I am enjoying reading a book I bought on impulse while on our staircase quiet day at Ely Cathedral last week. I have more than enough books already but never mind, having lots of books seems to be a characteristic of vicar people. ‘Sister Wendy on Prayer’ is well worth looking at, if you can get on with her slightly sideways look on things – which appeals to me being a slightly sideways person myself. Her ‘Gaze of Love’ was a brilliant meditation resource for me on retreat once – now out of print but occasionally surfaces in second hand shops and offered on Amazon for quite a lot of money.
One thing she says is relevant to the current buzz about not being able to find time to pray at Ridley. It is a very busy and workaholic place anyway (the evangelical tendency) and even worse this term for many people on the new BA. Sister Wendy writes that when people say that there isn’t enough time to pray she suspects that they mean that they think that they don’t have enough quiet time. Besides doubting that no one can find some spare time – while having a shower, walking to the shops, not having that conversation in the kitchen or whatever – she says that this is missing the point about prayer. Prayer isn’t for our benefit. It is for God’s. It isn’t about us getting an emotional hit or feeling good by praying. It's about being there for God, about putting ourselves in front of him/her. So we don’t need to find half an hour, one hour, of quiet time. If we can that is great. But the important thing is find some moments when we can be before God, what she calls ‘flinders of time’. This, remember, is from someone who usually spends many hours each day in prayer.
I have the feeling that her approach may not sit easily in the evangelical heart but it makes sense to me. (But then, according to that quiz, I am a Wesleyan.)
One thing she says is relevant to the current buzz about not being able to find time to pray at Ridley. It is a very busy and workaholic place anyway (the evangelical tendency) and even worse this term for many people on the new BA. Sister Wendy writes that when people say that there isn’t enough time to pray she suspects that they mean that they think that they don’t have enough quiet time. Besides doubting that no one can find some spare time – while having a shower, walking to the shops, not having that conversation in the kitchen or whatever – she says that this is missing the point about prayer. Prayer isn’t for our benefit. It is for God’s. It isn’t about us getting an emotional hit or feeling good by praying. It's about being there for God, about putting ourselves in front of him/her. So we don’t need to find half an hour, one hour, of quiet time. If we can that is great. But the important thing is find some moments when we can be before God, what she calls ‘flinders of time’. This, remember, is from someone who usually spends many hours each day in prayer.
I have the feeling that her approach may not sit easily in the evangelical heart but it makes sense to me. (But then, according to that quiz, I am a Wesleyan.)
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