SENTINEL WATCH May 12, 2008 Issue

ENLARGING THE PRAYER TENT

Frederick R. Andresen

THIS IS A TIME in history when we badly need each other. People constantly read and see graphic evidence of cruelty inflicted on the innocent. They are shocked at tribal warfare, ethnic cleansing, earthquakes, storms, and drought, along with innumerable local and national issues relating to corruption and crime. Granted, as individuals our reach is limited, on a human level. But we cannot allow our thinking to quarantine those events as something we can't help with or shouldn't touch. We can include those people—victims and victimizers—in our prayers.

For me, a sentence from the book of Isaiah points toward a healing solution: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes" (54:2). While the Bible context, depending on the translation, encourages the barren widow to broaden her concept of motherhood, the instruction has an even greater metaphorical application for everyone today.

As I see it, there are more or less three parts to this Biblical admonition. The first applies to the opportunity—the obligation, even—to move out of our confining mental tent, that small circle of self, and embrace in prayer not just family, but our neighborhood, community, nation, the world. Why hold back?

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NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

AN END TO MIGRAINES