With the western banking system jittering on the edge of implosion there’s enough uncertainty to drive many people to prayer. For many New Zealanders prayer is all they have left as their personal savings evaporate through the ongoing collapse of finance institutions around the country.
Certainly prayer has increased. It’s not uncommon in times of desperation for otherwise prayerless people to seek God. This is not a bad thing. It’s a sign that when we run out of resources personally we turn to the only source we might have left – the divine.
Why do we pray? According to surveys done, the vast majority of people pray at some stage. I think it reveals the underlying belief that here is a God out there, but the great divinity is largely disinterested. I saw a movie a couple of weeks back in which one character was asked by another, “who is God?” He answered, “God is the guy who tells us we should pray and then ignores us.” You have to be desperate to pray.
Prayer is an intriguing thing really. It’s practiced by people from all parts of the world as a spiritual exercise. Yet in the west prayer is not so much a spiritual practice within the rhythms of life, but rather a tool to achieve some end. In this sense the consumer sees prayer as a means not an end in itself.
Perhaps we pray when we are desperate because there’s not much point when we’re not. After all, prayer feels like a hit and miss affair. We like the idea but God rarely seems to be home. What’s the point of praying when God doesn’t answer? Probably because we neither want nor expect an answer - we just want action.
New Zealanders are not the most romantic people on earth. Yet romance is at the heart of prayer and connection with God. It’s like sitting at restaurant with a close friend or lover speaking deeply about things that matter, feelings, events, attitudes, hopes etc. It’s about connection – speaking and hearing. It’s about knowing and being known. And this is what people hope for in prayer. Yet in reality the only conversation at the table of prayer is the one we have with ourselves. It’s not that God isn’t present; it’s just that we treat God as the waiter. We dish out commands and wants, but have no need of a reply. The only response required is the fulfillment of our own wants. This is not prayer. It’s a personal empowerment session or perhaps a pity party. Either way God is merely a powerless spectator.
Pray is a discipline. Always has been. It’s about time, time given to speaking and time given to listening. It’s not that God doesn’t speak; we have to earn the difficult art of silencing our own inner voices to hear. And when we hear we then have to respond.
At the end of such consistent prayers come peace, direction, hope, meaning and connection – in good times and bad.
Digby Wilkinson © 2008