When Pastors Dream

It was time for the pastoral prayer. I looked down at the prayer I had prepared--I had typed it out on a sheet of paper, a rather long prayer, divided up into many small paragraphs. I looked out at the congregation and invited the people to pray with me.

I began praying. But somewhere along the way, I had stopped praying. My eyes kept following the words I had written, and my mouth kept voicing those words, but my mind was elsewhere. I began to think about church business, and what comes next in worship, and what my family was doing after worship was over. As my mind drifted, I entered an almost sleep-like trance. The words kept coming out of my mouth, but I was no longer aware of them.

Time passed. It was a very long prayer.

It was the "amen" that woke me up. I looked out at the congregation, but the people were gone. All of them. Every pew was empty.

I asked God, "Where'd everybody go?" but God did not answer.

"God? Are you there?"

Silence.

"God?!?"

And then I heard God's voice. "Oh, were you talking to me?"