The “post – Easter” pivot has been a long time coming, but it’s finally coming into focus as we move further into a fall and coming winter where so much in our lives, nation, and the world will continue to be “unsettled.” (Which may be a HUGE understatement.)
But in the coming days and weeks, I’m (RPS) going to be posting actual hedge prayers several times a week. I’ll be writing both hedge prayers for protection and blessing (like the one referred to in Job 1:10), as well as “thorn hedge prayers” that are inspired by Hosea 2:6.
A hedge prayer of protection is exactly what it sounds like: Asking God to bless or protect those in peril, danger, or desperate need. It’s a reminder that God doesn’t necessarily “help those who help themselves” (which is not in the Bible and frankly is damn near heresy), but God does help those of us who desperately need God’s help because we know we often can NOT help ourselves!
A thorn hedge prayer is asking God to block those whose actions or words would actively harm others or work for evil; to place a “hedge of thorns” in front of them to deflect or deter their evil or harmful intentions, actions, or words. Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” will remember how the Hobbits, upon leaving the Shire, seemed to always find their way in the forest limited except in the direction that would force them toward the Withywindle River and into the clutches of the treacherous and evil Old Man Willow.
And the actual hedge prayers I’ll be posting here? They will adopt a page from the Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth. Barth was known for saying “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” What I’ll be doing is using the online news to see those people, places and situations where the need for both types of hedge prayers are clearly seen – and then offering a prayer that does just that.
Some of them will be a reminder to pray for those who so often get forgotten. Others will be pointedly – and poignantly – prayers asking God to limit, deflect, oppose or stop some of the insane and hateful rhetoric and actions we are seeing more and more often in the trying times of our nation.
Make no mistake: This means I will often be praying a hedge prayer asking God to block the dangerous, uncivil, and downright crazy actions that seem to proliferate every single day from the Trump administration. I’ve personally made the commitment to pray the following hedge prayer every single day he remains in office: