The Chicken Church and the Priority of Prayer

In the midst of all Jesus said and did during His earthly ministry, we recognize that He was a man of
prayer. In Mark 2, we read:
34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.
35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

It's easy to identify the great miracles that Jesus did and the incredible truths that He preached - but we also see that in the midst of that activity was a powerful activity in which we can all participate - He was a man of prayer.  He went into a solitary place and He communicated with God His Father. Since Jesus is our example and we are called to follow in His footsteps, He can inspire us to make prayer a priority, and we can be confident that He will meet us there.

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In Matthew chapter 21, we read about one of the significant events during Holy Week, as Jesus "cleansed" the Temple:
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

Yesterday, I featured a conversation with someone with whom I graduated from high school - I have found myself using that phrase every now and then on my radio show, and I am proud to be associated with people from my hometown whom God is using in a variety of ways.

My hometown has a distinction - when you visit Marietta, Georgia, there is a landmark that is known far and wide.  I remember when it opened back in the 60's - it's even survived an attempt to shut it down.  Currently, the "Big Chicken," a large, metallic structure that has eyes and a beak on top, welcomes locals and visitors at a major intersection on Cobb Parkway, which was called the "Four-Lane Highway" when I was growing up.

An astute Facebook friend of mine posted a story recently about another Big Chicken, located halfway around the world.  It's portrayed on the Colossal website, which is devoted to, "Art, Design, and Visual Culture."  Seems there is a large chicken-like structure in Indonesia that the website says, "has the body, tail, and head of the bird, even holding open its beak in what appears to be mid-squawk." The builder claims it was divinely inspired:

The building was originally built as a prayer house by 67-year-old Daniel Alamsjah after he received a divine message from God. Although he intended the building to resemble a dove, the locals care more that it looks like a chicken, nicknaming it “Chicken Church.” In addition to a prayer house, Alamsjah also used the building as a rehabilitation center, treating disabled children, drug addicts, and others. Alamsjah was forced to shut the center’s doors fifteen years ago after steep construction costs.

The Jakarta Globe quotes Alamsjah as saying, “Perhaps because of my Christian faith, people thought I was building a church. But it’s not a church. I was building a prayer house, not a church, but a place for people who believe in God.”

He says a diverse set of people visited his prayer house: “Seven nationalities were represented like countries including Japan and there were many people there, not just Christians. Muslims were praying there too.”

The newspaper says that one of the local rumors surrounding Alamsjah’s prayer house is that the space was used for rehabilitation, because the building’s dark basement is made up of about 12 small unfinished rooms that could be cells. Alamsjah confirms that the building was used for rehabilitation, but those small rooms were designated as “private prayer rooms."

The locals call the structure, gereja ayam, or "chicken church."  Pictures show that the structure has fallen into a state of disrepair.

Alamsjah refers to his bird structure as a "prayer house," and he has found that people from a variety of different religions have come there to pray.  There are several concepts that come to mind here.

One is the nature of prayer.  People from a variety of faith perspectives practice prayer.  For many, unfortunately, while prayer may be a source of comfort or inner strength, they are not connecting to the God of the Universe, the One True God.  There are many approaches to what or who is referred to as "God," but Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life.  As Christians, we can be convinced of the authority of Scripture and the reliability of our approach to God.

During an encounter in the Temple, in which he disrupted the practices of those profiting from the work of God, Jesus referred to his "house" as a "house of prayer."  Think about that - if something is dedicated to God or bears His name, then we should make sure that we are practicing His principles in it or through it.  And, just because something has a "God-stamp" on it doesn't mean that it's Biblical or lines up with Scripture.  If we call on the name of God, then we must make sure that we are following His ways.

Finally, we can be challenged to make sure that we designate places where we are as places of prayer. We can pray anywhere, anytime, and that's a great thing.  But, we should never take a cavalier approach to calling on God - I believe that we are to approach God with reverence and awe, acknowledging His presence, knowing He is with us, and seeking to communicate with Him with our entire heart and mind.   He is inviting us - calling us to enter in.