Messy Prayer

A Story about a Book (or actually, two books)

A confession: I have a lot of books on prayer. It appears to be an interest of mine. Some of my books are books about “How to Pray” (Like O Hallesby’s book “Prayer”) and some are compilations of written prayers (like the Book of Common Prayer) and some are specific ways to pray (like praying with your body or “breath prayers” or praying with scripture, for example). Some are prayer books specifically for children, and others are more adult-themed.

One of my many books is called “Messy Prayer.” I like that title, don’t you? It makes you wonder. With a title like that, this is certainly not a book of poetic collects, whether ancient or new. I have books of poetic collects, so I have nothing against them, but “Messy Prayer” caught my imagination. Perhaps it is because I think that faith and life is often unruly, so why not prayer as well?

This book also caught my interest because I was doing research for a specific kind of Children and Family ministry, called “Messy Church.” Messy Church was developed by Anglicans in Great Britain as a specific outreach to unchurched families. They imagined that perhaps there were people who needed to hear and experience the Good News about Jesus but might not consider attending a formal Anglican worship service with its beautiful poetic liturgy. So “Messy Church” was born. It is not supposed to be a substitute for Sunday School. It is not held at a “normal” church time (whatever that is). It does not have a praise band. “Messy Church” is meant to take place about once a month. Every meeting is based on a Bible story, with “messy” activities like drama and crafts. There is a meal and a short, informal time of worship (no sermon).

This is where “Messy Prayer” comes in. I had ordered the books about how to implement the program and was very interested in trying it. But I noticed that there was a supplemental book that could be helpful in designing creative worship experiences. It was available by a Third Party Seller on the Ubiquitous Web Marketplace Which Shall Not Be Named. I ordered it.

I was very excited when the book came in the mail. Except that it wasn’t “Messy Prayer.” It was a tiny book of how to swear in four different languages. I contacted the Marketplace and told them I would send it back if they would please send me the right book. They told me that I could keep the cute book of foreign profanities, and they would send me the other book as well.

A couple of my friends thought the mix-up was appropriate. Maybe even profanity can be a kind of messy prayer. I thought they had a point, although I still wanted the other book. So, I got to keep the tiny book of foreign profanities. And I finally did get “Messy Prayer.”

Unfortunately, “Messy Church” did not succeed at my congregation. I was disappointed, but philosophical. Sometimes, because the church is indeed an unruly place, the best-laid plans can go awry. Something can be a good idea, and still not work. Or perhaps, in this case, we did not execute the plan as well as we might have. Still, I loved the idea of ‘messy church’ — worship that created opportunities for people to know Jesus, even if they might not ever join a church (or perhaps, someday, they would join someone’s church). Evangelism is about more than just getting more ‘attenders’ at our services.

In the meantime, I still have a book called “Messy Prayer.” And a small (convenient pocket-sized) book of foreign profanity. Which reminds me that life, faith, and grace, are indeed messy, that the Holy Spirit does not follow our rules, and that sometimes, even a little profanity might be a gift from God.