This Sunday we begin a short sermon series on prayer. In this introductory address I want to look at: God, the one to whom we pray; ourselves, those who are praying; and also some key features of praying.

So, first, God, the one to whom we pray. The questions here are, Who is God? What is God like? The first reading helps us here. Paul, in our first reading says this: ‘For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’ We learn here that God shines in our hearts. God is not distant or unconcerned about us. God is a communicating God, always reaching out to our world and into everyone’s hearts and minds.

The God we believe in is the creator. Those words ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ refer to the opening chapter of Genesis, that majestic account of everything coming into being by God’s creative word. And that includes each one of us. We are because God is. God made us and he shines in our hearts. And God longs to hear from us, he longs for us to reach out.

But who are we who are doing the praying? What’s it like being a human being, a human family, wanting to pray, trying to pray, actually praying? Paul again, from our reading: ‘We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.’ We are like clay jars, rather fragile, easily broken. But as Paul says we have within us a treasure, an extraordinary power. God’s shining in our hearts, God’s loving communication within each of us is a treasure, an  extraordinary power.

We are made in God’s image and, for that reason, wonderful. We are also very frail. This means two things for praying. First we are in some sense already praying, receiving God’s light shown in the face of Jesus Christ and reflecting that back to God. But also, because of our frailty we find it difficult both to pray and even to want to pray. Being human, being Christian, is all rather curious. We hold a wonderful treasure but we find it so difficult, oh so difficult, to recognise, handle and employ that treasure!

So to recap. God communicates with us, longs to communicate with us. God reaches out to us and invites our response, our prayer. And ourselves, because we are made in God’s image, that is made for God, constantly have the treasure and power of God’s light, shining in the face of Jesus Christ at the centre of who we are. But also we know that we are deeply faulted and have a great reluctance to respond to God’s love for us, that is to pray. And that’s what praying is: responding in love to the love that is being constantly poured into our hearts.

In the light of all this, what are the key features of prayer? We need to be practical and realistic. Praying for the Christian community is twofold: corporate and individual. We pray as a body, as the body of Christ. It’s what we are doing now. If you’re wondering whether you pray at all the answer is, ‘Yes you are’. It’s what we are doing here and now. To gather for the Eucharist, as we do every Sunday, is to pray. It’s an essential part of Christian praying.

We pray the whole range of prayer: pray in sorrow for our sins, pray for others, pray the prayer of listening during the readings, pray in praise and thanksgiving for who God is in the Eucharistic prayer at the altar, pray with the heart as we step forward for communion, pray in the Spirit as we prepare to launch out into the week ahead to minister Christ in daily living.

This is corporate Christian praying. We can do it well, we can do it poorly; we can do it attentively, we can do it distractedly. In the PCC report which we received last week at the Annual Church Meeting are these words near the beginning: ‘Prayer and worship is the foundation of all we do.’ I suppose the question for all of us at St Luke’s and St John’s is, ‘Does the way we are, look as though it’s founded on prayer and worship?’

We move on to individual, or personal prayer. What’s key here?

There is this personal dimension of praying in the Christian tradition because each of us unique. That means that each of us has a unique way of praying.Our response to our creator, the one who shines his light into our hearts, is uniquely our own. The question is, ‘Am I prepared to discover and enter into this prayer, the praying that only I can do? Do I want to? Although personal prayer is unique there are some common factors. This sort of prayer needs attention. It needs a time and place where the day to day concerns and demands can be set aside for a moment and the focus can be Godward.

A long time ago I had to interview someone who was looking to enter into a form of Christian ministry. Her personal circumstances were quite demanding. She had a disabled daughter. I remember her quite clearly saying to me, ‘When I start the prayer time, I give everything over to God. You take it all, God. You look after it all for this time. And I know he does’. Praying personally, on our own, needs attention.

We need to be practical and realistic about time and place and frequency. What’s realistic? 10 minutes a day? Am I a lark or an owl? Is it going to be morning or evening? Or during the day? What’s going to work for me? Raising these sorts of questions raises more fundamental ones. Do I want to pray? Perhaps I’m too busy to pray? Is praying just weird? All these questions will flood in. Remember we are like clay jars, fragile and faulted and there’s that side to us that simply doesn’t want to pray or make the effort. But, God is shining in our hearts and we are made in his image to grow more and more like him. We have this treasure. If that is true, can I really be too busy to pray, to attentively want to receive God’s love and offer mine back? Desmond Tutu once said, ‘I’m far too busy not to pray.’ A place, a time and a commitment are going to be needed.

We all need support in this adventure of praying. There are many resources, books, apps for your phone, ways of praying that are tried and tested. They are all there to support us. I expect that the next two sermons in this series will explore this more. Also, this Christian community will have a wealth of experience that can be tapped into. Am I brave enough to ask for help and guidance? Is there someone here whom I could approach to help me in my praying? After all helping each other is a feature of the Christian community. Remember that hymn:

Brother, sister, let me serve you,

let me be as Christ to you;

pray that I may have the grace

to let you be my servant too.

So, prayer is a relationship of love, corporate and individual. We are because God is. God made us and he shines in our hearts. And God longs to hear from us, he longs for us to reach out. This is what praying is about.

Service: Canon Bill Croft. 2nd June 2024. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)

Readings: 2 Corinthians 4.5-12; Mark 2.23-3.6