Becoming an individual by the prayer that defies the powers

Only Christianity says that persons are individuals. It does not say that they become individuals by making themselves such, by cutting themselves off from all others. When we cut ourselves off from one another we put ourselves on a chute that drops away into isolation and loneliness. They are individuals because God calls each of them by their name, and hold them before him, so that it is his relationship with them that makes them utterly distinct from every other person. Their uniqueness flows into them from him. By loving us and calling us, and waiting for our response, God makes us who we are, and refuses to let us lock ourselves into to any smaller or vicious identity. We may attempt to close ourselves down and lock ourselves in, but by continuing to call us God keeps us open.

Simply by naming God as the only God, we name all these other powers as impostors and so defy them. We name them and expose them and so they are powerless over us. We defy the powers of the age. Any time you stand up in the public place and say out loud the prayers and worship you are doing the one thing that your community requires and then you are the effective leader of that community, and its voice.

All these powers proclaim themselves to be our friends and offer us some service that will make our life easier, but we should be wary of them. They want power, and they will get it by taking from you, and they do so by inducing you to give it to them. They make this event as uncontroversial as a signature at the bottom of a page of small print. A pinch of incense, no more. They do it as though by nods and smiles you have already given your agreement, and as though what you are conceding to them were not worth very much. They do this by disguising from you how badly they want your obedience and urgently their need your connivance. Most of all they want this is to seem entirely normal, just an unexceptional process, a matter of administration or an upgrade. All they want is power. All they want is everything, and nothing is what they will leave you. So when you pray you stand up in the presence of all the policy-makers administrators and executives and their acolytes and followers who so badly want you to surrender yourself into their power and you defy them. But simply by naming God as the only God, we name all these other powers as impostors and so reject them. We name them and expose them and so they are powerless over us. We defy the powers of the age.