Prayer

I taught the lesson on prayer this week in Wa-jiele. This is a repeated theme that we teach. You usually don't have, at church gatherings in the states, NO volunteers when the question is thrown out there,”would someone lead a prayer?” However, we frequently can hear crickets for minutes on end when we ask this question. I think it stems from the fact that talking outloud to anyone invisible draws ridicule. Children in the village often laugh at me when I'm talking on the phone, sort of like I laugh at people who are using those silly blue tooth headsets when I'm in the states. I think people are just afraid of the ridicule they think they will receive if they pray outloud. It is also not a common concept to communicate with the creator God without an intermediary, like a witchdoctor or at least an ancestor or spirit of some kind. Although we teach that the Spirit intercedes for as (as well as Jesus being our advocate before God), we speak directly to the Creator. For example, we ask God directly for healing; we don't pray, “Hey Spirit, could you send a message to the Creator God that I'm sick and need healing.” Anyway, I hope this lesson brought out less timidity among the folks out in Wa-jiele.