The premise of this article is to articulate and present a cogent submission on prayer and our need to pray. Furthermore, it will explore what our prayers should be and whether God answers them. The conclusion will endeavour to connect with my previous articles on attending the church and partaking in the Eucharist.
Before we delve into our need to pray, let’s look at an example of immaturity in approaching God in prayer. My home parish in Karachi, Pakistan, used to have parish picnics during the summer. The parish would invite families to register and hire buses, after which members would go to a public beach for a day of fun and fellowship. At one such picnic, a young person was missing. The assumption and the fear were that he had drowned. His father, overcome with emotion and concern, was kneeling, crying, and praying. The father prayed to God, asking if he could see his son one last time—then God could drown him. Thankfully the young man was with another group and was found safe, alive, and well. The father’s prayer is paradoxical, expressing both faith and despair. He made a plea to see his son even at the cost of the son’s life.
If we juxtapose children’s letters to Santa Claus with their wish lists and some of our prayers, we will be astonished at the parallels and similarities. Letters to Santa, printed in newspapers or shared on social media, enlist an improbable and expensive list of toys, clothes, electronics, and surprises from Santa. Likewise, in our prayers, we ask God to fulfil our desires and expectations. Instead of listening to God and asking for directions, we sometimes tell God what to address and when to do so, as if we were giving a wish list.
The above examples are shared to highlight our immaturity in the way we pray to God. We believe God to be all-powerful, all-knowing, and the writer of our lives and fates. Therefore, we should accept every condition and, like an obedient servant, take it as the will of God. But, by praying to God, we are asking God to intervene in our lives and to guide us through encouragement, peace, and by helping us let go of our worries and concerns.
Does God answer prayers? This is the first question we should address, as it will help us understand our prayer life and the content of our prayers. The simple, somewhat naïve answer, to some readers, is that God does answer prayers, even if our lives take a 180-degree turn or the wish is granted in its proper time.
Bishop James Cruickshank, the last bishop of the Diocese of Cariboo, once shared in his sermon that he prayed earnestly to be sent to the parish of St. George’s in Lytton, British Columbia, before his diaconal ordination. Years went by, and Bishop Cruickshank went on to be a professor at a theological college, and later the dean of the Diocese of New Westminster, before becoming the Bishop of Cariboo. On a starlit, moonlight-drenched night, during his drive from Lytton to Kamloops, after a heartrending gathering with Residential School survivors and their families at St. George’s, Lytton, Bishop Cruickshank looked at the dancing Northern Lights. He discerned that God had taken him to Lytton in God’s own time to minister to the broken souls and be an agent of healing and reconciliation. God answered Bishop Cruickshank’s prayers according to God’s plan.
Jesus’ life was a balance between interaction with people and time in the wilderness for meditation and prayer. The Gospel authors have recorded several instances where Jesus left His disciples to pray and spend time in the wilderness. In fact, Jesus began his ministry by spending forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, where he discerned God’s will while being tested by the devil. Towards the end of his ministry, Jesus retired to the garden of Gethsemane to pray and seek direction from God. In the garden, Jesus even asked God to take the cup of suffering and miserable death on the cross from Him. These two instances reveal Jesus’ vulnerability, honesty, and openness to God’s will and decision. Furthermore, Jesus accepted God’s judgment, even though submitting to it led him to the cross. Instead of telling God what to do, Jesus listened to God and followed it with faith and trust in God’s judgment and plan for him.
The above discussion can be summarised as follows:
- Prayer is not Santa’s wish list to God.
- Prayer is not a monologue where we talk to God and leave before we discern God’s will.
- God always answers prayers, even though the answer may be contrary to our wishes.
- In prayer, we submit to God through vulnerability, honesty, and willingness to listen to God speaking to us in the silence and solitude.
- Jesus, through his prayer life, set an example for us to follow.
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. In response, Jesus gave them the Lord’s Prayer. We recite the Lord’s Prayer in our worship services. However, if we examine it, we will realise that the prayer encompasses our petitions and expectations from God. Let’s examine the lines individually to appreciate the magnitude and the beauty of the Lord’s Prayer.
- Our father who art in heaven: It is self-explanatory. It proclaims that God lives in heaven.
- Hallowed be thy name: We are called to hallow God’s name. This petition is rooted in the first and the second commandments (Exodus 20). We are called to worship God and to have no other god in our lives.
- Thy kingdom come: Here we pray for God’s kingdom to be in the world. The precepts of God’s kingdom are peace, justice, equality, and life lived in obedience to God’s commandments. This petition also asks God to transform the world’s political, social, economic, and religious systems. Furthermore, theologians and spiritualists have submitted that Jesus’ ministry ushered in the kingdom of God on earth. The term used is ‘Realised Eschaton’.
- Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: In this petition, we pray for God’s will to reign in the world. It is closely connected to the previous sentence. God’s kingdom will come to the world through God’s will, becoming the primary influence. God established human beings (Adam and Eve) as the stewards of the created order. This implies that human beings, through fair stewardship of creation, are following God’s will.
- Give us this day our daily bread: Asking God to take care of our daily sustenance. Jesus spoke about God showering his children with blessings. Additionally, God provided the Israelites with manna and quails in the wilderness. However, Jesus, in many parables, cautioned against greed and hoarding resources. The prayer moves from the worries and concerns of the world towards our personal needs, highlighting our dependence on God.
- Forgive us our trespasses: We confess our sins to God to receive God’s absolution. Confession is the epitome of humility and brokenness. We present our broken selves to God, asking him to restore us to wholeness by forgiving our sins and wrongdoings. The challenge for us is to accept God’s forgiveness instead of ruing our sinfulness.
- As we forgive those who trespass against us: Jesus, in one of his parables, spoke about an enslaved person who owed an enormous amount of money to his master. The slave approached the master and asked for forgiveness of his debt, given his meagre resources. The master forgave the slave’s debt, but the slave refused to write off the debt of a fellow servant. The master called in the servant and restored his debt because the slave did not show generosity to a fellow servant. Thus, God forgives our sins because we forgive those who have sinned against us.
- And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Again, we place ourselves in God’s mercy by asking for God’s guidance and protection from day-to-day temptations. God shows us the way and gives us a choice to choose between good and evil. The petition implores God to guide us to make the right decisions.
- For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever: We proclaim God’s kingship and power in the world. All authorities, governing structures, Presidents, and kings are under the might of God.
Jesus taught the disciples to pray so they would learn the intentions (petitions) in their prayer life. The Lord’s Prayer covers every aspect of our dependence on God. We pray for God’s intervention in the world through the establishment of God’s kingdom in the world. We pray for the world before we pray for ourselves. Thus, praying for the transformation of the world is our responsibility.
The previous two articles, “Why Do We Go to Church?” and “Why Do We Celebrate the Eucharist?” argue that the world and its citizens cannot be divided into the sacred and the profane, or the saved and the unsaved. Furthermore, it was posited that the church building provides a space for worshippers to engage with one another. The church and the worship service also bring the worshippers face-to-face with the divine (darshan). This audience with the sacred through the liturgy and the sacraments nourishes and replenishes the worshipper, enabling them to see God in everyone and everything. The Lord’s Prayer and/or our prayers fashioned after the Lord’s Prayer bring every aspect of the world, created order, political, social, and economic systems to God for blessing and transformation. Thus, we pray to be spiritually fed and comforted through vulnerability, honesty, and openness to God.
