itself to any true faith. It becomes performative, lacking any positive purpose.



— ©Copyright 2024, Christopher B. Harbin 



http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

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