“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
Psalm 46
Requests and Answers. These are the bookends that hold together our most common conception of the substance of what we call prayer. We follow Jesus’ advice to ask the Father for what we want, and we wait to find out what God will answer. At the beginning of the meeting, we ask for God’s presence and guidance. When we dismiss the meeting, we ask for safe travel home and a good night’s rest. For the sick we ask for healing. Amid confusion, we ask for wisdom. In fear, we ask for courage. In the face of war, we ask God to engineer peace. When our loved one is struggling, we ask God to intervene and mitigate the trouble. When we anticipate a potential peril before us, we ask for safety. Sometimes we receive what we have asked for. Sometimes we just hear crickets in the silence that follows our request.
Some say, “prayer changes things”, but others say, “what’s the use.” Some believe that amassing an army of people praying for a certain outcome increases our odds of achieving it. While others contend that the only prayer worth praying is “Thy will be done.” And as Wendell Berry’s character Jayber Crow observes: “Come to think of it, there isn’t really much need to pray that one either.”
The thing about the prayer that falls between the bookends of Request and Answer that gives me pause is that it can become more of a transaction than an encounter. Most certainly it is an aspect of prayer, but it is not all that prayer is. Prayer is much more than a transaction. It is born of relationship with God. It is an outworking of that relationship. It is what happens when we become aware of God’s presence. And when we see it in this light, we begin to understand what St. Paul meant when he called on followers of Jesus to “pray without ceasing.” We can pray continually because there is no situation we can encounter and no place we can be that God is not also there with us. We can pray “without ceasing” because : “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
That’s why I have come to love Ruth Burrows’ simple description of prayer in her book The Essence of Prayer. It was one of the books on a reading list for a class I am taking on spiritual direction and prayer. She likens prayer to the act of stepping across a threshold into the presence of God and then choosing to “hold ourselves there.” That threshold is nothing more and nothing less than our choice to pay attention to the presence of God. Once awake to God’s presence the encounter can occur. The relationship can be enjoyed. Indeed, requests can be made, answers will be heard, but the reality of what is occurring at that moment is about so much more than a transaction; it is the manifestation of a relationship. And when we are in the presence of another with whom we are in relationship, we can talk and listen and be silent. We can share ourselves and take up what the other shares with us.
Prayer is not something we do only in holy or private places, nor does it require us to bow our heads or kneel. Prayer happens as we recognize and respond to the presence of God in the everyday activities, relationships, and endeavors of life. As we learn to discern, step into, and remain in the light of God’s presence wherever we are, we learn to pray.
Indeed, prayer changes things, but most importantly, prayer changes us. For as we come to know God, we also come to know ourselves. This is a truth acknowledged by such diverse personalities as Ignatius Loyola and John Calvin. These men were contemporaries. In many ways they were brothers in thought, even though they were on different sides of a growing chasm in the Church. Nevertheless, both were rooted and grounded in the steadfast love of God. For both, prayer was primarily about relationship with God. Bringing ourselves to those places where we acknowledge God’s presence and holding ourselves there; saying what we know and listening to what God has to say.
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
Ephesians 1:15-19
David Rohrer
06/12/2021