[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during May 2020]
A recent item on the BBC caught my attention – it was a report of how a Lutheran church in Germany had opened its doors to the local Moslem community who were too numerous to be accommodated in their mosque during the social distancing regulations. A photograph showed the Islamic prayer mats laid out under the gaze of the Christian scenes depicted in the stained-glass windows.
The period at the end of Ramadan is particularly important with many devotees wanting to mark it with prayer rituals. The report reminded me of an incident that I saw whilst in Saudi Arabia. At that time (maybe still) all Saudia flights included a prayer as part of the pre-flight safety briefing. A local flight was due to depart at 11:30 but it was delayed. At midday the crew came down onto the apron, turned towards Mecca and commenced praying. Would it happen at Gatwick?
The Moslem attention to prayer is in stark contrast to what we find in many Christian communities. As part of his mid-week musings, Martin has been taking his dogs on a prayer-walk. The dogs themselves do not appear to do much praying and Martin has raised questions as to why we, as God’s people, do not seem to do much better.
- Does prayer actually achieve anything?
- Is it any more than a psychological placebo?
- Is there any difference in outcome between someone who prays and someone who doesn’t?
- And even if God does hear our prayers, does he really answer them?
Is this heresy on the part of a Baptist minister? Or is he voicing something that most of us would have to admit to asking ourselves? Do our prayers focus on what we want (we call them ‘needs’) with maybe a bit of thanks for past blessings thrown in? The Devil is quite happy for us to pray like that, just so long as we don’t take it seriously.
Martin suggests that we should revisit the example that Jesus used when teaching his disciples to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Let us use this simple yet profound recognition of who God is and the honour that is His by right as the basis to revitalise our prayer life. Then we can add a request – “Lord, teach us to pray!”
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
