As I sat in church, enjoying the wonders of the sounds of the Service of Matins, I looked for a way to dispose of my spent chewing gum. I soon remembered the little slips of bright green paper for prayer requests in each pew. I know this is the improper employment of the little slips, and I had a feeling God wanted to remind me of their use when I grabbed the front slip and noticed there was writing on it. Instead of making its way into the offering basket, this neglected prayer slip found itself back where it originated, but the prayer it held, though simple, speaks volumes for our world and country today. In a wonderful script common among the young, on the line for the “Name of Individual or Happening to be Prayed For:” is scrawled, “people in the dump,” with the last word going up the side of the paper. It gets better. There is another section on the slip for “Specific Prayer Request(s) For The Above Listed Name:” and the young person dutifully continues their supplication with, “please help the people in the dump find jobs and food.”
The profound nature of this simple statement was not lost on me that day, and I immediately shared this little prayer note with my friends around me. We all tried our best to not draw too much attention to ourselves as we stifled the laughter of the simple request this child surely must have felt strongly about that day.
I still utilized another blank prayer request slip for my flavor-depleted gum, however, my thoughts were drawn immediately to prayer as I thought of the “dump” people. After further investigation, I realized the child probably had in mind a display in the church entrance about people in Guatemala who through poverty live in and around garbage dumps. It pleases me greatly to know that a child took notice of the display and took the problems of those people to heart, and to prayer.
In addition, as I write this, I am student teaching in a high school social studies classroom in a nearby public school and nearing graduation. God willing, I will receive a call to serve one of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s schools. It warms my heart and probably any social studies teacher or current event fanatic who sees that little prayer from a child with an awarenes of the world around them.
What warmed my heart the most was the understanding and confidence of that child.
The child who wrote this small prayer request speaks volumes really. The confidence in the power of prayer, the child-like faith St. Matthew writes about: He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (18:2-4-NIV).
It is important to remember that there is a difference between being childish and humbling oneself like a child, which Matthew calls us to do. Paul reminds us that he “put childish ways behind” himself when he became a man (1 Cor. 13:11-NIV). However, this does not mean we are not to be child-like in our faith, as Paul uses hundreds of times the phrase, children of God, which we all are in faith.
A child-like faith is unceasing in times of trouble, unconditional in love and abounding in praise. A child-like faith is a face lit-up while singing “Jesus Loves Me” as loud as possible in the front of the church, sneaking a wave and a smile to mom and dad. A child-like faith is unshakeable.
Those of us no longer considered child-like by outward warrants can learn a thing or two about a child-like faith from that little prayer for the “people in the dump.” Although we are to continually strive for whatever earthly understanding we may attain about the complexities of our faith and knowledge of God, we can remain unceasing and unmoving in the simplicity of a child-like faith as children of God.
Let us then pray for the “people in the dump” because there are many in the world, and with the economic situation growing there will be many more. As we pray for those in our world in need, we remember the unwavering confidence of a child in the strength, power, grace and mercy of our God, and the comfort, peace and joy He offers.
In Christ,
Adam
