The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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from the Parish NewsNovember 2005Are you listening, God?In other words, does God hear and answer our prayers? I do believe he does, but if you’re anything like me you want the answer
One of the reasons we sometimes think our prayers haven’t been answered is that they are often answered in a way we didn’t expect. Sometimes are prayers are a bit like a shopping list or a set of instructions: Dear God, please do the following, make so and so better, get me a job, solve my problems, and of course forgive me my sins. We don’t usually say, ‘And be quick about it,’ but that’s what we really want and expect. We make the mistake of thinking that we know how our prayers should be answered, and unless they are answered in that way, we are inclined to think that God hasn’t been listening. If we’ve been expecting a particular and specific answer to our prayer we may not recognise the unexpected answer. The Bible is full of stories of God doing the unexpected, choosing the unexpected person, giving the unexpected answer. The children of Israel prayed for a Messiah, and they knew exactly what they wanted: they wanted a warrior, a mighty king, like David who would drive their enemies out of their land. But what did they get? A man who said ‘turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemies.’ That wasn’t the answer they expected. During the past year we have been meeting on a Friday evening to pray for this parish, and more specifically for the process of advertising, shortlisting, interviewing and appointing a Priest in Charge for Holy Rood and the community we serve. Later today, as I write this, we will be meeting with Bishop Tim and the Archdeacon to shortlist for interview at the end of November. And the most perfect prayer we can offer at this time is also the most difficult- it is the prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had prayed a very specific prayer, ‘Father, let this cup pass’, and then he added, ‘Yet not my will, but thy will be done.’ A phrase familiar to all of us in the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray we must be prepared for the unexpected answer. We must trust that God will do what is best for us in the light of eternity and not just the present moment. So when we pray, let us be specific and particular, but also trust that as God knows our needs better than we do ourselves, he will answer our prayers according to his wisdom and in the light of eternity. You may find the following short prayer helpful. Judy
Almighty God, your wisdom is not our wisdom, you do not judge as we do, our vision is limited and superficial, but you see into our hearts and into the heart of our concerns, Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer, yet not our will, but your will be done. |
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