Teaching Nihilism in Sunday School, Part III: Pray like no one's listening

cultivating spiritual practice that withstands inevitable doubt

• I’m actually teaching Sunday School to middle schoolers (6th-8th grades; 11-13 year olds) at a Christian church.

• I’m actually doing a lesson on nihilism.

• This is the last in a three-part series:
  1. Why am I teaching Sunday School?
  2. Nihilism via comics
  3. Pray like no one’s listening (this post!)

This post contains the second half my actual lesson plan.

Let’s end by talking about prayer

If you’re dubious on god(s) then prayer might seem silly.

https://www.xkcd.com/808/

As I deconstructed my Christianity, I thought frequently about this chart from xkcd. I always appreciated that it listed not “prayer”, but “remote prayer.”

The data on efficacy of remote prayer are not convincing. But short-distance prayer? Private prayer; praying in a group; prayer that’s not to change the world out there, but to change your own inner landscape? Of course that can work. Maybe the causes are psychosomatic, but so what? Psychosomatic effects are still real effects.

Closing song, again by mewithoutYou. This song is part of a two-album sequence exploring themes of apocalypse and technological dystopia, and there’s much such imagery, but I want us to reflect on the closing lyrics.

If our prayers are unheard? Well our prayers are unheard.

There’s a couple ways to read this. You could read it as answering its own question, saying “our prayers are definitely unheard.” But there’s also the version that’s a shrug. “If they’re unheard, so what? We’re going to keep praying anyway.” (I also love that it’s “our prayers” and not “my prayers.”)

As my closing provocation, I want to challenge you: when you’re feeling like there’s no pattern, no meaning, no god: keep praying. It’s ok if the kind of prayer changes. It probably ought to. I sort of want to make cheugy signs, brush stroke letters:

In your moments of doubt, what sorts of prayer would still feel useful, helpful, meaningful? Would you want to focus more on gratitude, rather than petition? Would you want to make your individual prayer time look more like meditation? Rather than saying a silent prayer from afar for someone you care about, would you want to call them up, pray with them? Would you still want to call out, with a group of fellow seekers, asking for help, for guidance, for wisdom? To name your collective needs; to sing your collective thanks; to hold each other through ritual?

I have my own ideas about what this could look like.

What are your ideas?

📸 & lettering by me