Pull Back the Curtain

For me, one of the most compelling reasons to pray is that prayer unveils reality. It presents things as they really are. This is especially important for me as I minister at Princeton where it is hard to ignore the precocious brilliance and exceptional achievements of students and faculty. Why would I want to ignore such things? Quite literally, Princeton changes the world, and many times, for the better. Not only does this invite me to respect this campus, but love it. I praise the Lord for its storied tradition and stewardship of God-given gifts.

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However, to stop there would be to settle for an impoverished view of Princeton. Although “Old Nassau” is a place to love, it is also a place to hate. There is ugliness behind its aesthetics, injustice behind its intellect, and manifold pain behind its celebrated reputation. You just need to see it. Drawing near to God in prayer allows me to do just that.

This is nothing new. From the beginning of His redemptive work, the Lord has pulled back the curtain on worldly genius to reveal oppressive powers that suppress people’s pain. One need only look to the exodus story. There, Pharaoh promotes the dynasty as paradise. It is Eden reborn, a hallowed tradition of unprecedented innovation and achievement. But, God’s mission in the exodus is to reveal that Egypt is not Eden. It is an above-ground Hades and Sheol, a place of plague and pestilence, darkness and death.

As we seek God, we must be able to see the same. We must draw near to God for a deeper, truer understanding of the reality surrounding us. This leads me to pray in two ways. First, I must thank God for the beauty and brilliance that is Princeton. Such things are indeed there. But, more importantly, I must beg Him for the wisdom and courage to pull back the curtain. I must see and hear the muffled cries from spiritual, social, emotional, and yes, physical injustices. These are also there. After all, like Pharaoh, the powers of Princeton often cry, “I don’t know your God!” (Exodus 5:2; cf. 1:8)  So, friends and co-laborers, seek God and see things as they are. Then, be moved with godly love and hate for the places to which He has sent us.

In closing, I can do no better than the words of G.K. Chesterton, who writes,

“I know this feeling fills our epoch, and I think it freezes our epoch. For our Titanic purposes of faith and revolution, what we need is not the cold acceptance of the world as a compromise, but some way in which we can heartily hate and heartily love it. We do not want joy and anger to neutralize each other and produce a surly contentment; we want a fiercer delight and a fiercer discontent. We have to feel the universe at once as an ogre’s castle, to be stormed, and yet as our own cottage, to which we can return at evening.”  - G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Protim Adhikari