In the face of apparent disaster, of consuming problems, of darkest depression, it is often heard said: "All we can do now is pray". Even as Christians we are accustomed to hearing this adage - perhaps even using it ourselves. If this truly expresses our understanding of prayer, then we have failed to understand the integral place of prayer in the reality of our daily spiritual lives. For it portrays prayer as a last ditch, probably futile, attempt to hope for something we sense is really not attainable.
The title of a popular modern Christian book comes to mind: "Too busy to pray?" As the author of that book made clear, we cannot afford to be too busy not to pray.
Some years ago at a different church, I recall the leader of the youth group expressing disillusionment and despondency. My response was to sit down and pray with her. Her initial reaction was one of irritation, - she had felt as if she were being fobbed off with a glib answer to the issues she was dealing with. However, she later told me how, upon reflection, she realized that it was the right response.
We cannot build a house without laying a foundation and prayer is the concrete foundation we need on which to build our lives, and our church. Without it, our lives become empty and superficial. All the work we undertake needs to be offered to God for his guidance and direction and blessing.
We cannot afford not to pray because prayer is, quite simply, our communication with God. We would never consider ignoring our closest family members. Just imagine behaving towards our spouses, parents, or children, let alone our friends or those we work with, with an attitude of: "we don't need to talk with you, even less listen to you."
We do not - we cannot, move through our lives cocooned in our own little worlds. We need others with whom to interact, to shape and influence us as we grow, and we need our relationship with God to be nurtured so that we become truly alive, and we need to invest time and energy in this relationship above all others. Richard and I aim to meet to pray together each week as we develop our working relationship, serving and leading the church.
The wonderful familiarity and intimacy our God meets us with in His Son means that we can pray, both talk to and listen to God as we go out about our daily business, as we put the rubbish out, as we drive along the car, as Lily and I often do. There is an image of living our entire lives as a prayer, which I find particularly helpful - both beautiful and powerful. Do you think of your life as a prayer? We are, of course, also temples of the Holy Spirit, temples of prayer which God fights for passionately. Just think of that wonderful image of Jesus cleansing the temple, jealously guarding what should be reserved for his Father.
About once a year I take myself off for a retreat of solitude with God at a monastery or convent, and this practice is to be strongly encouraged for us all. We take our cars for a check up once a year, to make sure everything is working well, an "MOT" we call it in English. God - and our relationship with him, deserves much more attention than our cars do.
It is not just some heavy demand to set time aside to be with Him, but life giving. We should learn to look forward to defined periods of time, either alone or together, when we focus on being in God's presence. Imagine these times to be like drinking a long, cool drink, or diving into a blue swimming pool after crawling through a desert and withering in the heat. God longs to refresh and renew us, He longs to spend time with us, and we can look forward to being with him, in His presence, in eager anticipation.
It was very much in this vein of thought that I organized the women's retreat a few weeks ago. It is lovely to read Maxine's account elsewhere in the magazine, and I plan to organize another for the autumn, especially for those who couldn't make it last time.
We remember too, that Jesus prayed in solitude before dawn (Mark 1:35), and that he also marked the turning points of his ministry in prayer with periods of prayer. (Luke 5:16,6:12,9:18)
Before he went to the cross, he agonized in prayer, submitting to his Father's will (Matthew. 26: 36-44). On Good Friday as the Youth Group meet at my house, this is the form of prayer that we will be considering: "In Gethsemane with Jesus".
We also understand as the heavenly high priest, that the risen Christ makes intercession for the saints (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:24-25), 1 John 2:1).
We do not know the plan by which God wills everything to work together for good, we do not know, therefore, how to pray according to that plan. However, we do know that God promises to hear and answer our prayers as we pray according to his will which means to make His word the guide for our prayers, to seek that his revealed will should be done on earth as in heaven. Prayer seeks God's will in faith, believing in his power to answer in his created universe (Matthew 21:21).
Faith does not use prayer as some technique to alter consciousness, but as an address to the living God. On the other hand, prayer is not made pointless by the sovereign power of God. Our prayers, no less than their answers, are part of his design. It is God's will and promise: prayer changes things in his world.
There are so many different ways of praying, we hope soon to begin monthly prayer meetings at which I would like to invite many of you to take part by leading them from time to time. Our weekly intercessions are of course also a very important part of our prayer life, to pray for God's world, the church within it, and our own local and individual needs. Next month we will be having a prayer diary - please pick up your copies in church, and pray that we will indeed understand ourselves as a people of prayer.
Yours in Christ
Wendy