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There was a day when I filed the prayer letters I received. I considered them history in the making, a living testament of God at work through His Church, a vital link with the Body in faraway places.
No more. My files were toppling with trivia. Some random excerpts: “Suzy grew six inches last year and John is as tall as his mother.” “The roses are doing beautifully this year. George sprayed them with DDT.” “We had a great vacation in June, almost the whole banana plantation to ourselves.”
Obviously, the missionary prayer letter has fallen on bad times. Whatever the cause—perhaps preoccupation, or a malaise in the art of letter writing—the sad state of prayer letters does little to elevate the high calling of the missionary or motivate a deepening prayer life.
A good letter requires time and a lot of thought. A missionary cannot spend 20 minutes at the typewriter, concoct a clever opening, whiz through a month’s activities, pepper them with four prayer requests, then draw back and expect the home church to fall on its knees.
If Christians are to pray effectively, they must be drawn by substance. They need dimension, depth, perspective, completeness, insight.
Prayer requests are constant offenders. Some stand alone, stark, leaving the reader in puzzled ignorance. “Pray for Tomotique and Zedalita,” one letter exhorted. I bowed my head and wondered if I wasn’t interceding for a garden vegetable, a flower, or the family pet.
Other requests are the anecdotal type, grabbing one angle and leaving the essence a vague blur. “Pray for Kiko,” a letter pleaded. “His wife beat him severely last week.” Enough to arouse my curiosity to be sure but little to pray about.
Tell me, how am I to pray effectively for Tomotique and Zedalita without knowing what they are like or what they would like to be. What are they afraid of? What do they wish they could do over again? What pleases them most? What illusions were broken? What vague yearnings remain?
Give me the extraordinary and give me the ordinary. Does the rich industrialist in Zaire have everything he wants? Does he bother to look at the prices on the menu? Don’t tell me about the vultures and the boiling sun. Tell me, friend, how do they get a suit cleaned there?
Tell me the small by telling me the large. Identify with me. Come in loud and clear. Don’t give me abstractions.
And whatever, be honest. Don’t tell me the situation was dramatic, a “rousing success.” Show me how it was a success. I’ll supply the adjectives. You say your work is growing. Why, when, where and how? Give me the evidence. I’ll write the headlines.
A prayer letter is a powerful vehicle. Clearly it hasn’t had its day. Give a little more thought and substance, I may even start filing again. And do a lot more praying.
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