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BOOK REVIEW: Prayers confront today’s anxieties Sarah Ehrlich Thullen, Nov 7, 2008
By Sarah Ehrlich Thullen Special Contributor
Prayers for a Privileged People Walter Brueggemann Abingdon Press, 2008 Paperback, 183 pages
Prayers for a Privileged People is not an inappropriate title for Walter Brueggemann’s latest book, though it may sound a little awkward. The prayers, however, are anything but awkward.
Dr. Brueggemann, professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, accomplishes what few authors—let alone scholars—can do. His prayers are a refreshingly honest reflection of a deeply anchored faith, one that has been persistent in the midst of faith-shaking anxieties.
He contemplates disorienting issues, from violence and sickness to poverty and disadvantage. Experiencing such conditions often makes it difficult for us to see God as victor and ruler in the world, and these prayers, written from a place of American entitlement and privilege, acknowledge that faith is always a wrestling match.
The book should prove to be a wonderful supplement to the reading of Psalms during church gatherings or times of personal reflection. The prayers resemble the psalms in that various voices pray across the whole spectrum of human experience—life when it is ordered and secure, and life when it is disordered and threatens one’s sense of well-being.
One prayer, “Salvation Oracles,” begins by listing many of the worries that keep us up at night: terror, cancer, falling markets, killing, loneliness, shame, death.
In another prayer, Dr. Brueggemann writes words that reflect our many and varied anxieties over global violence:
“You [God], in the midst of the out-of-control violence. We confess you steadfast, loyal, reliable, but we wonder if you yourself are engaged in brutality. We confess you to be governor and ruler, but we wonder if you manage.”
Such words honestly express what many Christians feel but rarely vocalize for fear of sounding irreverent or unfaithful. Yet, these ‘disoriented’ words are not unlike Jesus’ own: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
Dr. Brueggemann doesn’t stop there. He moves through questions and anxiety to confessions of faith that remind us of the Christian’s vocational call to work for peace, protection and caring.
Some of the prayers have a humorous ring. “Practioners of Memos” touches on American business life, a world that as depicted here revolves around memos, not money. The prayer confesses a life of false control and calls the supplicant to break out of monotonous patterns and to truly wake up, praise and live.
But none of the prayers so deeply express a commitment to Christ as “In Human Form.” Here, the praise is filled with a sense of awe in Christ’s death and resurrection:
“You call us beyond ourselves; you send us beyond our imagination; you empower us beyond our capacity, and we become your agents in the world, day by day doing justice and mercy and compassion. At the end of the day we still say in astonishment, that you are high and lifted up and majestic. We are your creatures, and we give our life back to you, filled with gratitude, eager for the rest that only you can give.”
Perhaps the only improvement Dr. Brueggemann could make to his prayer book is to set such words to song.
Ms. Ehrlich Thullen is a recent graduate of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
One prayer, “Salvation Oracles,” begins by listing many of the worries that keep us up at night: terror, cancer, falling markets, killing, loneliness, shame, death. 
