For some reason lately, there are certain habits I’ve picked up from present day Christianity that are really starting to grate on me. For example, why is it that we feel the need to end every prayer with something along the lines of, “… and we ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.” What do we really mean by that? I tried looking at prayers in the New Testament to see if there is any example of this and I can’t find any.

Here’s the nearest reference I find, and the crux of why I think this practice irritates me so much:

“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

John 14:14

And a little later in John 16:

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

For some reason, I don’t think He meant saying the words “In Christ’s name” was the way to get the thing requested. Because frankly, if that’s what He meant, I think He lied. I don’t exactly know what it DOES mean to ask in Christ’s name, but I think it’s more than just words.

I feel the way we’ve habitually added those words to our prayers is similar to something that happens occasionally at my job:

Part of my job involves granting access to our database system and tools. We get a lot of these daily and while we try to do them the same day, they are considered low priority. HOWEVER, every once in awhile, we get an employee who likes to drop a name to get their request prioritized. A request that is now urgent (in most cases) because they did not think ahead. It usually goes something like…

Them: “I really need this, could you please make it a priority?”
Me: “Sure!”
Them: (10 minutes later) “This is really urgent.”
Me: “I understand, I should be able to have that set up for you in the next hour or so.”
Them: “Well, this is for a report that will be read by [insert high-level manager’s name here]”.
Me: *blink* ... *blink*

That’s how I feel about “in Christ’s name.” It’s like… “Hey God, I’d really like this blessing/outcome/gift. And just so you know… I’m asking in Christ’s name, so maybe you could expedite a bit?”

I want to be a bit more thoughtful on how I throw Jesus’ name around. I want to be more conscious of the fact that by proclaiming I am a Christian, in effect, EVERYTHING I do gets stamped with Christ’s name, for good or evil. I understand the power of history and tradition and repetition… but I think some things become tradition because no one ever stops and asks why. I want to identify with Jesus in such a way that words aren’t necessary to show I’m asking in His name. But to do that, I need to step outside myself and that’s something I find VERY hard to do.

God, may I continue to be teachable and come to you with my questions of why and be satisfied with the answer. Amen.

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