Secret Service Prayer

By Andrew Daugherty

May 2004

Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that others may see them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. — Matthew 6:5-6

The National Day of Prayer has been celebrated every year since 1952. Permanently set as the first Thursday in May during the Reagan administration, this day is set aside to acknowledge the "prayerful spirit" of our national tradition, supposedly observed in the spirit of political nonpartisanship.

Still, this high-profile celebration of public prayer reveals the temptation of associating God with Americanism and mistaking public forms of piety for heartfelt religious devotion. In a 1976 essay in the Journal of Church and State, the late Frank Stagg asserts that civil religion is "any political structure assuming the dimensions of religion."

Highlighting another high-profile celebration, the White House prayer breakfast, Stagg asked if such a publicly pious act was "a nation on its knees before God" or "was it the church on its knees before Caesar?"

Stagg's pointed questions are appropriate. Especially during a campaign season, imitation can truly be the (in) sincerest form of flattery. Many are suspicious when government officials even appear to be using religious practices such as prayer for political show and tell. For public officials wishing to avoid the trap of hypocrisy, it is ironic when the flashes of cameras carefully record the flashy spectacles of their public piety. To be sure, prayer rarely compels prophets to make friends with politics.

Even for a country in crisis, there is no prescription for airtight guarantees of security or success, political or otherwise, when it comes to prayer. Neither is there any reason to believe that public displays of piety, however opulent, will create such a prescription. No, the only prescription for prayer proffered by Jesus himself is: "Don't do it in public," rather, "Do it in private." Yes, corporate prayer is appropriate, but in the context of worship with other believers and without government sponsorship.

Despite Jesus' instruction that genuine piety does not insist on public recognition, the history of public prayer practices in the United States is well-documented; from the National Day of Prayer and the National Prayer Breakfast to legislative prayer. Legislative prayer, for instance, by historical precedent and its ceremonial nature, has been held by the U.S. Supreme Court not to violate the Establishment Clause.

Nevertheless, the distillation of values, voices and viewpoints may offend the sensibilities of the most faithful Christians among us, who follow after one who taught that serving the poor and practicing prayer should be done "in secret." In particular, the intimate nature of prayer is further reflected in the Gethsemane narrative of the Gospels, where Jesus is found praying alone apart from the disciples. Jesus was always retreating from the crowds to pray (and sometimes praying all night long!), withdrawing to deserted places to be alone (Luke 5:16; 4:42; 6:12; 9:18). (Quite a contrast from the National Prayer Breakfast).

Stately, high profile occasions of public prayer may make for a great photo opportunity, but the effectiveness of prayer is not measured by how many people see and hear it. The sacred experience of prayer can only be measured by the faithfulness and generosity of God alone who sees and hears it. Generic mentions of God and benign expressions of prayer in the public square, although perhaps constitutional, are inadequate substitutes for heartfelt religious service.

Prayer as a practice of private devotion, when wisely nurtured in the context of a community of faith, nourishes the faithful toward union with God. Prayer, in the secret and sacred places of our hearts, empowers the church's prophetic witness to the world. The sort of life produced by such pietas (or this kind of piety) is a secret that even Jesus could not eventually keep.