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TOP JOBS

If there is a God, he showed up in a big way at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. The 17th annual event was a homegrown treat to the National Day of Prayer, now in its 57th year.

And what an event Tyler’s was on May 1. I’ve covered the Mayor’s Breakfast for five years and may I say this one topped the others. What made it so appealing was what one pastor called “the authenticity” and another the “genuineness” of the event.

And so it was.

Why? First, the hundreds of people present appeared to want to be there. I suppose the 6:30 a.m. start time weeds out a lot of folks from the get-go. Second, there were no “big names” at the event to make people come out, something that defies conventional wisdom when it comes to putting together a “crowd-pleaser.”

Only God and the people were present, and from those I spoke with after the hourlong prayer and singing meeting, that was enough.

Third, it became apparent there would be no attempt to cover for the missing big-name on the part of podium speakers by trying to manufacture something that resembled a big-ticket event. It was “just us.” And Tyler sang, praised and prayed their hearts out.

Let me say here that I am not an early morning riser. After nearly 40 years of working well past midnight into the mornings, I’ve learned to loathe the light of sunrise after working all night. Sounds bother me at 6 a.m. I turn a fan on in my room so I don’t have to listen to the birds chirp in the morning.

So it’s easy to imagine the state I’m in after driving 40 minutes to make a 6:30 a.m. prayer breakfast. Let’s just say it takes a lot to impress me at that hour.

I was impressed.

My first clue that this would not be your stock-in-trade prayer meeting was when Tyler Mayor Joey Seeber made the welcome and then said, “Would you join me in a prayer?” Then he added as an aside, “I’m not supposed to pray now, but I am. It’s my prayer breakfast, I can do what I want.”

Laughter from the audience and then prayer.

In just a short time it became apparent that the people came to talk to God themselves, not simply sit back and soak it in. It became apparent that our own podium speakers, our local folk, were articulate, thoughtful, sensitive and unpretentious. More, they sounded like they believed God could, would, will and probably did do something as a result of the Day of Prayer.

That was it. God was more than an idea to them. It was as if God were actually real. You could hear that as the combined choir sang so well. It was riveting. Not bad for a guy who can’t take the sound of birds in the morning.

After it was over, it was also apparent not just to me, but everyone I interviewed, that this had become that big-ticket event even though it had not sought to become one. People who had been to many of Tyler’s prayer breakfasts said it was the best one.

Perhaps there is a lesson here. Not seeking greatness can lead to genuiness. Simply being ourselves before God is that genuine experience so many are looking for, not to be entertained. Maybe participation is more important than passive absorbtion.

Maybe by just asking God to show up and please turn our events people will later call “powerful” really works. Maybe that’s what we’re really trying to get people to realize when it comes to religion.