A Prayer for the Class of 2020

By Pastor Paula Lund Burchill

[This blog was previously recorded on SoundCloud]

            My son graduated a little over a week ago–so we heard a few speeches.  One was by a pastor who told the kids that in a world where there is so little that we can count on, if you call on God, you can absolutely bank on the fact that God will answer your prayer.

            I believe this is true with all of my heart.  And I was so grateful to the pastor for taking on the difficult task of talking to a bunch of 18 year olds.  But I found myself wanting to add a but…to his promise.

            You can absolutely bank on the fact that God will answer your prayer….but a lot of the times it won’t seem like anything is happening at all.  Because faith is really hard.  And a lot of the times you will feel like you’re praying and no one is listening at all.

            There is a bible story in Mark, chapter 9.  In the story, a desperate father comes to Jesus asking him to heal his son.  I find it one of the most gut-wrenching stories in the bible.  The father starts to give Jesus almost a medical history of his son.  He’s had fits since childhood.  They take over him so much that he throws himself into a fire or into water, and he doesn’t even notice it.

            All while the dad is talking, his son is writhing on the ground.  Mouth turned white with foam.

            The father begs—O Jesus, if you can do anything, please help us. And I hear in his voice the desperation of a dad who has tried everything to help his son.  A dad who has probably been praying for years for healing.

            Jesus’ answer at first seems almost glib.  “If^[ you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” [Mark 9:23]

            The dad answers with a prayer from deep down inside.  “I believe, help my unbelief.” [Mark 9:24]

            O how many times I have prayed a version of that prayer in my life.  Even when I heard the pastor say God will give you whatever you ask for, I wanted to yell—I believe, help my unbelief!

            That is the middle place most of us live, most of the time, isn’t it?  Between trust and doubt.  Faith and fear.  And it probably wouldn’t be much of a commencement speech to say to the kids:  God will give you whatever you ask, except when God doesn’t.  And you have to wait, and the waiting is excruciating.

            But the truth of the matter is that that is what a life of faith is like for most of us.  There are times of course when we pray and we get an answer and the answer seems to come almost right away and there is nothing better!

            But a lot of the time, I think most of us would say we pray the same prayers over and over.  And we see that our prayers have been answered–in hindsight.  When we look back over our lives and realize God has been active all along. Whether we recognized it or not.

            That is a tough speech to give to an 18 year old who lives in the moment–who grew up with instant gratification.

            So what I want to tell the class of 2020 is that one of God’s favorite prayers is: I believe, help my unbelief.   That as you go through life, there will be times when it seems as if God is right there and there will be times when it seems God is nowhere to be found.

            But keep praying.  Because prayer is really just walking in trust. 

            And that dad? After a lifetime of worry for his son, got to walk home with a healed boy that day. 

            I believe.  Help my unbelief.