Issue 41

Prayer

In many of us there is a strong desire to connect with our creator or something we discern as bigger than us. This may be inherent and natural for some as for Anna in the book “Mister God this is Anna”. For Anna, God just “is” and she and God are in continual communication and this is beneficial to Anna – it gives her direction. Prayer for her is unstructured and unbounded. For others prayer has been taught and modelled and often comes with guidelines as to how and what constitutes prayer.

 

However we have learnt to pray most of us would regard it as being or having been a cornerstone of developing our faith and central to our practise. What then when it seems to lose its efficacy and meaning, when it becomes empty and seemingly pointless and we are cynical of its value? And for some of us who dare to stop praying we realise that the sky doesn't fall in as we might have feared. The world doesn't stop and bad things don't happen.

 

And yet, down the track we realise something is missing …

How do we re-frame prayer or revitalise it to have integrity with the beliefs we have and to give it meaning in a way that brings life and the connection we yearn for?

 

This issue looks at prayer in a number of ways. We include the prayers and quotes of people grappling with these questions and excerpts from the chapter on prayer in Alan Jamieson's book Called Again.