- Why don’t we pray?
- The Depths of Our Desires
- Why don’t we pray? – Part 3
- Why don’t we pray? – Part 4
- Why don’t we pray? – Part 5
There are deep movements of our hearts, that in the normal course of events, we are often unaware of. They surface during times of change or transition. They surface when things that we have relied on for a sense of meaning, are no longer there. We might choose to remove ourselves from them for a season (eg. a sabbatical, regular retreats); they might be removed due to a normal transition in life (eg. leaving home, getting married, having kids, kids leaving home, retiring) or they might be removed due to unforeseen circumstances of our lives (eg. bereavement, losing our job, divorce).
Let me tell you a story I told last Sunday at church. My sabbatical was in two parts. The first a course and holiday. The second part was 11 weeks, based at home, but with no emails, tasks, things to organise, sermons to preach, people to see, things to plan etc. The focus was prayer, scripture reflection, study, reading and personal reflection.
The first few days of this eleven week period I sorted out my out-of-control inbox, cleared and sorted piles of paperwork, and drafted a daily and weekly plan of prayer, reading and study for these 11 weeks. By the end of the third day, the one thing I hadn’t done, was the very thing I was there to do: pray. Nor open my Bible.
One of the things I learnt from this, is that time is rarely the reason why I don’t pray. Desire is.
But I learnt something deeper from this story. It revealed something about my heart. I learnt about some of the searching questions I have about God and myself, which rarely punctuate my consciousness, but when other things are stripped away they were glaringly obviously to me.
This Sunday at Community Church, I will talk about uncovering some of the deep questions, and how bringing them to the surface can reveal why we don’t pray.
Tags: prayer
Here`s a story that Jean brand told us on Counselling Course last year about ` why we don`t pray`. It is a story that simultaneously offended me and resonated with me.
Let me set the scene, Jane Austen`s England, a country village in the shimmering sun. Sophie is walking along listening to songbirds when gallantly strolling towards her is Mr. Darcy. As he approaches he smiles , tips his hat and wishes Sophie good day.
The next day in great anticipation Sophie strolls the same route and this time is delighted to be engaged in conversation by Mr. Darcy. He asks if she will meet him the next day, under the willow tree at the village Green at 2pm. Sophie gladly accepts. 
The next morning Sophie eagerly prepares herself with pritties dress and new bonnet. Asthe special time approaches she skips along to agreed willow tree and waits and waits and waits. Mr Darcy for some unforeseen circumstance doesnt appear and a liitle crushed Sophie returns home.
The following day Sophie is in town and happens to bump into Mr D who apologises for his absence but rearranges to meet the next day.
Once again Sophie prepares a little less excitedly but arrives in good time and waits and yes Mr D fails to materialise.
A week or so later when Sophie sees Mr D and he again offers to meet her she agrees but decides not to turn up.
Do you know, I still havent `got it ` but it does offend and resonate with my experiences of prayer times ! Help anyone ?