Verses from Psalm 104
The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.
He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go out to their work,
to their labour until evening.
Philippians 4 :4 - 7
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
In 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' by Mark Twain, Huck, who is a country boy of about thirteen or fourteen, considers the efficacy of prayer, he says to himself,
“Miss Watson...told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn’t so. I tried it. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn’t any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn’t make it work....I set down one time back in the woods, and had a long think about it. I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don’t Deacon Winn get back the money he lost on pork? Why can’t the widow get back her silver snuffbox that was stole? Why can’t Miss Watson fat up? No, says I to myself, there ain’t nothing in it.”
Well, we are here to pray for the land around us, that it produces a good crop, that's what 'Rogation' means, from the Latin verb 'rogare' – to ask, but are we wasting our time? Should we instead, like Huck Finn, kick of our shoes, run into the fields, and build a raft to sail on the river? Would our time be better spent playing, rather than praying?
Perhaps we should experiment to test the efficacy of prayer; have a set of fields we pray for, and a set we don't pray for, and see which fares best. Although, between two fields there could be other things to account for any differences in outcome, for instance, drainage, or soil quality, or past use, so to be absolutely sure, you would have to compare the same field prayed for, with the same field not prayed for.
That's the trouble with judging the efficacy of prayer, you need to compare the same situation without prayer to see if there's any difference.
What's more, if we believe God is all powerful, surely He doesn't need our help? What do our prayers add to the Almighty's ability to get things done?
And if we believe God is all-wise, surely He doesn't need our advice? What can our prayers add to the Almighty's knowledge of what needs to be done?
In fact, surely an all-wise, all-mighty, being would be mistaken in taking seriously our misguided chirpings. So let's kick of our shoes, run into the fields, and build a raft to sail on the river, because as Huck says of prayer, “there ain’t nothing in it.”
If only we could be so care free. Although to be truthful, I find prayer does help me not to worry. Telling someone our concerns helps, and telling God really helps, especially if you understand God cares.
Prayer means we can park negative thoughts – once they have been spoken out and heard they lose some of their ability to irrationally frighten us. Also, speaking out the good that we want to see helps to stamp out the negative thoughts, to focus our minds on the good possibilities rather than the problems. So perhaps there is something in this prayer lark after-all. Indeed, Huck Finn later in the novel has another go at prayer, saying, “I was full of trouble, full as I could be; and didn’t know what to do'” so he prays, and says, “...it was astonishing, the way I felt as light as a feather right straight off, and my troubles all gone.”
As it said in our second reading, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
I find prayer also helps me to think things through, to find out what I really want, and what the solutions might be. Prayer is inspirational, prayer inspires, prayer allows the light in to our darkened minds.
Prayer places our concerns in a bigger perspective – an eternal perspective. Prayer is like walking up a hill and taking in the view, or standing before the ocean and breathing in the sea-air, or gaining the grand historical perspective an ancient building gives on our contemporary lives.
I think sometimes people think prayer is like a slot machine, pay in the right amount of faith, in the correct coin of ritual, and God will dispense what you require, but God is not a divine slot machine. God is a community of three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who invites us all to become a part of that loving community. Prayer is about our relationship with God, and God is not an errand boy, God is love. So prayer should contain thanks giving to lift the heart, not just requests to calm our fears, or a list of things we simply want. Prayer like that changes the person praying, and that begins to change the world around them.
I also find that when I pray, coincidences happen. I don't know if they'd have happened without me praying, but I've seen some intractable circumstances change for the better, and witnessed prayer fuel some unlikely outcomes. However, prayer is not getting God to do what we want, prayer is working with God.
God created us to work with Him; in Genesis God told Adam and Eve they were to tend the garden He had created, that's the system, we are co-workers with God.
It's like this...
Imagine a farm yard around the end of the eighteen hundreds, with a stone built firm set farm house, flagged yard, and outbuildings. It is autumn so the trees beyond the yard are losing their browning leaves.
The farmer asks his young son, who is busy watching a beetle, to help him load up the cart with baskets of apples. It takes a couple of asks before the boy replies that he is busy watching a beetle. The father gives a third request, only this time sterner, and asking for an explanation of why watching a beetle is more important than helping around the farm?
The young lad knows he is pushing his luck, but doesn’t see why he should help, his father can easily load up the cart, he is built like a bull, and has experienced hands; there is nothing the small frame of the boy can add, either in leverage or technique, and he knows it and says so.
The father is disappointed, he doesn’t want help so much as company, he could compel the boy to help, but that wouldn’t be the same. After some careful consideration, the farmer reminds his son of some of the things he has to be grateful for, of the clothes he is wearing, the bread he ate for breakfast, the safe dry place he has to sleep, the freedom of the farm; would not putting his shoulders into loading the cart be a way of saying thanks?
Then turning and leaning down to take hold of one of the baskets the farmer smiles as his son appears by him ready to lift the other handle.
“Heave, lad”, he says, and they lift the basket onto the back of the cart, then the next, and the next till the job is done.
As his father straps the cart to the horse, tightening the girths and tugs, the son watches, and helps when asked. They smile in their labour together.
“One day I want you to be a man not a boy”, says the farmer, “I want you to grow strong and clever, I want you to become like me, to help me about the place, it wouldn’t be the same without you. At the end of the working day I want you to feel the roughness of your hands, see the dirt engrained there, and for you to know you’ve made a difference, that you’ve done a good job, and that I’m your mate not just your father. Do you understand?”
Prayer is working with God.
Prayer does change things, but most of all it changes us.
Far from there being nothing in prayer there is the potential for a loving relationship with our Father God.
Amen.
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