Praying for Those in Public Leadership 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Dr. Christopher C. F. Chapman First Baptist Church, Raleigh September 18, 2016 I have always had mixed feelings about praying at government meetings, but I have done so many times. Part of my concern is with First Amendment issues for which our Baptist forbears died, though it is possible to pray in a non-sectarian way and thus, not violate the establishment clause. And part of my concern is with the motivation for asking clergy to pray. As the late beloved Baptist Joint Committee Director, James Dunn, used to say, whenever state and religion get into bed together, religion gets used. Still, I have prayed on some occasions. For example, I offered the annual prayer for the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond three years in a row. Being the birthplace of many religious liberty statutes, Virginia got a lot of things right. They had one prayer a year and not only asked the clergyperson to pray in a non-sectarian way, but required that we submit a manuscript of our prayer in advance and hold the prayer to one minute. Though I affirmed the intent, I always handed my manuscript in with the facetious aside, If I was going do something controversial in my prayer, you don t think I would give it to you in advance, do you? The first year, I provoked an anxious look. After that, they realized I was kidding and liked what I did, and kept asking me back, even though I told them they should invite a variety of clergy from different faiths. The truth is I wanted to pray for eight years because they gave us a Jefferson Cup each time and Dana wanted a set of eight, but after I prayed for three years, we moved to Winston-Salem. It was good run, not as long Mike Morris at the N.C. Senate, but a good run nonetheless. The first year after we moved to Winston-Salem, I was asked to deliver a prayer for the City Council Meeting. Not knowing they allowed sectarian prayers, I went and prayed, and that was fine, but I made the mistake of staying for the meeting I promised God I would never take up any more of the Divine s time praying for that group! 1
Anyway, for various reasons, I have mixed emotions about praying at government meetings. But praying for leaders, including those in government, is quite another thing, and something we are free to do in this nation any way we please. Furthermore, we are instructed to do so by the words of Holy Scripture, as in today s reading from 1 Timothy 2. Paul says, First, of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. It seems pretty clear that Paul is telling us to pray for everyone, but especially for our leaders, because how they function has a tremendous impact on all who live in our land. Now, we need to acknowledge that there are some troublesome words later on in this same chapter. Verse 12 says, I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man. This is the verse a letter writer from Pennsylvania quoted with the added comments, God has given us instructions on how to vote in this election. We bring judgment on ourselves if we ignore this. I m not making this up, I still have the letter addressed to the pastor of First Baptist Church. No matter how we plan to vote, this is not a basis for an informed perspective! And it s not just verse 12 in 1 First Timothy 2, the chapter only goes downhill from there. Women are to be quiet because Adam came before Eve and Eve was deceived (like Adam wasn t?!). And the only way women can be saved is through childbearing so to you-knowwhere with women who cannot have children, I suppose Anyway, how can we take any of this book, much less this chapter seriously? It s a fair question, I think, but one with an answer because there is still wisdom in it, particularly in this word of encouragement to pray for our leaders. It just makes sense that we do so to this day. Commenting on this text, John Stott says, I sometimes wonder whether the comparatively slow progress towards peace and justice in the world, and towards world evangelization, is due more than anything else to the prayerlessness of the people of God. I m not sure we need to take the blame for every misguided political decision or action, but given what is at stake in public leadership, and given our beliefs about prayer, why would we not pray with conviction for those who lead? 2
One thing we need to be clear about is for whom we pray, that is, everyone in leadership whether we voted for them or not, whether we think they are doing the right things or not. We have a tendency to cheer for our guy or gal and wish the other side bad fortune. In Washington, it seems like the most important thing is making sure our side gets credit, not making sure the best happens for all. And I have heard people wish for a bad outcome for a leader which is just self-defeating. A friend once said, I only have one president at a time. Whether I voted for him or her or not, it just makes sense to hope and pray for the best. Lest we think there ought to be some reasonable limit on who we pray for, we need only consider the context of 1 Timothy. When Paul urges his readers to pray for kings and people in high positions, he is not talking about Christian leaders or state officials in a government like ours. He is talking about the Roman Emperor and his entourage, a government openly hostile toward Christianity. And yet, Paul says - pray for the king and other high officials. This does not mean we always have to agree with our leaders and support what they do. Elsewhere, most notably in Romans 13:1, it may seem like Paul thinks we can never oppose any political position. But if we read the book of Acts, we realize Paul practices civil disobedience. He is told what not to say, especially about Jesus, but continues to follow his convictions, even when they land him in jail. According to tradition, Paul is executed at the order of Emperor Nero. And yet, he says - pray for kings and all in high positions. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Anyway, we are urged in this text to pray for all, especially those in leadership. In Richmond, Virginia there is an intentional community and retreat center called Richmond Hill which prays in a systematic way for the city. The property has a fascinating history in that it was first developed by a friend of Thomas Jefferson and was used after the civil war as a convent and place to educate young girls. In more recent times, it has been this intentional community which prays for the city through a cycle of focused prayer times. Each part of each day some group is named and prayed for teachers and students, law enforcement and firefighters, religious leaders and public officials, the sick and the poor. 3
It may seem like an odd vocation to pray for the city throughout the week but it is comforting to know that others are praying for you in a systematic way. I should think public leaders would appreciate such prayer. Whether we adopt a formal cycle or not, it is our calling to lift up such prayers for all in public life. But while it is helpful to be clear about for whom we pray, it is also helpful to know for what we pray for what is best, for God s intent, not just for our views and biases to prevail. At the funeral for a former judge in other setting, an absolutely wonderful man and dear friend, it was remembered that when he was sworn in, a minister at the church at that time, included in his prayer these words, God, help him, for you know he is a Republican It was a joke they shared, it was not verbalized in meanness, and John included many such asides in his prayers, like, Lord, you know how we feel about the Deacs (as in the Demon Deacons), can you help them? But the tendency is to assume that we are right and thus, God would want what we want, our party is the Christian party and thus Jesus is on our side. Thus, the focus of prayer might be to strengthen those who agree with us and change the hearts and minds of those who do not. But somewhere deep down we know the folly of such a focus. So, we pray for wisdom and strength, for what is best in God's eyes, and if there is anything else we can say about what God might want from any leader, it would be to share the Divine concern for all, especially those who are most vulnerable the poor and the sick, the very young and very old. The all part is hinted at in 1 Timothy 2. Paul says God desires that everyone be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Everyone is included in God s intent and this begins with what we tend to associate with the word saved a personal relationship with the living God. But salvation is more than this. Salvation involves healing and wholeness, the wellbeing of the whole person in this life and the next. Thus, it includes all of the quality of life matters and human rights issues talked about in the public square. Paul says God desires that everyone experience these things. 4
This may not seem very controversial to us, but it is in Paul s time. Even in the church, there are many who believe that this new form of Judaism initiated by Jesus is just for fellow Jews. Paul s view is more progressive. God s concern is for all. We believe this in regard to our evangelical calling, the calling is to make disciples of all nations, and we believe this in regard to the wellbeing of every child of God. God s concern is for all. Thus, while we cannot know for certain how God views any specific issue, we have some pretty good clues at this point. The most vulnerable part of God s concern is seen throughout scripture. In the reading from Amos, there is a word of judgment for those who trample on the poor and needy. In the book of Exodus, God is concerned about people held in bondage, so concerned that God delivers them and makes a covenant with them. Throughout the Torah, the people are commanded to leave food in the field for the poor and the stranger in the land. In the psalm with which we have begun worship today (113), it is said that God raises the poor from the dust, lifts the needy from the ash help, helps the barren woman. God is always looking out for those who cannot look out for themselves. Leaders who are wise and whose hearts are devoted to God share this concern. This does not necessarily translate into any specific policy. Different leaders can respond to the same needs in different ways. But leaders who reflect the heart of God have a concern for the vulnerable. One such political leader was a member of this church, Governor W.W. Holden. You may recall that he was impeached in 1871 and thus, wonder just what kind of example he might be, but he was impeached for overextending his gubernatorial authority in opposing the Ku Klux Klan. In other words, his transgression was in taking the unpopular stance of trying to protect African-American citizens who were being tortured and lynched because of the color of their skin. While we pray primarily for wisdom and God s intent, for what is best for all, we do well to pray for this kind of courage from leaders in standing up for the oppressed and vulnerable in our state, nation and world. But while it is helpful to know for whom we pray and for what, we might also want to know why we pray. Because people in leadership 5
affect all of our lives, this much is clear, but even if we pray diligently for all in public leadership, whether they are elected officials or not, and pray for God s wisdom that is beyond our own, we may still wonder what difference this will make. How many of our leaders are even people of faith, much less open to change? Though we do well to remember that God uses the Persian king Cyrus to deliver the people from Babylonian exile (Isaiah 44:28f) God s influence is not limited to people of any one nation or faith. But do our prayers make a difference? It may be a bit like the song Alice s Restaurant wherein more and more people lifting up the same concern makes a difference or the story Horton Hears a Who wherein a little Who named Jojo lets out one final Yopp! so that creatures other than Horton can hear and believe that this little world exists. Sometimes it takes all of our voices to accomplish things none of us alone can, even in prayer. But let me suggest a couple of additional benefits of praying for our leaders. First, prayer is something we can do for people who have sacrificed a lot. We have all sorts of questions about people in public life today, but how many of us want to enter public life? To say the least, it is no picnic! No aspect of personal and family life is sacred, no subject is off-limits, no sneeze a leader ever lets out is not captured and then posted on the internet. And the very nature of the political landscape that goes far beyond gridlock means you can t accomplish much anyway. Who would want to enter such an arena? The least we can do is pray for the poor souls who have said yes to this important calling. I can tell you from personal experience that it does make a difference for me to know there are church members who pray for me as a leader all the time. Political leaders are no different. Second, even if our prayer for leaders doesn t seem to make much difference for them, it does make a difference for us. This is at least part of the wisdom of loving enemies and praying for persecutors. It is not possible to pray for someone without being affected by that prayer, to hold someone close to the heart of God and not somehow have our feelings and very being changed. At the very least, we remember that the person we support or detest is a human being like us, a child of God, who lives with weighty concerns and faces almost impossible decisions 6
every day. Even if we disagree with the person we pray for and others who share his/her views, something happens to us in the process of praying, which may be a part of why we are so reticent to pray, yet, at the same time, exactly why we should. Jeremiah 29:7 records God s word of counsel for the Israelites living in exile in Babylon, But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. It is very much like what Paul says in 1 Timothy about praying for those in leadership. We have a vested interest in how they lead. If we think about government at all levels - city, state, nation we all have leaders we love and support and leaders we would do anything to get out of office or some other position. They all need our prayers and we all need to pray for them. 7