Why Pray?

Yesterday, the theme for the sermon was prayer. “Is anyone in trouble,” wrote James, “he should pray.” It’s a good start.

In fact, statistics tell us that up to 40% of us pray. Of those 16% pray daily and 25% weekly. Apparently there is a lot of praying taking place! At Charis, the best attended and most spontaneous time of prayer we held was on the 9th September 2001 – I remember the time well, since we invited people to come and pray on the day of the terrorism attack on the Twin Towers in New York. With just a few hours notice, lots of people came out to pray. People pray when there is trouble ahead.

The subject of prayer provokes many and varied responses; from those who think prayer means everything to those who consider it to mean nothing and a whole gambit in between. But one thing seems to be common to the theme of prayer, people pray when they are in trouble. Of course, God desires that trouble is not the only reason for our prayers, since praying is more than simply shouting for help; its about communicating and connecting with God.

As such prayer should not be seen as an art form but a passion. Our prayers should not be a measured by their eloquence, but their sincerity. As Jesus said, “…when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”  Prayer is not about length or structure, it’s about building a relationship with God.  Over the years, I have explored many different forms and types of prayer and discovered that all have their place. The important thing is not the type but the opportunity that prayer affords to each of us.

I’ve also discovered that prayer is not always answered – and certainly not in the way I would expect. And for some, this can become a reason not to pray. Why bother if nothing happens? Well, people do give testimony to answered prayer and many are the stories I have both given and heard in this respect. But it is true, that not all prayers are seemingly answered and we need to be honest about it. The bigger question is; if my prayer is not answered does that make it invalid?  Does it make the sincerity of my prayer either futile or foolish? Or is something else happening in that situation?

On discussing the life of Mother Teresa, Gerard Baker, columnist for The Times, quoted from her autobiography, Come Be My Light, where she repeatedly expressed the most excruciating of doubts about the existence of God and the faith to which she had dedicated her life.  I have not seen the book myself, but imagine it to be a painful read.

He writes, “that someone as self evidently devout as Mother Teresa could have been tormented for so long by such doubts should not be read as confirmation that the atheists have got it right.  The lesson of Mother Teresa’s long, dark night of the soul is precisely the opposite, in fact.  That faith, by its very nature, entails doubt.  If we could be really, truly certain, about the existence of God, what, really, would be the point of it all?”

I read in Isaiah just recently, “Truly you are a God who hides himself, Oh God and Saviour of Israel.” A God who is hidden, eh! But, if he is hidden, then he can be found, and that is what prayer is all about.  It gives room for doubt, fear, and dare I say, even unbelief, but at the same time, provides a refuge that is unsurpassed to those who are in the midst of trouble. As Alan Lewis wrote, “To pray is to confess not the abundance but the exhaustion of one’s verbal, intellectual, and spiritual resources. It is surrender…” and that is not such a bad place to be.