Praying at the Pump

This is certainly not breaking news, but it made page 10 of the A section in today's LA Times:

WASHINGTON -- Forget Congress. Forget President Bush. About four months ago, frustrated by the apparently immutable laws of supply and demand, Rocky Twyman turned to a higher authority in his quest for cheaper gasoline.

The recent dip in prices, he says, is proof of divine intervention.

"Prayer is the answer to every problem in life," said Twyman, founder of the Pray at the Pump movement, whose members huddle around gas pumps and ask the Almighty to lower gasoline prices.

"If the whole country keeps on praying, we can bring down prices even more, to even less than $2," Twyman said.

Read more here

Really?

In case you haven't been following this story since late spring when it first broke, Rocky Twyman is a Seventh-day Adventist from the Washington, D.C. area. He has been gathering groups of people to pray around the gas pumps, asking God for lower gas prices. When prices went up shortly after they began, Twyman urged patience saying, "true faith does not demand instant gratification," adding that "he plans to keep his pump-side prayers going 'until God tells us to stop.'"

Now prices have come down consistently for about a month and today's article claims that it is a direct result of God's intervention due to their prayers. Prices are still higher across the nation than when they started praying.

The reason this story is interesting to me, beyond the fact that it involves religion in public life and has as its central actor a member of my tribe, is that our congregation is about to embark on an exploration of prayer and other spiritual practices. There has been a groundswell, particularly among the 20-somethings in our congregation, to make prayer a more prominent part of our lives. This is, of course, wonderful news to a pastor! But it instantly raises the enormous questions around the theology of prayer. When someone in a group uses the word "prayer," dozens of different images of what that means are evoked.

When I read this story this morning, and was reminded of Brother Twyman, I had two immediate feelings. First, I really don't want to criticize what another brother is doing to attempt to follow God's leading. Second, I think this is a really misguided effort. For one thing, I agree with Dr. David Larsen that what American's need are higher gas prices. In the same newspaper that carried the story about Praying at the Pump was a story, on the cover of the Business section, entitled "High gas prices muffle call of the open road: Squeezed at the pump, Americans drove less in June." The articles goes on to report that Americans drove 4.7% fewer miles (or 12.2 billion miles!) this June over last June. I hate to be a cynic, but this is probably the reason prices are down. Our lust for cheap oil is a chief contributor to so many problems. The rest of the world pays twice what we pay for gas. Why should American's have cheap oil? Our addiction to oil is what causes even the Democrats now to waffle on offshore drilling. Of all the problems in the world, the one thing that is putting pressure on politicians to change their long held views is the DEMAND for cheaper gasoline for our beloved cars.

This reminds me of one of the most troubling things in my neighborhood: the way in which the residents of my community demand more parking while thousands (yes, thousands) of people - to be clear, that's human beings - sleep on the sidewalk. A friend of mine in the neighborhood once quipped that in Los Angeles there are no homeless cars, only homeless people. Think of it, every car in our city has a home - a parking space. In fact, I once heard that there are at least two parking spaces in LA County for every registered vehicle. Yet we cannot manage to build homes for our humans!

Finally, I want to be sensitive to this whole thing because my friend, Mike Fortune, Pastor of the Toledo First Seventh-day Adventist Church, has gotten his church involved in Praying at the Pump. While I am deeply supportive of his ministry and the wonderful things they are doing, I think praying at the pump lacks thorough social and theological reflection. To be fair, the driving concern behind this issue is the cost to the working poor who are trying to get to work. This is a concern I share very deeply. In fact, I spoke at a press conference yesterday on behalf of mixed-income housing (otherwise known as Inclusionary Zoning). By creating homes for people near their jobs, at a rent they can afford, people don't need to drive long distances to work, if at all. There are other, better ways of getting at the pressures felt by the working poor. What about setting up ride-sharing pools? What about helping people learn to use Washington, D.C.'s very extensive public transportation system? What about encouraging cycling, where possible?

Note: The Spectrum blog covered this story twice, in May and July.

Comments

[Jeffrey Gang]

Awesome post today Ryan. I saw this story several days ago on my Offbeat News gadget. I was troubled on several levels. At first it seemed humorous, then sad. After hanging with you in LA last week, trying to find a parking spot to get some espresso (the best in LA), I can really relate to what you are saying.

BTW, our family is back east in NJ this week. Today my wife and I went into Manhattan for the day (left the kids with the grandparents) . We decided to take the train from my folk's town. Drove a few miles, caught the train, and enjoyed a peaceful ride into the city, talking and reading---a car can't touch that. In the city we travelled from Brooklyn to the Bronx, then back to Manhattan. That's civilization!

[Neville]

Ironic that I'm commenting to your post in the middle of our family vacation--500+ miles, one-way L. A. to Lake Tahoe. When budgeting for the trip a couple months ago, we used $5/gallon as our guesstimated fuel cost, based on the rate gas and crude oil prices were going up at that time. What a welcome surprise, our actual fuel costs are $4.09-$4.39. We're grateful but not presumptuous enough to pray for divine intervention to save a few bucks, and make our vacation a little more affordable.

When I first saw the "Praying at the Pump" news article posted on the Spectrum site in May, I commented that I'd probably pray for wisdom and flexibility to adapt my lifestyle to a rapidly-changing reality. In speaking with a few members of our church, many young enough to really make a difference over their lifetime, who have enthusiastically taken to using public transportation and bikes, I am encouraged and excited (in my typical low-key, understated way).

The blown engine on my car a couple years ago has become a blessing in disguise. In car-crazy L. A., I never thought of using public transportation; and thought it was impossible for two working parents with 3 elementary-aged kids to survive with one car (O.K., not a real car but a sooo un-cool minivan.)

For over two years now, I have traded-in one three-letter acronym for another: BMW to MTA. Thanks to a downtown L. A. workplace adjacent to a MTA Red Line station, an environmentally and socially-aware employer who subsidizes most of my monthly MTA pass and provides an annual fitness allowance (which I used to buy a decent bike), and choosing home, work, school and church locations that don't require the outrageous commutes so typical of many in Southern California, one can make lifestyle choices that are so much more sensible and rewarding.

..Although some days I do miss the purr of the in-line 6 of my old BMW...