Ten Cent Prayer

Ok, this has been a topic beaten to death on blogs before...but since I'm a new blogger, here's my quick thoughts.

Church signs are a funny thing. I don't want to bash them, like many people do. That's too easy. Sure, most of them are way too cheesy. Sure most of them seem out of touch with the culture around them. Ok, sure, we know that. But let's not completely rip apart well intended people for doing something that they think might grab someone's attention.

Having said that, though, let me comment (respectfully) on one I saw in North Georgia last week...a church sign that prompted this blog. It read, "God doesn't give thousand dollar answers to ten cent prayers." A few thoughts quickly came to mind when I drove past the sign. First, like many many many church signs, I don't believe a statement like that is going to bring the masses in. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe unchurched people in that immediate area are coming in droves b/c of their sign (ok, I'll stop being sarcastic). 2nd, the statement itself really bugs me. To me, it conveys two things: First, it says (and this may be stretching it), "You can't pray well. Don't you dare give one of those short meaningless prayers. Don't expect anything from God unless you really really really mean it. We know how to pray, you don't." Ok, that last sentence was definitely stretching it. Also, to me, it conveys a wrong message. God does answer our ten cent prayers! And yes, he does amazing things with our "shifting sands" kind of faith (Caedmon's Call reference). When I drove by it I thought, no way, we are supposed to come to God like a child. Completely reliant. Completely needy. Completely dependent. Right? Faith like a child, right? The whole statement just bugs me. What does a thousand dollar prayer look like? Better yet, what does a million dollar prayer look and sound like? Do I need some kind of schooling to learn how to pray like that? Sorry, but I think there may be a few more important things that I can be sharing with the community around me than "don't be throwin up those teeny weeny prayers of yours."

And if you've never seen it - you can create your own church sign - click HERE