How to Pray When You Don’t Believe in God: Some Perspective from Frederick Buechner

Last updated on: August 28, 2017 at 7:04 am by Tim Suttle

How to Pray When You Don’t Believe in God: Some Perspective from Frederick Buechner 2017-08-28T07:04:05-06:00 Tim Suttle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On my sabbatical I’ve been slowly reading back through the trilogy of Frederick Buechner’s memoirs. I’ve read them all more than once, so for variety’s sake I took them in reverse order – Telling Secrets, Now and Then, The Sacred Journey. The middle book contains what has to be one of my favorite bits of writing by Buechner in all his work.

He tells the story of going to a seminar on prayer. The presenter was an Episcopalian faith-healer (I know, right?) named Agnes Sanford. Buechner says she looked more like the moderator of a civic organization than a faith healer, direct and down to earth. And this is what she said.

She often pictured Jesus standing in churches in the midst of Sunday worship with his hands tied behind his back, unable to do any mighty works because the ministers either didn’t expect him to, or were too afraid to ask. Buechner confessed his own kinship with those who suspected that God neither needed their prayers nor really wanted them. Doubts, confusion, even just the various uncertain processes of the spiritual journey probably put us all in this category from time to time. God knows there are many days I wake up feeling much more lost than found.

The whole point, according to the Episcopalian faith-healer, was that you had to expect God to show up, believe that something might indeed happen when you pray. It was faith, she told them, that unbound the hands of Christ.

“Inside us all, she said, there was a voice of doubt and disbelief which sought to drown out our prayers even as we were praying them, but we were to pray down that voice for all we were worth because it was simply the product in us of old hurts, griefs, failures, of all that the world had done to try to destroy our faith. More even than our bodies, she said, it was these hurtful memories that needed healing …

The healing of memories was like the forgiveness of sins, she said. Prayer was like a game, a little ridiculous the way she described it, but we were to play it anyway – praying for the healing both of ourselves and others – because Jesus told us to and because most of the other games we played were more ridiculous still and not half so useful.”

Those two points really struck home to me this morning. First, that Jesus’ hands are tied by our own unbelief. Part of our job is to fight back against our doubt and disbelief. Not that we need to practice self-deception, but rather that we need to acknowledge that the natural disposition is belief. Doubt and disbelief are more a result of old hurts, griefs, failures and all the world has done to destroy our faith.”

The second point is nearly as important. Prayer is like a game. Sure it can seem ridiculous at times, but we have to play it anyway because Jesus told us to and because, after all, we play silly games all day long. At least the silly game we call prayer is deeply human, humane, and humanizing as opposed to the other games we play in our life that are not half so useful.

The language of prayer didn’t matter. Only the faith. And faith must be practiced over time, just as doubt and disbelief must be resisted over time. Faith gets stronger with practice, and disbelief will abate when consistently opposed. Maybe this is a bit of a mind game. But what isn’t a mind game? At least this game has us reaching for the divine that lives inside us all.

Faith in God – in the power of Christ to heal and set us free even from our past hurts, griefs, and failures – is not for those who are so fortunate (or not, depending upon how you look at it) to never struggle with unbelief. Faith in God and the power of Christ is for those who struggle to believe, and work at it anyway.

While he was teaching at Exeter academy Buechner was once leading a chapel service with 800 cynical kids and faculty who were suspicious of all things religious, but really liked their honest and earnet religious studies teacher (Buechner himself). Two members of the Exeter community were dying of cancer and on a whim he stopped the service and asked them all to pray silently that God would heal their friends. Either out of compassion or shear surprise at being asked they all, to a person, seemed to earnestly pray together in a moment of stillness and quiet that was pregnant with the divine.

Nobody was healed. They both succumbed to cancer. What Buechner said about that experience, however, was that somehow the bonds of community and the love that existed in that community was enhanced and nourished by that time of silent prayer. It wasn’t the result they prayed for exactly, but the result of the prayer wasn’t insignificant. This is another reason to practice prayer, to fight against doubt and disbelief, to bang on the doors of heaven, to address God even if you don’t believe in God.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 23, 2017

Reporters Are Actually Forced to Have Integrity - Here's How It Works

Next Post

August 25, 2017 The Numbers Say Evangelicals are Losing Faith in Trump ... I don't Buy It

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion corruption Donald Trump elections Empire Entertainment Ezra Klein ideology Justice Lacan politics race Sports Ta-Nehisi Coates Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 March 2026 September 2025 March 2025 June 2024 January 2024 December 2023 May 2023 February 2023 October 2022 April 2022 March 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 September 2020 July 2020 June 2020 March 2020 September 2019 July 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the largest Christian denomination in the world?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Orthodox Lutheran Catholic Protestant