I used to be a mailman.
My wife disagrees. She doesn’t feel one summer of delivering mail qualifies me to claim “I used to be a mailman,” but she’s never enlisted in the United States Postal Service. She’s never driven a jeep with a steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. She’s never worn the badge of the red, white and blue and doesn’t understand that once you join, you are forever a letter carrier. To this day, I’m required by law to egg the UPS guy when he brings Amazon packages to our house. What can brown do for me? Brown can get egged. I’ve already said too much.
But if I were forced to rewrite the sentence, “I used to be a mailman,” I would rewrite it to say:
“I used to be a horrible mailman.”
That sentence is now accurate, because I was one of the worst mailman in the history of the postal service. My greatest fault, of the many I brought to that summer, was my speed. I was really slow at delivering mail, so much so that at the end of the day, I had to sprint and jump off of porches to try to get back to the post office with all the outgoing mail.
But my slowness wasn’t always my fault. One day, I was late because of a prayer sneak attack and that is a day firmly lodged in my memory.
I was walking up a driveway on a hot July day in Framingham, Massachusetts when I saw the homeowner watering his yard with a house. I had never met him before, (unlike that family who let me use their bathroom after I made the rookie mailman mistake of eating a steak and cheese sandwich from a vending machine at the post office. Who could have known that thing would be bad? And how awkward is it for the mailman to come in and use your bathroom?) I handed him the mail, we talked about the weather and then he laid his sweaty hand on my sweaty shoulder and started praying.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, prayer sneak attack. I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to pray too? Was he the opener and I was the closer? Should I bow my head? Were my mailman skills so horrible he felt compelled to pray? Should I close my eyes?
I was so surprised that I just stood there while this stranger prayed on me and then I walked back to the jeep and continued to be a completely mediocre mailman.
What’s the protocol in a situation like that? Could we come to some sort of bylaws or something? It’s going to happen again. And when it does, here are the three things I hope my prayer sneak attacker knows:
3 Rules of Prayer Sneak Attacks
1. Please segue.
“It sure is hot out today. Dear Jesus, watch over this mailman.” See what just happened there? No segue. No spiritual, “here it comes.” No, “get ready because I am about to bring the noise and/or the funk.” Even a simple, “Do you mind if I pray for you” would have been delightful. Let’s all commit to segues whenever possible.
2. Please consider carefully your touching policy.
I didn’t really care that the guy touched my shoulder. I mean it was there, it’s a pretty nice shoulder, flat and able to amply provide a platform for a praying hand. But sometimes when people “reach out and pray” they touch more than a shoulder. My friend’s wife was at a dinner party when a woman sneak attacked her and laid prayer hands on her pregnant belly. Your call on this one, but please know that if you unexpectedly prayer touch my friend Jesse who teaches Krav Maga, the Israeli fighting technique, he is probably going to arm bar you and possibly gouge out one of your eyes. Your left eye if I had to guess. And then I’m going to need to pray that you’ll find a really cool eye patch or a glass eye.
3. Please have met me once before.
I think prayer is a really intimate thing. To pray with someone you are essentially saying, “Hey, let’s go before the creator of the universe right now and be vulnerable to His word and love together.” That’s a lot to ask of your mailman. So let’s at least have talked about the weather once or football or something. Let’s have at least met once before and started to build a relational platform before you grab my hand and say, “Let’s jump off this cliff into the chasm of God’s love in prayer you strange, horrible mailman.”
Those are the three rules I would throw out for prayer sneak attacks, but unfortunately the Holy Spirit has this crazy habit of not playing by my rules. I’m not sure if it just doesn’t read blogs or have Stuff Christians Like on it’s RSS feed, but the Holy Spirit tends to move in mysterious ways. It might tell you, “Grab this mailman and pray for him, right now, right here.”
And then what can you do? But if it didn’t, if your prayer sneak attack is not Holy Spirit, God on high sanctioned, at least give the recipient the benefit of a segue.
Have you ever been prayer sneak attacked?
Have you ever been prompted to bust out a prayer sneak attack on someone?
Comments
Yes I have been prayer sneak attacked. I was a new Christian and we'd invited our pastor and an American couple (who were visiting our church) for a meal. At the end of the evening as they were in the hallway about to leave, the American woman and I were talking about worship and she suddenly reached out her arm. I thought she was giving me a good bye hug so I lunged forwards and hugged her. Then I realised (too late) that she had reached out her arm to start praying that I would be given the gift of improvisation in music. So we were in a horrible sort of half-hug half-prayer posture from which I had to extricate myself in a nochalant way. A segue would have helped enormously.
[...] some reason, the image of the Holy Spirit reading RSS feeds is hilarious to [...]
I was 'got' by an older friend after church one day after she found out I was expecting. Without warning, and right up the front of the church (where I happened to be standing, dismantling the sound equipment), she lays hand on me, no segue, and starts praying for a successful pregnancy. Very sweet, except for being caught off-guard, but there were people standing nearby who I'd really wanted to tell in person first…
Never been the “victim” or the “perpetrator”. If only people followed the Holy Spirit to even get close to doing this!
But I think if you know someone well, all you need is a short segue, as long as if doesn’t make them late for church.
Huh, never been a victim of this. But is asking likely to make the situation more comfortable? If some stranger asked me if they could pray with them, and I really didn't want to, I would still probably say yes. How exactly does one turn down an offer for prayer without coming off as the biggest jerk ever?
Generally I disagree with your third point. I believe that prayer is powerful, even personal, and maybe intimate, but I think it is appropriate with people you have just met when properly and fully segued. (turns out my spell check believes segued to be a word. I didn't even know it could be correctly used as a verb. This is really good to know).
If you are in the market and feel like God is asking you to go pray for some guy who is clearly troubled you don't have to go up and chat for a while then leave and hope he shows up another time and place. No you are free to go over with a "this is weird but …" We often over play the "God told me" card, but we can usually rely on "I feel like I should ask if there is anything I can pray with you about."
When the guy launches into a long explanation of how his wife usually does all the shopping but was hospitalized from a terrible car accident you are free to pray. Now you should initiate a second segue to inform and get consent for touching. "I'd really like to pray for you and your wife, do you mind if I place my hand on your shoulder?" See how we've moved from way too much information from a total stranger to informed consent on the touch and prayer time? Yeah that is some good prayer technique there.
Finally, don't make the rookie mistake of feeling like you need to say you'll be praying. That is just because you aren't sure what to do with the end of prayer. Find something simple that can be accomplished without some eternal promise to ongoing prayer that you may or may not be able to follow through with. In this case, as a guy I think it would be appropriate for me to say, "Listen I know we just met but I really suck at shopping too since my wife generally takes care of this, possibly because I suck at it so bad. Maybe if we work together we can find everything on the lists in minimal time thus accomplishing our tasks so you can go be with your wife sooner." (I tend to use to word "thus" a lot since I think it makes me look smarter.)
Now if you follow these rules you will be able to pray for total strangers without violating social etiquette. Oh, and never touch a pregnant belly without express permission. I recommend signed consent when possible in case the hormones erase memory halfway through the belly touch.
Funny story and good points but would you please refer to the Holy Spirit as "He" and not "it". Let us never forget He is a person of the Trinity. Hope this doesn't come off as condescending, I don't mean it that way i'm just helping with a correction. I love your blog.
HT Indiana –
Great point. That didn't come off as condescending at all and was a typo on my part not a deliberate it vs. he. Thanks for the catch. I'll try to fix it tonight.
Thanks
Jon
Actually, isn't the Holy Spirit referred to as Wisdom, in the female form in the original language? I agree, with the reply below, that the Holy Spirit is not gendered, nor is the language of the Bible used to describe the Spirit gendered (unlike God). I think referring to the Spirit as HE is placing boxes around the mystery and majesty of the Trinity, as much and even more as using an object pronoun. But that's just me, and I understand why others may find "it" equally troublesome.
Ah – HT Indiana – but is the Holy Spirit really a "he'? We assign gender almost regardless of language, but, like in C.S. Lewis' book "Perelandra," doesn't the Holy Spirit transcent our gender nominations entirely? I'm not saying gender doesn't exist, nor am I saying we should only refer to the Holy Spirit as an object instead of a person, but I just thought I'd counter your thought with one of my own.
Given we don't have an appropriate non-gendered version of he/she in English, we gotta use one of he or she. Given we've traditionally used he, i don't see a good reason to confuse everyone by changing now.
Hmmm, I'm one to throw gas on the fire. It would be fun to challenge gender within the concept of God like Holly or I could take HT Indiana's side and point out that gender is described within most contexts of God within the Bible or I could just do some good ol'fashion Jon Acuff bashing since he is getting famous and we don't want his ego to get out of control (I'm loving like that) or I could just snicker at the whole thing because God is bigger than all this but we will spend time worrying over the little stuff despite all the big stuff that goes down in the world.
I'm down for the Jon Acuff bashing!
"The Holy Spirit is properly referred to as "He", whether or not you believe in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit would never lead someone to misrepresent Him in print. Jon called the Holy Spirit "it" instead of "Him", thus misrepresenting said Holy Spirit. Therefore Jon is not led by the Holy Spirit. Therefore this entire blog should be treated like the seedy back pages of "Creative Loafing"."
Warm Christian Love!
wow, that was some hardcore bashing, but you did close with "Christian Love" so I can't find anything wrong.
This seems to be more material for another post in the future.
SCL: Becoming Gender specific to include male and female, lets just call it "it"
I don't think the Holy Spirit cares what we call Him/Her/It as long as we know who He/She/It really is. Funny!
The point is, the Holy Spirit is a person.
Not an it or a thing or a feeling or a goosebump. The Holy Spirit is God and is Jesus. Just as Jesus is God and God Jesus. Duh. Trinity
I know it's hard when we are talking about things as infinite as the Trinity, but just wanted to remind you that the Holy Spirit is not Jesus. They are distinct persons, though they are one God.
You know HT, I had the same response. Adored the post; very funny & relevant. But I was uncomfortable with God being "it"
Jon, as a pastor it did stick out in my mind when you referred to the Holy Spirit as "it", and in all honesty, it to some extent, scarred a great story. I do think you ought to go back and fix that.
For those who has responded to HT, let me just say that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as "He" in John's Gospel. First, John chose the masculine title for Paraclete (as opposed to paracletia, the feminine form). Additionally, in 15:26, after Jesus clarifies that the Paraclete is the Holy Spirit (though Spirit is a neuter noun) of God, He goes on to use the masculine pronoun "ekeinos" even though it was not necessary (the pronoun is understood in the verb). This serves to emphasize and clarify that the Holy Spirit (though neuter) is masculine (ekeinos). This becomes even more clear in John 16:13, where the subject is the Spirit (again neuter), but ekeinos is used twice alongside of pneuma, clearly for emphasis and overriding the gender of pneuma. Finally, another masculine reflexive pronoun (eautou) is used to show possession (His 'own authority' or 'initiative').
All together, when looking at the Greek, this makes for a solid case for calling the Holy Spirit a "He" and not an "it." Regardless, He is the third Person of the Trinity, and as a Person, in English, we assign gender as a recognition of it.
Regardless, Jon, great story and prayer sneak attacks are something that especially us pastors need to watch out for and avoid doing ourselves. I promise to take your 3 points of advice to heart.
I pray for boldness to pray wherever, whenever yje Holy Spirit leads it is wonderful at the end of the prayer i see tears.
Your time as a postal service employee reminds me some someone I know who only served in the Navy for 2 years and was in schooling for nuclear training but is always saying, "When I was in the service…" like he's some war vet or something.
ButI know exactly what you're talking about in those prayer sneak attack situations. I remember one time working at Taco Bell in high school this lady started laying her hands on my head because I had a bad cold. I didn't know if I should have bowed my head or closed my eyes or what. After, she said, "Yeah, I layed my hands on my car this morning because it wasn't starting, but here I am."
Or the most caught off guard time was here at work when 2 or 3 of us guys had a morning bible study and we asked the new guy to pray. So me and my co-worker bowed our heads and all of the sudden the new guy starts singing really loud and clapping his hands. I wanted to laugh but just opened my eyes and lifted my head. I had no idea what to do in that situation but all I did was stare at him. I mean, what do you say to that? Amen?
Was she a vaguely Hispanic looking woman with a big scowl on her face? That sounds like something my MIL would have done/said. Also, do not say she looks Hispanic, she prefers to think she is Native American.
I have been "sneak-attacked." Very often actually by this sweet little Phillipino lady in our church. I feel terrible that I try to avoid her, but I also know I'm not the only one. You know she was at church that Sunday because you can hear her all over the sanctuary praying loudly over this week's "victim." And she doesn't just lay a hand on your shoulder, oh no. She will grab both shoulders and spin you around and then maintain a death grip on one shoulder while she waves the other hand in what I believe may be an all out worship eagle wing flap of some sort!
Of course I have also leaned in to hug my dear grandmother, and another dear friend at church and often found myself on the receiving end of some of the sweetest blessings and most sincere encouragement. Those sneak attacks I cherish.
My husband does this to my belligerant 16yo son often. No segue. tsk. tsk. Belligerant son will be ranting and stomping and dad will start doing that whole out-loud (really loud ’cause God might be deaf tonight) eyes-open, hands-in-the-air-like you’ve-got-a-gun-in-your-back praying for said son who nearly immediately becomes silent.
End of argument. Dad wins. Hope God doesn’t mind getting used that way. Okay, really, I know He doesn’t. Just sayin.
I miss WV.
I will SO have to remember that strategy when my son becomes a belligerent 16 yr old!!
Jon Acuff = Cliff Clavin
Brilliant! But, who is his Norm?
How about God being Norm. He's always there, everyone is super happy to see Him. And just like Norm stuck it out with Vera forever… God sticks it out with us. Cliff and Norm – what a great odd couple!
Jon, according to this (brilliant) analogy, you are drinking buddies with God. How do you feel about that?
On vacation last summer, we stayed a night with some friends parents in a small town. They're "very Baptist". We're Presbyterian. Presbyterians don't pray without the segue.
My wife was talking with one of our friends and with our friend's mom (the first kind of pastor's wife) and my wife mentioned that we were concerned that our 4 year old might have something wrong with a part of his anatomy (a delicate part) and that we might need to find a doctor. Immediately, Barbi grabbed my wife's hands and started imploring God to heal my son's delicate area, (calling it by name, in front of God and everyone!) There was no "Let's pray". No permission asked for, or given. And when it was over, my wife was confused, and bewildered.
I have my own term for the sneak attack. My wife was "prayped".
There should be a support group or something. Thanks for posting this, Jon. I think survivors need to support each other.
David, I'd encourage you to re-think using the word "prayped". Maybe it's just me, but it seems weird to associate an awkward moment of prayer with a vicious, violent, scarring sexual attack. It comes across as a little flippant and insensitive to a horrific crime.
I'm usually the last one to worry about being PC, and I love good wordplay. But I wonder if this might cross the line.
I've never been sneak attacked, thankfully (?). Then again, I always the sort of girl who ended up winning dodgeball because no one noticed me until everyone else on my team was out. However, I have had some pretty funky things happen during well-transitioned prayer. Far too many hand-head-hand-sandwichers in my life.
Oh, and your wife could never understand the specialised duties of a postal worker. (Civilians.)
"I was walking up a driveway on a hot July day in Framingham, Massachusetts when I saw the homeowner watering his yard with a house."
Well, if he was watering his yard with a house, I wouldn't've tried to block his sneak prayer attack, either! ;>
Just messin'. Great post, Jon.
That's not a typo. He was watering his yard with his house, it was truly a sight to behold. Or maybe I am Norwegian and that's how I spell "hose." Like we all do from the old country. Or it's a typo. OK, it's a typo.
I just thought maybe he was a member of the Power Team.
Question:
is there a reason why you capitalized the "h" is "His"? I see people do that a lot when referring to God and I don't get it. "God", used in the sense you're using it, is a proper name and should be capitalized, but "his", no matter who the "he" is, is a pronoun and should not be capitalized. It sort of implies to the reader that the speaker/writer is attributing some sort of "super manliness" to God.
Also, I've noticed that people often neglect to use the possessive when referring to something that belongs to Jesus.
I can't tell you how many times I hear "In Jesus name we pray" (instead of in Jesus' name we pray). Poor Jesus then sounds like some abstract concept, or a specific type of name (like "What's your middle name?" only instead, "what's your Jesus name?", "In middle name we pray?") instead of an actual person with an actual name.
I can't tell you the amount of time I spent trying to convince my father in law that his business cards needed to say "Jesus' name" with an apostrophe. And he still didn't believe me (I'm not even going to begin to go into why his business cards said "in Jesus name" in the first place… but he's not a minister…).
That said, John, can you PLEASE do a post (if you haven't already) on "Christian Grammar"?
You could also touch upon their tenancy towards making nouns (like "covenant" and "purpose") into verbs.
This would seriously be made of win.
Kat, have a look at this one http://stuffchristianslike.net/2008/05/247-a-biza...
Kat, have a look at this one http://stuffchristianslike.net/2008/05/247-a-biza...
Capitalizing He (or other pronouns) with reference to God is generally accepted as proper grammar for English. While wik is not generally the best source I am feeling lazy and the statement is accurate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization You can find it under the pronouns. I would wager it is a throwback to the use of the definite article to make it clear in Greek and Latin which person is being referenced as "god." In English we have been using capital letters long enough that the article was dropped in favor of a capital G and so the same treatment was given to many other instances of referring to God.
English is a confusing language where the rules might be outnumbered by exceptions.
Actually, the correct grammar is "in Jesus's name." The single apostrophe is only to be used when the noun is a plural. An apostrophe-s ('s) is always to be used with the singular. For example, if your last name is Stevens, the possessive would be "John Stevens's car," because Stevens is singular. Conversely, the plural would be something like this: "the two Stevens' names were the same." Just being picky. I think watering with a house is a lot more interesting!
It is correct as either "Jesus'" or "Jesus's" and is a style choice.
Unless the following word begins with an 's' – then the second 's' should be dropped:
"Jesus' skittles" not "Jesus's skittles"
Watering with a house: I imagine the house turned into a giant sprinkler with water shooting out of all the windows & doors.
"Covenant" and "purpose" are verbs.
Also, if we're being grammar police, "tenancy" should be "tendency".
I don't think I've ever engaged in or been subject to a prayer sneak attack. I do however remember an incident of 'drive-by evangelism' from my youth. I was in fourth grade and my mom was homeschooling me that year. For "PE" I was told to run around the house a few times. As I circled the house, I noticed a group of teenagers next door laughing and talking–obviously up to no good. As I ran, I felt I had to say something to them, but what? Finally, at the end of my 5 laps around the house, I shouted, "Hey! Have you heard about Jesus!" and then dashed inside and slammed the door shut. I have no doubt, however, that upon hearing my shout, those uncouth teenagers dropped to their knees in holy repentance and renounced their teenagerly ways.
This is the funniest thing I've heard all day! Thanks for sharing!
Love it! It's like a little Jericho wall reenactment. If you'd gone the full 7 times around the house, then they would have seen some action!
That is SO hilarious!!!
"HEY! Have you heard about Jesus!" <slam>
…promptly bringing them to their knees…
Holy Spirit and RSS feed…Hahahahahahahahaha
Framingham, Massachusetts? Really? Dude, I thought you looked familiar! Yeah, I remember that summer. You were on my route. I remember you because one day I took your picture when you were checking a box. When I read this, I had to dig through all my pics find it, but I did. Here's a link to it:
http://tinyurl.com/yhfk3z6
Stay awesome.
Nice one!
dude, that wouldve been a prime Rick-roll opportunity!
lol great!
I have been prayer sneak attacked on my ANSWERING MACHINE FOR 5 MINUTES. I stopped putting my groceries away and closed my eyes for a little while but then I got a little rebellious and finished the job. I mean he just went on and on. I did make my kids stop talking though. That would have been disrespectful. I was just multi~tasking. I certianly did not SAVE the message so that my husband and I could chuckle over the absurdity of it when he got home. ahem.
I like this blog on Sneak Prayer. My roommate is the Queen of Sneak Prayers BUT she does have the best segue and is easily accepted because she's very intuitive. I totally admire her approach because more often than not, she's already been praying for the person who gets the surprise attack and is very aware of social distance. I'm more of a writer/sender of sneak prayers. I'll get something on my heart for someone and either record an mp3 of me praying or write it out and send it to them. Segues and social distance problems are automatically eliminated
It's even more awkward when they pray for something completely irrelevant…
Cool Eye Patches
Nothing to do with prayer sneak attacks (unless your friend Jesse attacks back) but we picked up some cool eye patches for kids a while back. There was a sports pack, a princess pack and also ones like these:
http://www.fresnel-prism.com/files/Cannon_Web_Liz...
So if Jesse ever has to unleash on a prayer sneak attack he should keep some of these on hand to give out afterward
Sneak prayer attacks are very disconcerting for me as a former Christian who is now a practicing Jew. I might go along if things if we have a common purpose like world peace if the words are kept theologically neutral and only appeal to the Creator. No, I'm not going to say "Amen" when someone invokes the name of Jesus, especially when the Attacker is praying to change my faith. (That's just rude. Any Baptists out there who want to unrequested transformation in Methodists?)
I wouldn't pray to change your faith, I would pray for God to give you the faith that He honors…but then that would put me praying in Jesus' name. Baptist to Methodist (sometimes) is quite a small leap compared to accepting or rejecting the Messiah. If you expect devoted Christians to support your latter choice then you probably should kick them in the shins and run from them prior to any potential prambush.
Hey Maria, how about becoming a Messianic Jew?
Nothing like being a visitor at a church and someone walking up to you and praying for you.
I remember a friend I was with, he had a broken leg. We were going to see a concert at a church in the area. We had heard about the weirdness that ensues at this church, but we really wanted to see this band. We went for it and after walking in the door and dodging the flags that people were waving around in the pre-worship service to the actual concert we had three people grab his leg and start to pray over it. Nothing like the prayer sneak attack.
Once again this was a result of an improper segue. A couple weeks ago we had a couple visiting from the UK. I talked with them for a bit after service and they were quite lovely. I had learned that they were visiting America on their honeymoon so before they left I asked if I could pray with them and ask a blessing over their marriage.
To me that seems completely appropriate. You have hung with them, gotten to know them, and then wanted to pray over them as they left. But the part that bothers me is when you are not connected to them and then you pray over them. It is like someone coming up to you and telling you a "prophesy" but they have no clue who you are and what you are about.
Its like the person who says "I am praying for you" but never really does. In an effort to sound more holy they actually cheapin the idea of prayer. Wait, I do that a lot as well. I am guilty myself.
I've been prayer sneak attacked… thankfully it was one of my former pastors in the hallway at church. It wasn't awkward because I had known and worked with her for years. And if I remember correctly she followed rule #1… the segue.
I was a victim of the prayer sneak attack at my place of employment. My bosses were very devout believers from a very charismatic church. They had a "prophetess" and her friend from out of town stop by the office one day. Behind closed doors we suddenly heard strange things- turns out they were praying in tongues, which was not my church background at all, and totally freaked out the non-believers in the office.
Afterwards the women walked around the office and introduced themselves to the rest of us. It went something like this:
Hi, I'm Suzy Q. And you are? (as she walked BEHIND my receptionist desk)
Hi, I'm Kelli.
Kelli, do you know Jesus?
Yes.
Then suddently she grabbed me in a tight embrace and started praying, in tongues of course. I stood there frozen, totally uncomfortable and afraid to do anything, including breathe. I still cringe at the memory, mostly because of the reactions of the non-believers in the office who were even more freaked out by the sneak attack. As soon as she moved from behind my desk, I was outta there. I took a long "break" until they were gone.
Whoa. I’m a Christian, and that would have even offended me! I can’t imagine what the non-believers in your office were thinking…
Wow, that really is ridiculous. Certainly not professional office behavior at all. I hope your coworkers recovered!
As someone who was in a spiritually abusive church for way too long, I probably would karate chop anyone who tried to grab me and pray. Boundaries, people! Boundaries!
Ah that’s a classic.
Could never happen to me though. I’m a ninja.
But I have busted it out on people before. I once prayed for a shoe salesman who helped me find shoes. It was epic.
I was sneak attacked once at this Vinyard church that met in the basement of an office park in Massachusetts. I went with my friend J. because I was asked to play worship there and I wanted to check the place out first. The segue between sermon and prayer attack was when they put a Phil Collins song on the boom box (something about a train) and they danced around in a congo line. Our unwillingness to participate apparently identified us as prime prayer attack victims.
The service quickly descended into a free-for-all where the regulars were running around praying for people. Those of us that were too confused or slow to participate stood out like sore thumbs. J. got prayed over hardcore because he wasn't dancing, and I got prayed over and told I have the gift of healing. Eleven years later and still no healing skilz, oh well.
But does it count as a prayer sneak attack if it's happening during a church service? I sure didn't see it coming in all the chaos.
There is a christian retailer called C28 and the pray for everyone who stops in. It's pretty funny because nothing on the outside says that they sale clothes with Christian messages and they sell trendy clothes. Sometimes I go in and watch people who wander in and the look of horror on their faces when they realize that someone is about to pray for them. That might be bad. But at the one near my house they have a wall of notes from people who have come to know Christ as a result of shopping. That's pretty cool.
Sneak-attack prayers are just proof that Christians are afraid of what they believe. Instead of boldly facing a possible non-believer (or other believer) we cower and just do whatever comes naturally.
I have prayed over tons of people I've never met, but never without asking. I always ask even if it is awkward. That's the best kind, those first-time-meeting-Jesus-is-there type prayers. I've seen tons of good come from those types of prayers. Jesus never "got to know" the people he prayed over to be healed, he just did it.
I think instead of following Jon Acuff's rules, we should probably follow Jesus's rules…
But Jesus, being all-knowing and all that, knew them and what they needed. So although sometimes that conversation isn't recorded in the Bible or didn't happen at all, he still *knew*.
We "know".
We have the Holy Spirit. Who is Christ, who is God. We have Christ in us and so we can do whatever Christ did. That's why we're called "CHRISTians". We're sons/daughters of God. Jesus was man and God; as are we. We're not better than Jesus-don't get me wrong, but Jesus is called the firstborn of many brothers (Roman 8:29).
We need to be like Jesus. We don't need to make excuses like "I don't know them". That's an excuse to keep us from doing the will of God.
(John 14:12) "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
Hilarious- and similar to one experience I had when I was setting up a conference room at the church I used to work for. Not that the lady was a stranger, it was just somewhat unexpected to be caught in the middle of a prayer sneak attack with an armload of supplies.
As an aside, when I visit SCL from my phone, the header reads ‘SLC’, which seems just a little… Off. =)
THis is going to come in very handy for me.
One day.
When I'm a mailman.
peace | dewde
This is going to come in very handy for me.
One day.
When I'm a mailman.
peace | dewde
what is it with Christians and being obtuse? It seem incredibly popular for Christians to act with no regard to social norms, as if they are exempt. Even being a member of a church I have had prayer where I literally felt like I was being patted down for weapons or something! Sneak attacks, or the famous "MORE LORD" slap on the shoulder by a complete stranger! The indiscriminate hand on the head! I am bald… my bald head is a very personal area for me!
at least ask if you want to put your hand on it!
I think we should call these people prayer ninjas!
I was the victim of the queen of all prayer sneak attacks. I was a new mom & was having a difficult time nursing. We had just returned home from meeting with a lactation consultant who said she couldn't help me. I was very upset but had to go pump to relieve some pain. My husband came in to comfort me, but apparently he left the door slightly ajar. My mother-in-law was staying with us that week. She came to the door & heard how upset I was. Before I knew what hit me, she had both hands on my head. There I sat, completely exposed & hooked up like a double-barrelled milking cow while she prayed. I was stunned. I just bowed my head & pretended like I wasn't distracted by the rhythmic sound of the pump until she finished. I fully believe that the Holy Spirit will not be "scared away" by using courtesy. So go ahead & give them fair warning & time to get comfortable. If you find yourself a victim, let the attacker know how they can do it better next time! Christians are accountable for helping each other mature, so don't let them go on to prayer attack another day!
I have been a "victim" of a prayer sneak attack. This one happened after I got through playing at a church. We had just finished with a great time of worship and people were breaking down equipment. A guy came up to me and started to share how much he enjoyed the service and just broke out in this crazy 4 minutes of praying in tongue. Awkward enough was the 'no segue'. Even more awkward was the fact that he was a 'close pray-er' and really loud. Everyone started looking at this scene that had been created. After he was done with his tongues show, we started talking about baseball…
i enjoy praying for people…but there are 2 awkward things that I don't do…i don't touch when I pray…I don't use the term "brother"…and if i tell u i'm praying for you…it's in the moment…get it loaded-shoot it-and move on
It happened to me last summer. I was a desk clerk at a hotel, and the older gentlemen was so glad to know that I was a Christian and going to seminary. As I handed him his room key, he grabbed my hand an prayed for me right then. I didn't feel uncomfortable about it though, but I was taken completely by surprise.
I can see you as a mailman.
My mailman used our bathroom once. It was weird. Fortunately it was summer time so I could take the kids outside while he did his business. But it was still awkward.
Out of curiosity, what made you stop being a mailman?
To add to the person above who wanted a post on Christian grammar, it bugs me when Christians refer to the Holy Spirit as "it" and not "he," because after all, he's still one of the three persons of the Trinity, not an inanimate object.
Or She. Only Jesus in the Trinity is truly "gendered". But God is referred to as Father, and the concept we have reflects that in our language. In the original language of the scriptures, the Spirit is referred to as Wisdom, which was a word in the feminine form. I don't believe the Spirit (or God) is masculine or feminine, but it makes just as much sense to refer to the Spirit as She as it does He.
Just a thought, see my comments above after HT's first comment about Jon's use of "it". John the Apostle clearly uses ekeinos, a masculine pronoun to refer to the Holy Spirit on at least two occasions, one in reference to Paracletos, and one with no reference to it, and clearly in the vicinity of pneuma, a neuter noun. This makes a much stronger case than the one you make for Wisdom being feminine.
In Ephesians 1:17, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Wisdom. Spirit there is still neuter. Wisdom in describing the Holy Spirit, not naming Him. The same construction is used in James 1:17, describing God as the "Father of lights". There, Father is clearly masculine, but lights is neuter. Were we to apply your reasoning across the board, then the Father must be considered as an "it" as well – something that Scripture NEVER does.
I’ve been prayer sneak attacked… thankfully it was one of my former pastors in the hallway at church.
I don't think I've been prayer sneaked attack, unless being in a church service and someone praying for you counts. But sometimes we kind of can see that coming depending on how the service is turning out. And I don't think I've sneaked like that on someone. I usually ask first when I feel led by the Spirit, or at least tell the person, not just put my hand on their shoulder.
hehehe..
..I'm not sure I've been prayer sneak attacked, but I've been – pleasantly.. – prophetic word 'sneak attacked'. Once when I was in high school – a man visited at a lunch time Christian group event. He just picked me out…I was like, 'me…?' – Went over and he put his hand on my forehead and spoke (or prayed..) some things. I 'regret' that I have no idea what he said to me. I'd like to ask one of my friends about it now that I mention this. I went back and sat down and started to cry. I do believe God was leading this man. In a 'long range' sense we've crossed paths again since. Would just love if I remembered what was said/prayed.
Yay for mentioning Krav Maga! So Christian-friendly, no Eastern mysticism to worry about, yet so mean and brutal!
Megan,
actually, I believe that in the original language, the word used for Holy Spirit is feminine so "she" might be more appropriate than "he". But good point regardless.
I am definitely the prayer sneak attacker…lol…I have no shame in praying for anyone, wherever.
I've been prayer sneak-attacked. And I hated every minute of it. Jon, she broke every one of your rules. I felt violated. (And I'm only half-kidding when I say that.)