Santa Claus relationship, vending-machine view, tech-support request—these are three of the latest descriptors I find personally challenging when asked to consider how I approach the spiritual discipline of prayer. This thought-provoking encounter is not dissimilar to the experience with reading Scripture that I share in the post entitled Stay or Go after reading Jen Wilkin’s Women of the Word. It is an uncomfortable, yet eye-opening, practice to engage in the Deep Work of self-reflection that is required for me to see blind spots from another perspective; however, a phrase that slices deeply into my heart, and the one that perhaps is most relevant to Emerging Generations is to treat God and my prayer time like Siri in the Sky.
It both troubles and humbles me deeply to consider that I would ever treat someone I love and respect without the collaborative Give and Take that is required for cultivating healthy relationships. Yet, when I approach a friend or God with only a Siri in the Sky attitude of “give me what I ask” rather than as a conversation between friends who share a common desire to see one another flourish, then I’m removing the Power of Presence that flows out of a shared relationship with people who know each other intimately.
Now, please don’t misunderstand me, artificial intelligence has a practical place in our culture today. I’m very appreciative that I can inquire, “Siri, where is Bar-B-Cutie near the airport?” and she returns, not only with the address, but step-by-step instructions from my current location. That answer is efficient and timely, but think of how enriching the experience could be if I asked this question of a human and could see their eyes light up with excitement to recommend a delicious place to eat, including what their favorite menu item is. I will refrain from sharing the results of other inquiries of Siri like “Where is Elvis Presley?” or “Who let the dogs out?” because I imagine you are already tracking with this challenging concept.
Because I seem to struggle to not treat my prayer time like Siri in the Sky, I am awed when I hear genuine hearts come before the Lord articulating so clearly the needs of a troubling situation with expressions of gratitude, thanksgiving, faithfulness, and confidence. When hearts become unified in purpose, it brings the presence of the Lord into the room in a tangible way, as I experienced in an October prayer time on our campus with faculty and staff. And when this happens, I want it more! It’s a similar, although a much richer encounter, than the God Winks I adore; and Defining Moments, like these, lead me to investigate the how and why so they might be replicated again and again.
Two sources that have been most enlightening in examining the spiritual discipline of prayer for me are Andrew DeCort’s Flourishing on the Edge of Faith and Chad Veach’s Worried About Everything. Decort shares, “Why pray? Because when we pray with Jesus, we practice flourishing. That’s this book in a nutshell.” Not only does DeCort share the why, he also walks us through the how with the seven lines of the Lord’s Prayer. Along similar lines, Veach offers Jesus’ approach to prayer as he led the disciples. “Jesus taught them to pray. Think about that. Jesus, the perfect, divine teacher, put whatever plans He had on hold for that day just so He could teach His crew how to do what He did best: pray. He gave them a simple, specific prayer. We call it the Lord’s Prayer, but it was more than an empty formula to recite. It was a sample prayer. A template to follow.”
Sometimes I need a template to follow, a memorized prayer to recite when words seem to fail me in the moment, and during the uttering of these words, my heart responds to bending my will, to expressing gratitude for his daily provision, and to recognizing that, although valid, my current concerns are part of a much larger picture than what perhaps I can see. And when the prayer is voiced corporately with others, our physical bodies respond in ways that cultivate health and well-being. But that’s an entirely different post!
Have you heard other descriptors, like Siri in the Sky, for how we often approach the spiritual discipline of prayer that resonates? Would you consider sharing these, or your perspective to the ones mentioned here, in the comments below?
References:
DeCort, A. (2022). Flourishing on the edge of faith: Seven practices for a new we. [Kindle version]. BitterSweet Books.
Veach, C. (2022). Worried about everything because I pray about nothing: How to live with peace and purpose rather than stress and burnout. [Kindle version]. Bethany House Publishers.
Wilkin, J. (2014). Women of the Word: How to study the Bible with both our hearts and our minds. Crossway.
Flourishing @ Life 
Once, a leader asked us how often our prayers sounded like business meetings— here is the agenda and expected timelines for completions, any questions? Good, thank you God for this meeting let me know if You need anything. We were all sheepishly hanging our heads as we realized we were often guilty of this. That was “pre-Siri” days.
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I really loved the analogy of Siri and how we all can fall into the habit of trying to find the easy way out and letting technology make decisions for us. It is almost like we are keeping God in the waiting room as we are going about our daily lives and trying to find solutions to problems via the internet. This is what concerns me about this generation and how Christians can easily fall into this trap. Personally, I feel like I do try to find solutions to situations that could definitely be put in God’s hands quite often. So I really appreciate this writing as it is very well said and concludes how we fail to trust God and replace Him with the internet. With God, comes the virtue of patience. With siri and the internet, comes greed and impatience. We seem to have lost a lot of patience with God when we can have temporary or easy access to other solutions; however, nothing can compete with God’s plan for us and we need to learn how to be more patient on His timing. We are not always meant to figure out our life or decisions. Sometimes it is best to let God figure it out and pray a lot before we jump to solutions to important situations.
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