PRAYERS

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

Have I a funny attitude to prayer or is it everyone else? I believe God knows my needs and everyone else’s. Why then do we spend at least our public prayer times sending God long to-do lists? I notice there are many who fight shy of church work parties but are more than happy to spend hours praying that either other people will do what is required or that God will directly intervene. I want to hear God speak to me. I want to know what he wants me to do. I feel I need to listen not talk.

I was also thinking about those rather pointless ‘conversations’ where someone spends ages telling you their troubles and then looks at the clock and tells you that they have to go. Their questions remain unanswered through their impatience and perhaps lack of faith. Are our conversations with God like that?

If prayer is unanswered it is because of those who do not listen to what God is asking them to do. As Mother Therese said ‘He has no hands but our hands to do his work today’. God does not impose his will on us. We have to accept His friendship and, being his friend, do what he asks of us. Whilst men are separated from God, prayer will be unanswered. How do you explain why the innocent suffer? Isn’t it because we are basically selfish and tolerate a selfish society. Our god is money and our love is for ourselves. The true God, if he is accepted at all, is a back seat driver who we do not wish to hear too much of. We must stop talking and start listening because only He knows the way.

Laborare est orare, to work is to pray, this is a motto too far, but work and prayer should go together. If you are not prepared to have your life changed or work for Him there is little point in praying accept to say you are sorry for being that way. If there is a problem, do have a prayer meeting but only if you are also prepared to seek God’s will for you and are prepared to carry it out. You should have the prayer meeting to find out what to do not because you are not prepared to do anything.

Jesus seems to make little reference to public prayer. His concern seems to be for private prayer. What indeed is public prayer? Is it perhaps a meditation eliciting a private prayerful response? Sometimes it seems to be an extension of the sermon. If the preacher says in his prayer ‘we remember …’, do we and should he use these words? Surely he can only remind us of the issue and invite us to pray about it individually from the privacy of our hearts.

Malcolm