THE NON-ANXIOUS PRESENCE

"After more than sixty years I can still hear the eloquent prayers that filled the countryside when epidemics of diphtheria appeared. One tube of antitoxin will do more good than all of these" (Arthur Hertzler M.D.).

"Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me" (Jesus Christ, Jn. 14:1).

I'm sorry it has taken so long to make another contribution. I caught a cold during the holiday, and it has taken this long to feel like writing. Helen and I went to visit her parents for Thanksgiving. Since we were already in Kansas, we made a quick trip (150 miles west) to Abbyville, where we visited loved ones from our first pastoral ministry of 31 years ago. Our travel to Abbyville took us through the area where Dr. Hertzler practiced medicine a hundred years ago. It reminded me again of his book, HORSE AND BUGGY DOCTOR, which is one of my cherished posessions. Dr. Hertzler's father was a Mennonite lay minister, but the doctor was skeptical about prayer, Christians and how they practiced Christianity, though he did believe in God.

According to family systems theory, if a person can maintain a non-anxious presence in the presence of anxious family, church members or co-workes for a sustained period of time, then that non-anxious presence will change the family, church or workplace. It is easier said than done because none of us are non-anxious, only God is, though some are more non-anxious than others. A non-anxious person knows who he/she is. Non-anxious people live consistently by their values and faith and do not allow themselves to be drawn into gossip, destructive criticism, defensivness and emotional reactivity ("you've got to do something now!").

God, being the only non-anxious presence there is, is not stampeded into action by our anxious prayers. One of the things that made Hertzler skeptical about prayer was that God did not answer in the way he thought He should. His childhood experiences with prayer and shallow Sunday school teaching had a profound effect on his adult life. Hertzler did finally adopt his father's understanding of prayer as the diligent pursuit of a worthy cause. In this way he said diphtheria antitoxin was an answer to prayer.

While in Kansas we were able to watch BRUCE ALMIGHTY on cable. Bruce was given Divine power to answer prayer. He answered all the lottery players prayers with a "yes." The forty thousand winners received almost no money. How confusing the world would be if God answered every prayer with a "yes," though there are some prayers that God will always answer "yes" to. Care to guess what they are?

God brings change through His non-anxious presence.

Grace&Peace,
Tom