WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.740 When I was at university, and that's something that feels like an embarrassingly long time ago now, 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:13.580 I used to meet quite regularly with our college chaplain, who was also a theology lecturer. 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:17.440 We would drink unbelievably strong coffee. 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:22.219 He would smoke his pipe and we'd talk about faith. 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:27.000 There's one particular conversation that's always stuck in my memory. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:31.019 I asked him, why do we pray? 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:38.120 Now, that conversation was a long time ago now, and I don't recall exactly what was said. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:43.640 But I think we probably got on to talking about what prayer actually means. 00:00:44.620 --> 00:00:52.980 And we established that a reasonable working definition is talking and listening to God. 00:00:52.979 --> 00:01:02.559 It was at that point that the chaplain returned the question back to me in a way that was disarmingly simple. 00:01:03.519 --> 00:01:07.579 He said, so why do you talk and listen to anyone? 00:01:09.759 --> 00:01:11.620 Let's just unpack that a bit. 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:14.960 Jesus was all about relationship. 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:22.560 He didn't seem to have a lot of time for religion or ritual or rules, but his message was about relationship with God through and through. 00:01:23.820 --> 00:01:28.780 Now, for relationship to happen, then talking and listening is, well, it's essential. 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:30.880 So why do we pray? 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:38.519 Well, we talk and we listen to God because Christian faith is all about relationship with God. 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:45.099 And like any relationship, it can only be a reality if there's communication going on. 00:01:45.099 --> 00:01:52.259 You know, I carried that understanding of prayer with me for most of my adult life. 00:01:52.919 --> 00:02:02.299 And while I still think it's true, it's only been in more recent years that I've come to realise that, well, perhaps there's a bit more to it than that. 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:15.159 And the reason why I think there's probably more to it than that is simply because, well, there's more to human relationships than simply talking and listening to each other. 00:02:16.379 --> 00:02:19.519 Now, of course, communication is vital. 00:02:20.519 --> 00:02:29.419 But it's not enough to say that a relationship comprises only of communications plus nothing else. 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:32.959 Well, not if that relationship really matters anyway. 00:02:34.179 --> 00:02:35.039 And think about it. 00:02:35.780 --> 00:02:42.279 Think about what it's like when you feel really genuinely connected with another person. 00:02:43.239 --> 00:02:49.000 Where you sense that you both understand them and are understood by them. 00:02:50.179 --> 00:02:57.599 The talking and listening with that person feeds and nurtures that sense of connection. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:58.479 Of course it does. 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:10.819 But in it all, there's something far deeper going on whereby you just feel present with them independently of any words that are exchanged between you. 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:19.919 Or think about how you feel relaxed simply being with someone without the need to make conversation with them. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:24.039 That's what I'm trying to describe here. 00:03:25.739 --> 00:03:37.159 And I think this might be the sort of thing that Jesus is getting at when he says that the father already knows what we need even before we ask him. 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:43.659 And that therefore the actual words we use are not really such a big deal. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:50.859 To commune with the father means something deeper than an act of communication. 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:54.800 Rather, it's about God's presence. 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.620 It's about seeking God's presence. 00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:00.320 Being open to God's presence. 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:02.380 Connecting to God's presence. 00:04:03.380 --> 00:04:05.640 Being in God's presence. 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:08.380 Knowing God's presence. 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:15.900 John Wesley described prayer as the breathing of the soul. 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:18.600 So why pray? 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:22.219 Well, because we're spiritual beings. 00:04:22.219 --> 00:04:24.139 We're wired to relate to God. 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.279 To pray is to breathe spiritually. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.199 Now you might well be saying to yourself right now, well, that's all very well. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:37.119 But what about when I don't sense God's presence at all? 00:04:38.059 --> 00:04:43.539 Why pray when there's nothing apparent to me to suggest that God is in fact present? 00:04:44.859 --> 00:04:46.779 You know, that's a really good question. 00:04:46.779 --> 00:04:55.979 And it's a question that any person and every person who's honest with themselves asks at some point. 00:04:55.980 --> 00:05:00.860 And I'm not going to try and suggest any pat or easy answers. 00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:07.500 But I wonder if it's perhaps when we're struggling to sense the presence of God, 00:05:07.780 --> 00:05:11.800 it's then that words in fact do become more important. 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:15.540 Not important for God, but important for us. 00:05:16.020 --> 00:05:20.800 Because words give us the means of expressing what we need to express. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:28.900 In my own experience, there have been plenty of times when I haven't felt particularly close to God. 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:37.019 But I've found it helpful just to talk and to blurt out to him everything that's going on in my head. 00:05:37.580 --> 00:05:39.660 For better or for worse. 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:44.960 And then in his own time and in his own mysterious way, 00:05:46.020 --> 00:05:53.580 he reminds me that he isn't actually quite as distant as my feelings had led me to think. 00:05:55.820 --> 00:05:57.140 So why pray? 00:05:57.640 --> 00:06:01.500 Why pray when we don't feel aware of God's presence? 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:07.879 Or when we find it hard to understand or make sense of how God could be real? 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:12.600 Well, let me leave you with this thought. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:21.300 Recently, I heard on the radio a leading pharmacist talking about the intense research efforts 00:06:21.300 --> 00:06:28.960 that are currently being invested to accelerate the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. 00:06:30.520 --> 00:06:33.420 Within the opening seconds of that interview, 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:39.840 pharmaceutical terms were being used, which totally left me behind. 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:44.120 The interviewer tried to put the brakes on the scientist 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:51.980 and asked her to unpack the meaning of what she was trying to explain, but unsuccessfully. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.899 Now, maybe it was just me, but I couldn't help thinking 00:06:55.899 --> 00:07:00.079 that I might not have been the only one, the only listener, 00:07:00.340 --> 00:07:05.560 who frankly didn't understand a word of what she was saying. 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:09.340 But, you know, then it occurred to me. 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:17.479 Suppose someone came to you and offered you a vaccine or a cure for COVID-19 00:07:17.479 --> 00:07:21.299 or indeed for any kind of medical condition for that matter. 00:07:22.419 --> 00:07:28.099 And suppose that they offered you alongside it an explanation that you didn't quite understand. 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:36.179 Would the limits of your understanding prevent you from accepting what was being offered to you? 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:45.939 Now, faith in God is not about just mindlessly and thoughtlessly accepting anything we're told. 00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:55.040 But it is about being challenged to accept possibilities that we perhaps don't quite understand. 00:07:56.740 --> 00:08:00.579 To pray is the most natural thing in the world. 00:08:00.579 --> 00:08:06.899 It's simply allowing your spirit to breathe as it was created to breathe. 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:17.719 If we're not careful, we can resist that instinct simply because we're so caught up with what we don't understand 00:08:17.719 --> 00:08:20.719 and our frustration that we don't understand. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:32.620 And when we do that, we're in danger of denying ourselves that special relationship that God wants us to have with him. 00:08:35.060 --> 00:08:37.259 So then, why pray? 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:42.040 Well, why not? 00:08:42.040 --> 00:08:42.060 Why not? 00:08:42.060 --> 00:08:42.080 Why not?