A Good Question

“Dad, why does everybody shut their eyes when they pray?” my daughter once asked. It’s a good question, and one that never occurred to me in my own childhood. I know now why I still do it instinctively: it’s because it was drummed into me both by precept and example.

To be fair, I can’t remember my parents instructing their children to do it, though both practiced it. Mind you, they also religiously practiced an afternoon nap, and that didn’t come out of either Old or New Testament. With four children relatively close together in age, I’m pretty sure it came out of sheer exhaustion. I have never felt obliged to mimic that habit.

Talking to God

I definitely remember being told from the pulpit, or more frequently by Sunday School superintendents, to “Bow our heads, close our eyes, and remember we are talking to God.” With a roomful of small kids, closed eyes seemed to be an article of faith. That, or it was to allow “Unca Keef” to switch hand puppets without getting caught.

I suspect Christian parents teach their children to close their eyes to keep them from getting distracted and help them to focus on the task at hand. The bowed head is probably considered more worshipful, and indeed a literal understanding of worship involves assuming a position associated with humility. As I look around the internet on the subject, that seems to be the consensus. Nobody really knows how the practice evolved, though some point it back to early Church history without any particular reference.

Today, I often sneak a glance over my shoulder during prayer meeting when someone behind me begins to pray. I like to know who is doing the asking. It helps me relate to their petitions and priorities. But it’s furtive. I don’t see others doing it. Everybody’s eyes are closed except mine. My daughter was not wrong.

Does the “close and bow” practice have any genuine biblical basis? Might be worth a look.

Taking a Look

The words “eyes”, “close” and their variants are so staggeringly common in scripture that any attempt to look them all up singly or in combination in an online concordance would be the work of days. My tentative efforts at a comprehensive search left me somewhat irritated. I had read that there are no instructions anywhere in scripture to close your eyes when you pray, but I’d love to be able to confirm that for myself. I’m never comfortable with second-hand assertions about what is and isn’t in the Bible; I’ve been fooled way too many times. Maybe I just trust the wrong people. Anyway, despite numerous searches with various combinations of relevant words, I’ve turned up no instructions about closing one’s eyes to pray.

Well, if we have no prescription on the subject, perhaps we have description. I kept looking, this time for examples of prayers that mention eyes. When Jesus broke the five loaves and two fishes and gave thanks for them, Mark tells us he looked up to heaven as he said the blessing. For the high priestly prayer, John says he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Likewise when he raised Lazarus from the dead. The psalmist, when looking for help from the Lord, lifts up his eyes to the hills. If there is any consistent example in scripture, it seems to be lifting one’s open eyes upward, not closing them.

Not Specifically Christian

In fact, the practice of closing one’s eyes to better concentrate (in prayer or otherwise) is not specifically Christian. Hindus pray with eyes closed and hands together. Jews and Muslims commonly close their eyes in prayers too. Even irreligious people do it when meditating. In fact, if I had to place my bets on the origin of the practice, I might be tempted to put my money on paganism. It would not be the first time something snuck into the church because new converts liked the comfort of familiar religious habits.

There is no spiritual magic to closed eyes, and no reason other than peer pressure and tradition to perpetuate it. No practice can be more reverent and respectful than the prayer practice of Christ. If any man who ever lived truly honored the Father in this world with every fibre of his being, it is his beloved Son.

The good news is that if you ever decide to open a meeting by looking up to heaven and pouring your heart out to the Lord like Jesus did, nobody is likely to be offended. They’ll all be looking at the tops of their shoes like usual.