MattGlover.com

Greg shared with us on Sunday night the first part of an unexpected double-header in our series on prayer. The question this time was “Why should we pray?”.

Mel Gibson’s portrayal of an ex-clergyman in the movie “Signs” at one point cried, “I am not wasting another minute of my life by praying.” His wife had been killed and it looked as if the rest of his family were about to die too. When the hard stuff happens and answers seem to be everything other than what we prayed for, why should we pray?

You’ve got to admit, that’s a good question. One I’ve wrestled with and something at the heart of Milton’s questions below.

Greg described prayer as a gift from God, given so that we can stay in touch. It’s not meant to be the role of the pastor or priest, but a responsibility of everyone. But it’s not a gift that makes us feel warm and fuzzy. Basically, we’re at war. Regardless of what you attribute it to, there seems to be a dark force that does it’s best to suck the joy out of life, brining pain, hurt, suffering and oppression to whatever it touches. This evil works against God, doing it’s best to ensure life as God intended it will never be a reality on Earth. Prayer is a weapon that works inwardly to protect us and outwardly to fight in the battle against evil. We’ve said often that mission is joining God in the work God is already doing in the community - if we’re working together and facing oposition together, then surely we need to be engaged in conversation about what we’re doing and how we’re feeling!

A conversation implies that God is speaking too, thus prayer is also an act of listening. And when God speaks in the Bble, nobody is left unchanged - so as we pray we are also changed. To pray is to change.

Regardless of wether you agree with what Greg said or not, one of his points, I think, can’t be ignored by people of faith: Every Christian should pray everyday. What that prayer looks like and what that prayer expresses can be vastly different, but for God to keep speaking to us, changing us and nurturing faith within us, then we need to pray everyday. That’s hard. That’s why it is called a discipline.

This coming Sunday, Greg follows up with “Why pray when God knows everything anyway?”