"Seeing" God in a Dramatic Prayer

In church on Sunday, I experienced one of the most profound events of my life. We were hosting a drama team from Northwestern College in Iowa, and one of their theatrical fortes is listed as "Ancient Israelite Dramas" -- basically considering the Old Testament as a book of plays, their re-enactments taking on a rather minimalistic, almost mime-like, method, coupled with the concepts of ancient oral tradition and story-telling. It was truly marvelous. These are some extremely talent young people.

The enacted stories were great, but what truly captivated me was their time of prayer. One of the actors, who seemed to serve also as spokeswoman, attempted to explain to us what they were going to do -- basically take a prayer request from someone in the congregation and, since the visual is extremely important to them (and us) and clearly in their gift range, they would "act out" the wordless prayer. OK, I thought, sounds pretty cool, although I had absolutely no concept at how utterly transcendent this would be. I got chills when I "saw" the first prayer, requested by a woman who was struggling with doing God's will. With quiet music playing and not a vocal sound whatsoever, this prayer to God was incredible. One young woman played this woman who requested the prayer; another played a caring friend; another played that character which tries to keep us from God's will. This guy was great -- basically acting like a pest, getting in her face, leading her where she shouldn't go, covering her ears or her eyes. Three actors played God -- one with the friend in prayer for her, and two surrounding the woman, constantly and gently pushing the pest away, uncovered her covered eyes, releasing her from an un-Godly grasp. Very, very cool.

They asked for another prayer request, and this is what did me in. My friend Jacie (also our pastor's wife) took the microphone and asked for prayer for my mom, and briefly described what we're going through. There was no chance my eyes would be dry. One young woman played my mom, another the surgeon; one guy played my dad and another represented our entire family. Again three people played God, while one represented my mom's cancer. It opened with my "mother" going about her typical day, doing the dishes or some other task -- God was with her, upholding her, but there too was the cancer character, following her wherever she went, never letting her go. Silent, but present. God was with the surgeon in the corner, guiding her hands as she looked at charts and films; God with with my "dad" and the rest of us, surrounding us with a constant presence. As my "mom" met the surgeon, and the surgery followed, the cancer character became more aggressive, clinging more strongly. But the God characters become equally aggressive, enfolding my "mom" and finally casting away that cancer character, until she/it stood alone -- defeated -- in a corner. Lots of smiles as the prayer ended ... lots of tears from the congregation.

I have never, in my entire life, seen anything so powerful. A dramatized prayer -- a way in which God spoke to me. In a mighty and intense way, I was able to "see" God at work in a way that I haven't been able to see before. It was almost as if my eyes were opened to the divine unseen around us -- I have been enveloped in this fear of the cancer character, this invasive and angry and deathly thing. But through that dramatic prayer, I was able to truly see God at work too -- just as present, just as aggressive, with strong and powerful arms upholding us and at the same time keeping that character at bay and finally breaking its grip. The ending: triumph. It was earth-shattering for me, powerful beyond words. I was a blubbering mess, but so were others. Afterward I went up and thanked that actor/spokeswoman for presenting such an incredible method of prayer, and ministering to those who need it in an almost unearthly, profound way.

Visual imagery is potent. As my mom goes into surgery tomorrow -- and in the days following -- I am going to cling to this memory of this visual prayer. I am going to pray that my eyes are continually opened to the tremendous good that's surrounding and enfolding us, not just the evil characters. For every "hand" that's working to spread sick cells, there are more "hands" working to cleanse them. For a long, long time I have asked God to help me see. My prayer was answered in a way that I never expected, but in a way that I needed more than anything.