Prayer Column - October 2019

Whither? And with whom?

I sometimes worry that I do more writing about prayer than actually praying! I heard a talk recently by Edna Gibson, who’d been a Christian believer from the age of nine and had risen successfully in the ranks of her chosen profession to managerial level, when at 40 she felt the desire to know God more. Not more about him, but to know him better as God, as Heavenly Father, as Lord and Leader – drawing closer, and that meant prayer. She went on to describe her journey then, with God calling her to do things for which she felt quite inadequate, unsuited, and ill-equipped – indeed impossible. But how at every protest God would challenge her to trust him. And he had led her to become a missionary teaching English as a second language to young people in many parts of the world, so they could mission better too: the fruits of her prayer.

A second prompt to me, of much longer standing, arises from our closing churches, shrinking congregations and vanishing youth: what is God doing – for he must still want his word to be heard – so how? Our Circuit is currently seeking to become more mission minded, and the examples put before us at the course in Saltaire have been of mission in ways that don’t seem to be at first. Just getting involved with people outside the church in various ways and seeing what comes of it, forming a group to satisfy a need, letting questions about God emerge and dealing with them, if and as they do. But not (this is the biggie) not necessarily or at once seeking to draw them into ‘church’: instead, finding a form of worship that suits that group and its activity. Letting God lead. So Lord, where are you prompting me to go, and with whom??

Roy Lorrain-Smith

A prayer for each week

Lord, I dare not risk getting close to you when you might call me to do impossible stuff. Please deal with all my misgivings, and help me trust. Amen.

Commander God, please tell me what to do because I’m all at sea. You say you know the way and will clear all obstacles, but help my unbelief. Amen.

Pioneering Lord, blazing new trails, confident of both the ways and the outcomes, please help me see your hand and follow, alert for prompts. Amen.

Creator God, maker of all, still ever artistically inventive, please show me what you’re doing in my circumstances, and how I should be joining in. Amen.

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