Prayer by Ed Alstrom copyright Sophimatic Music (ASCAP)Now, here are the lyrics to a Garth Brooks song "Unanswered Prayers."
Thank you God for the poor and the homeless and those without hope
Thank you God for the doors closed to a young boy now selling dope
For pestilence and urban blight, For streets we can not walk at night
For no solution to this plight we thank you
Lord, accept our reprimand for things we do not understand
We take the bitter with the sweet to make our feeble lives complete
Thank you God for the system which alleges to declare us free
Thank you for politicians, long on rhetorhic, short on morality
Forgiveness for mistakes made twice, For Hills and Flowers, Harts and Rice
For leaving us to pay the price we praise you
Lord, accept our skewered plea, We only call the way we see
To Thee our bloodied head we bow, we see the larger picture now
Thank you God for the sick and diseases which we cannot cure
Thank you for all the widows and for all those who cannot endure
For prolonged anguish, slow demise, For loved ones taken by surprise
For loss and grief in every guise we thank you
Lord, please give begrudging ear, our plea is sordid but sincere
To your beleaguered servants here, instruct us how to persevere
Thank you God for the dollars spent on scholars who won't even think
Thank you God for asylums and the mindless, and those on the brink
For thoughts confined by culture's fence, For truths devoid of common sense
For genius jailed by ignorance we praise you
Lord, forgive this rambling, at times the mind's a terrible thing
Promoting fights we can't depend, and plays we cannot comprehend
Thank you God for the stages and the rages that direct our whim
Thank you for the offenders and pretenders who make turnstiles spin
For moody, heartless autocrats, for show biz's jungle habitat
For genius starved in a squalid flat we praise you
Lord, we wish we understood why what sells is not what's good
And why a culture with such flair is just as backward as this prayer
Thank you God for listening to the musings of a jaded few
Thank you for all the answers you couldn't give us if you wanted to
For deities we can't defame, For Satan who won't take the blame
Forgive us God for taking aim, but here's at you
Lord, invoked for all that's great, where evil truly dominates
Save this world you put us on, save what's left before it's gone
Unanswered Prayers Written by Pat Alger, Larry Bastian, and Garth Brooks (ASCAP)I played both of these songs for the teens on an outreach program I participated in and use them as a trigger for an in-depth discussion on what tefilah is.
Just the other night at a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be
She was the one that I'd wanted for all times
And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine
And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then
I'd never ask for anything again
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
In her eyes too it seemed
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn't much we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what he's doin' after all
And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
And then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he may not answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
Some of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered...
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
Points to ponder:
Which song better reflects a traditional approach to tefilah?
What is each songwriter's view of prayer?
Which songwriters view do you agree with? Any? Both?
Can you cite any sources to support either view?
Can you cite any sources to disprove either view?
Can you infer anything about the songwriter's faith from either song?
