search the site...
the magazine
Archives: July 2009
Aware...
Archives: July 2009
The (he)art of prayer...
By Craig Borlase
Face facts; this is an impossible task. We’ve got a few hundred words to unpack the subject of prayer, and we’re just not going to be able to even skim the surface.
And that’s a good place to start. Admitting that we don’t have all the answers – or, if you come to think of it, any of the answers at all – seems a lot more healthy than suggesting that prayer has a formula which we can crack.
Yet once we admit that prayer is shrouded in far more mystery than certainty, we find ourselves in unfamiliar ground. We’re used to being able to find out the truth, to being able to peel back the curtain and see what’s hidden behind. From gossip mags with their unflattering paparazzi celebrity shots to our ability to Google our way to the bottom of things, we’re like a modern day Dorothy staring at the Wizard of Oz as the curtain gets pulled back. Whatever’s out there can be unmasked if we only have the time and the energy to unmask it.
Prayer’s not like that. There’s no fakery in it – so it’s not as if it can be exposed or explained. But do we think that there are hidden secrets to be discovered about it? I don’t think there are. I don’t think there’s anything new to be said about prayer – by the time the New Testament was complete, I think it had all been said.
The Bible is, thankfully, anything but silent on the matter. Page after page the story gets fleshed out: God wants us to pray. God tells us to pray. God listens when we pray. God acts when we pray.
We humble ourselves when we pray. We pause when we pray. We (hopefully) listen when we pray. We allow our compassion to get stirred up when we pray.
But what’s an article from Tearfund doing going on about prayer? Well, here’s one answer that we can give: we know that prayer matters in the fight for justice. We know that all the way down through history, when Christians have united in prayer and acted together to fight poverty and injustice, great things have happened.
So prayer and justice are inseparable.
And that my friends, is a fact we could really do with getting our heads around these days.
Take a look at the current state of the global response to climate change and it’s not hard to see that we need to be praying more than ever. Recession may have overtaken it at the top of the news agenda, but climate change still remains a clear and present danger.
In fact, we’re at yet another critical point. In just five months time, vital talks will take place at the strangely named COP 15 (COP – standing for Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 15 – cos it’s the fifteenth time they’ve all met up).
The summit is meant to agree a new worldwide deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and that deal simply must be stronger and more ambitious than anything we've had so far.
We need developed countries to agree to drastically reduce their emissions themselves, and it is vital that developed countries provide at least US$50 billion a year to help poor people adapt to the changing climate.
It’s a tall order, but it’s essential. Why? Because climate change hits the world’s poorest people the hardest. Like those living on the Carteret Islands in the South Pacific. These people are one of the first to have to begin evacuating their entire homeland because of the impact of climate change. As weather conditions become less predictable and more extreme, others won’t even have the chance of escaping.
So, let us pray. Join us as we pray 15/15/15 – we’re praying for 15 minutes, on the fifteenth day of each month for COP 15. Take fifteen minutes, more if you can, to pray that those with power would be awake to their responsibilities and alive in their courage to make the changes the planet and people so desperately needs.
Links...
Check out the 15/15/15nprayer points...
And we know prayer leads us to action, so join us on 5th Dec to ‘Seal the deal’.
About the writer...
Craig is a legend. He's a writer of many books, sometimes does stuff for Tearfund and is the reason the Soul Survivor Magazine exists (he created the first one)!
Soul Survivor is a Christian charity that puts on events for young people. Our registered charity no. is 1080720. We are also a company limited by guarantee in England & Wales. Our company registered number is 03991111, which is nice. Thanks for caring.
e. info@soulsurvivor.com | t. 0303 333 1 333
Soul Survivor | Unit 2 Paramount Industrial Estate | Sandown Road | Watford | Herts. | UK