Pray The Scripture

First of all, let me start this off here by telling you I am a Southern Baptist.  

I was born into a Southern Baptist family, and raised in the Southern Baptist church.  One thing about Baptists -- and some other Christian denominations as well -- is that we don't typically follow a liturgy in our worship services.  In fact, I recently heard an Evangelical Bible scholar jokingly say that we on the Evangelical side have become so anti-liturgy that we've literally made a liturgy out of non-liturgy.  

I don't know if I'd take it that far, but I do know that each Southern Baptist church sets its own order of worship, and conducts services how the ministers decide.  Every church I've been to has done things its own unique way.  I can kind of understand the reasoning behind not having a liturgy -- which is making sure we put our faith in the blood of Jesus and his sacrifice rather than the rituals of the church. But on the other hand, some of us find great comfort in routine. 

When I was growing up, our church did this thing where we sang the Doxology after passing the offering plate.  When the ushers were done, one of them would signal to the organist, and she would begin playing the intro.  We'd all stand up and sing while the ushers brought the offering plates to the front of the church.  No one stood up front and said, "We're all going to sing the Doxology".  We just did it.  We all knew the routine, because we did it every Sunday.  

I've never been in another church which has done that, and I kind of miss it.  OK, I really miss it.

One thing other Christian denominations do that I'm kind of...well, envious isn't exactly the right word.  I'll just say I wish we would recite more pre-written prayers.  You know, like the Catholics have their Hail Mary, among others, but Baptists don't have anything like that.   I wish we did, but I was told we don't, because repeating a prayer someone else wrote isn't really praying.  It's just repeating someone else's words.  

Even the Lord's Prayer.  The one Jesus gave us when the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.  You know how it goes...

Our Father who art in Heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done on Earth

As it is in Heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation, 

But deliver us from evil

Some churches went so far as to even stop calling it The Lord's Prayer.  It's the Model Prayer, because we're supposed to model our own prayers on it, but not actually pray it as a prayer. Personally, I don't agree with this whole idea that you can't repeat a pre-written prayer.  After all, we sing hymns as an act of worship, and what is a hymn but a pre-written prayer set to music?  If singing a hymn is an act of worship, why can't reciting a prayer also be an act of worship?  

So now, the thing they're telling us is when you don't know what to pray -- when your heart is full but the words simply won't come -- is to find a scripture and pray the scripture.  Pick a Bible verse that speaks to you, and read it as if it were a prayer.  

Just not the Lord's Prayer.  Any other scripture but that one...

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Praying a Bible verse, I mean.  I've done it a few times myself. 

There I was last night, in bed, actually sleeping for once, when along about 12:15 AM, my NOAA radio went off.  My emergency alert app on my phone went off, along with all 47 of my weather apps.  

OK, I'm exaggerating about that last part. Not about having 47 weather apps. That is absolutely true. About them all going off.  That’s the exaggeration.

I picked up my phone to see what was going on, thinking at first it was just a severe thunderstorm warning, but no.  We were under a full blown tornado warning. 

I opened my WTVA app to try to get more details about what was going on, and saw the animated weather map, with the little icons indicating rotation.  Heading right towards Grenada County.  

Immediately, I chose Mark 4:39, and breathed it as a prayer:  "And Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the tornado, 'Peace, be still'..."  Adapted to my current situation, of course. 

I quickly turned on the TV, to hear the meteorologist telling us that the radar indicates strong rotation in the clouds, but so far there were no reports of an actual funnel cloud.  Still, we needed to be in our safe space, or just a few steps away from it...but within moments, things began to change.  The rotation was expanding and weakening...beginning to dissipate. The threat was over.  

"I wouldn't be surprised if the National Weather Service cancelled this tornado warning for Grenada County."  

Sure enough, a few moments later, the warning was allowed to expire, and I went back to sleep, knowing I was safe within God's plan for my life.  

And believe me, there is no safer place to be.