Hindu Gongs and Christian Prayer Chains

The gate
I vividly remember my first visit to a Hindu temple in India.  Outside, we made our way past the crowds of desperate humanity at the gate; the pleading mothers holding naked infants, the horribly misshapen children, the weary old men.  Each one broke my heart; I felt totally helpless in the face of such need. I couldn't even hand them a rupee or two. We had been instructed not to give them money because their activities are controlled by pimps who take the money they are given and pocket it themselves.

Getting the gods' attention
The first thing we encountered inside was a large gong. Our guide explained that worshipers sound the gong when they enter in order to attract the attention of the gods.  If the worshiper didn't ring the gong, the gods might overlook him or her.  Worshipers have to go to great lengths to get the attention of their indifferent gods.

Are Christians so different?
We Christians have a practice that reminds me a bit of the Hindu gong. We handle small problems in private prayer but, when a big problem arises we try to get as many people to pray as possible.  We put the request out on prayer chains and make phone calls and write emails and put it on our status update on Facebook. Then we reassure the person who is suffering that there are a lot of people praying.

Is God reluctant to care for us?
Why do we do this?  Is it because God might ignore a request if I ask for something for myself, but if there are a lot of people asking him for something he will sigh deeply and reluctantly intervene on my behalf? Is His love for me a reluctant love? Does He keep a count and say, "If there were only 10 people praying I would say no, but because there are a hundred people praying I will do what you ask?" Is God, like the Hindu gods, easily distracted, but if we get a lot of people to pray it will be like a gong in His ears and He will rouse Himself and look around and see who is making so much noise?

Fortunately,  the one true God is nothing like that. I am so grateful that my God promises to be with me all the time. He loves me. He even knows the number of hairs on my head.  I definitely don't have to ring a gong to get his attention.

So why do I ask people to pray?

The followers of Christ have always asked for prayer.  When the apostle Paul was suffering he asked people to pray, "You also must help us by prayer..." We ask people to pray because through prayer we stand together against the darkness. It is a way of helping each other.  Humans are not meant to be alone.  We need people to help us bear our burdens. After all, we are all part of one body.  An individual cell can't survive alone.

Another reason
Paul also had another reason for asking for prayer. "so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many." (2 Cor. 1:11)

We also ask others to pray because we are absolutely confident that God is going to be good to us. We pray because when we do the work of prayer together we get to marvel at God's faithfulness to us together.  We get to share each other's blessings.

So, no gongs are needed, but we are very necessary to each other. By asking people to bear our burdens with us, we give them a great gift, sharing in the joy of God's fathomless love for us.