Recently, as I was teaching a group of ninth graders, the noise level in the room rose to an uncomfortable level. It was last period of the day on a Friday and the room was saturated with excitement for the weekend. Being that I am relatively new on the scene of high school teaching, my heart still begins to race when cracks appear in my classroom management. My heart accelerating with the noise level, I not only threw the class off-guard, but myself as well, with the words: “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”Twelve words spoken without even raising my voice caused all thirty students who were at various levels of attentiveness to snap to attention; snap their mouths shut and snap their eyes to the front of the room. I wish I had given more careful thought to what I was going to say next after such an effective command. There we all were, thirty-one of us, waiting for someone to break the now oppressive silence. One of the “talkers” in the back of the room had the honors of greeting the newfound stillness with “Wow.”

“Wow” was right. While I don’t want to make a habit of spouting tidbits of internalized prayer, I was amazed at the effect it had. But perhaps even more noteworthy was my quick turn to God in a moment of stress and panic.

A friend of mine calls these automatic, almost reflex-like reaching out to God moments “panic prayers.” When you are running late to work and your mind is racing with the “What ifs” of your delayed arrival, you might interrupt your reeling thoughts with, “Please, God, let the number 7 train be waiting at the platform when I get there.” When driving through treacherous weather— thunderstorms with sheets of rain, tornados on the horizon, bits of blasting hail hitting your car—gripping the steering wheel and focusing eyes more intently on the road, I imagine I’m not the only one who will burst out an “Our Father” or ask more informally, “Jesus! Help!”

So what’s the deal with panic prayers? Are they legit? Should we be using them, relying on them in the freakishly distressing moments of life? Or, are they simply expressions of not carefully thought-out, almost irreverent demands, shouted in life moments when self-control has dwindled? Answer? Legit. At least, I think so. Each of the above examples: teaching in the classroom, commuting to work, and driving in the car lend itself more often to sincere, intentional prayer than it does this quickened, fright-filled kind. As long as I am remembering to pray with and for my students at the beginning of class when the environment is calm and relaxed, I don’t think God so much minds the occasional panic prayer in moments of management crisis. Likewise, the subway can be the perfect place to insert daily prayer time that includes praying for the sleepy people around you who are hiding behind newspapers, plugged into ipods and anxiously checking their watches with a tapping foot. Similarly, if sitting behind the steering wheel is a recurring location of yours why not make it the moment for scheduled time with God? If we can say that we are honestly making an effort in these various settings throughout our day to actively include God, talk to God and practice routine prayer, then the moments of “panic prayer” seem a little more grounded, legitimate and justifiable. I once had a teacher tell me, “If you’re going to panic, panic constructively.” Bring on the panic prayers, albeit sparingly and grounded in the relaxed routine of self-control.

Photo: “by Jami” by “Sara!” from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)

No related posts.