Review: Praying for Strangers by River Jordan

Title: Praying for Strangers: An Adventure of the Human Spirit
Author: River Jordan
Released: April 5, 2011
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages/format: 336 (Hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
Source: From the publisher.

Quick Synopsis: As 2009 approached and River Jordan’s two sons were about to go off to war, she made a New Year’s resolution that changed her life–to pray for one stranger every single day of the year.

From the book jacket:

As 2009 approached, New Year’s resolutions were the last thing on River Jordan’s mind. Her sons were both about to go off to war–one to Iraq and the other to Afghanistan–and she was planning a family reunion to see them off. All River could do was pray for her son’ safety and hope to maintain her strength, until she unexpectedly came upon the perfect New Year’s resolution–one that focused on others instead of herself. She would pray for a complete stranger every single day of the year.

In Praying for Strangers, River Jordan tells of her personal journey of uncovering the needs of the human heart as she prayed her way through the year for people she had never met before. The discovery that River made along the journey was not simply that her prayers touched the lives of these strangers (in often astounding ways), but that the unexpected connections he made with other people would be a profound experience that would change her life forever.

Quick Review: While there are a handful of theologically questionable ideas communicated in this book, overall it’s an inspiring read that I hope will encourage people to step outside of their comfort zones and show a little out-of-the-ordinary kindness to strangers.

In-Depth Review:

Praying for Strangers is a small, thick book divided into dozens of short unnumbered chapters. Each chapter is titled and this heading is followed by a quote about prayer. The chapters are very short–usually three to five pages long–and each describes one of Jordan’s encounters with her “stranger of the day.” The way this book is organized makes it ideal for use as a bedside read-one-chapter-before-turning-out-the-light book.

I decided to read Praying for Strangers after being thoroughly disappointed with The Miracle of Mercy Land–Jordan’s latest novel. Most of my issues with Mercy Land had to do with things that were specific to fiction, so I grabbed the opportunity to read Jordan’s first nonfiction book, hoping I would have a better experience with it than I did with her fiction. Also, I love memoirs and the topic of this one caught my attention as being something I would probably enjoy.

Jordan writes in a very southern, down-to-earth style, which I thought added flavor to her stories. I also liked the quotes that were inserted at the beginning of each chapter. They were a nice added touch.

Theologically it’s hard to tell if this book is on solid ground. Jordan states that she does not believe in praying for people to convert to Christianity (nor is she big on evangelism), which is a shame because if we really believe that only those who accept Christ will enjoy eternal life, then praying for people to accept Him is the highest form of love we can offer to mankind. This leads me to my second observation that there are a couple of universalistic ideas interjected between stories, like this one from page 212:

Perhaps someday in a perfect world we will not judge each other by our differences but manage to celebrate them instead. Maybe that perfect world will include a few inherent rules such as respect for differences of creed and color, race and religion, politics and neighborhoods, cat people and dog people. Maybe we can recognize these things without allowing them to determine who we are or who we’re not allowed to be.

This warm and fuzzy sentiment sounds nice, but the bit about a perfect world (which I take to be Heaven or The New Earth) being a place where differences of religion will not divide or define us is completely unbiblical. Another example of Jordan’s relativistic philosophy is when she says, “My truth, my faith, has evolved and matured in a variety of ways.” (emphasis mine) This statement indicates that she believes truth is an individual thing, not a universal thing, which again does not line up with what the Bible has to say about the nature of truth. (See John 14:6.)

I would like to make clear that Praying for Strangers is not a theological book or even a Christian living book, and it’s not meant to be read as such. The few instances when Jordan displays questionable theology did not make me dislike this book or prevent me from being inspired by it. I simply point out these theologically questionable statements so that readers will be aware of them.

A few times throughout the book Jordan mentions that when she resolved to pray for a stranger every day, she had no intention of turning the outcome of that resolution into a book. It was her husband who, upon listening to her tell stories all the time about the people she prayed for, said, “Are you writing these down? You have to be writing these down.” Good husband. The stories about the people Jordan met aren’t overtly miraculous or exciting, but taken cumulatively they illustrate plainly that Divine appointments really do happen. Take for example the woman Jordan saw at the bus station. A very private person by nature, Jordan decided to go out on a limb and let the woman know she would be praying for her that day . . .

I approach her slowly, not wanting to frighten her. I am well aware that just walking up to people in public and saying, ‘Excuse me–today you’re my stranger,” could seem a little peculiar. The fact that I could be pegged as crazy isn’t lost on me. I clear my throat and speak to the woman in a low voice so the girl at the counter can’t hear us. I tell her about my resolution, explaining that today she is my stranger, that I’ll be thinking about her and saying special prayers for her all day. Then the oddest thing happens. She looks at me with what must be called wonder. She grabs me and hugs my neck. ‘Do you know what I was just saying to God this morning? Do you? I was just praying this morning and praying for other people, but I stopped and asked the Lord, “God is there anybody in this whole wide world who is praying for me?”‘ {pages 20-21}

That’s basically what this book is, a collection of inspirational true stories like the one above of how Jordan’s resolution impacted the strangers she prayed for and how praying for strangers impacted her own spirit. Like the subtitle says, it’s a story about an adventure of the human spirit–reaching out to others and to God on their behalf.

I hope that this book will inspire others to step out of their shells a little bit, spread some prayer around, and see that God uses ordinary people every day.

About River Jordan:

River Jordan is a critically acclaimed novelist and playwright. She speaks around the country on “The Passion of Story” and produces and hosts the radio program ClearStory. When not traveling the back roads of America, River lives with her husband and their Great Pyrenees lap dog in Nashville, Tennessee.