Grace Notes: Big difference between prayers and superstitions

By Lorraine V. Murray

For the AJC

Every so often, I get a chain email that contains a prayer, and then the admonition that I should forward the prayer to 10 or 15 friends, and sit back and wait for something wonderful to happen.

I always delete it.

There’s a huge difference between prayers and superstitions. Superstitions involve doing something -- whether it’s carrying a rabbit’s foot or sending out chain letters -- and then expecting definite results.

But it’s dangerous to believe prepackaged formulas will produce predictable blessings in our lives.

This notion is the premise of “The Prayer of Jabez,” in which author Bruce Wilkinson claims there is a certain prayer found in the Old Testament that God will always answer.

Religion can deteriorate into superstition, when folks believe that if they do X, Y and Z, they can force God’s hand. After all, God isn’t a slot machine, and you can’t deposit your prayers and then wait for the big payoff.

It is superstitious, for example, to think God will keep you from getting in a car accident because you’re toting your Bible in the glove compartment or wearing a cross around your neck. You might as well depend on a four-leaf clover or a lucky penny.

There’s nothing wrong with wearing a crucifix or carrying a prayer book with you, but they aren’t amulets, charged with some secret power to protect you.

And tithing to the church can be a good thing, but some people do so because they think it will ensure God’s blessings. This sounds suspiciously like knocking on wood to ward off evil.

“I went to church and said my prayers, but my life still caved in,” says the disappointed person who thought religion was as straightforward as following the directions in a recipe.

Truth be told, when it comes to God, there are no magical fixes.

We may spend years dutifully obeying the Ten Commandments, praying fervently and doing good works. And still we may lose our spouse, our job and our own health.

As the story of Job reveals, there may be sound reasons, which only God knows, for why we must confront the things we dread.

Reading Scripture, praying and attending services, as many well-meaning people do, are all wonderful practices. Still, there is something deep and mysterious that must underpin all the trappings.

It’s a sincere heart that surrenders entirely to God. A heart that realizes God never promised that if we followed a certain formula, we would be guaranteed an easy life.

As for me, I pray for a heart that keeps me centered on God. And I pray to fully accept that God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly in the way we envision.

But he will give us the grace to endure whatever comes.

Lorraine Murray’s most recent books are “The Abbess of Andalusia,” a biography of Flannery O’Connor, and “Death of a Liturgist,” a fun-filled mystery set at a fictional parish in Decatur. Her email is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com.