“Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’” (Luke 1:38, NRSV)
It’s no surprise that a survey recently came out saying that Americans are attending church in record low numbers (this narrative has been told for quite a while now), but it’s interesting that the same survey showed that those same people are still praying about the same amount, if not a little more.
Forty-three percent of Americans say they attend worship services at least monthly, which is down from 53 percent in 1983. But 57 percent say they pray at least once a day, a 4 percent increase from 1983. There are lots of guesses as to why the data shows what it does, but one thing I wondered when i read this is the form of these prayers. How are they praying? What are they asking for? Or are they simply listening or expressing gratitude? The survey doesn’t answer that question. But i was reading a book yesterday about active indifference and noted what a different world this would be if we prayed in this way.
Indifference usually means that someone doesn’t care, but when used in conjunction with Ignatian spirituality, it takes on a totally different meaning. Ignatius Loyola founded the Society of Jesus (aka the Jesuits) in the 16th century and is known, among other things, for the Spiritual Exercises. In one of these exercises, Ignatius says that we should be “indifferent to all created things.” We ought not to seek health rather than sickness, wealth rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one. One blogger humorously gave a contemporary version of this: “I should not prefer Mozart to Lady Gaga, New York City to Las Vegas, steamed lobster to a tofu burger, baseball to soccer.”
In other words, when one prays and thinks about a relationship with God, she first says, “You are enough, Lord. No matter what happens or what comes my way, you are enough.” Indifference is unbelievably hard! I often will say a prayer that goes something like, “Show me your will, Lord, and if it could match up with what I want, I’d appreciate that.”
Can you imagine what would happen if that 57 percent of Americans prayed this way? How would our world be different? Maybe it can start with you and me.