蜜芽传媒

Good morning. 鈥業t鈥檚 at times like this, that I wish I were a religious man鈥欌��, says 蜜芽传媒r Simpson, when it seems a comet cannot be stopped from destroying Springfield. In the background, the cartoon embodiment of religion, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy is running away saying 鈥業t鈥檚 all over people, we haven鈥檛 got a prayer鈥�.

At the beginning of this week of Brexit debate and vote, it may be tempting to agree with some commentators that disaster looms and we are stuck in a doom-loop. Meanwhile, a number of Christians including myself have been following the lead of the Archbishop of York and regularly praying for the process. But is this a complete waste of time? As someone said to me the other day, 鈥榃hat do you expect God to do?鈥�

Now I am not expecting God to change political minds so that they agree with me, as if with 鈥楪od on my side鈥� my will is done! Nor do I expect that somehow miraculously today God will give MPs an easy and perfect compromise, a Heaven ++ deal.

I do believe, on the basis of the resurrection of Jesus, that God can act in unusual ways in the world. But God鈥檚 freedom to act respects his gift of human free-will expressed in democracy, and a degree of unpredictability in the physical processes of the world. For me prayer is located in the interaction of these types of freedom, encouraging me to be open to rather than demanding God鈥檚 answer. As Archbishop William Temple once said, 鈥淲hen I pray, coincidences happen, when I don鈥檛 they don鈥檛.鈥�

Some will say that prayer is only a way of calming our minds in the midst of difficult circumstances, fiddling while Rome burns The trouble is that prayer is much more than that for me. It is in prayer that I feel that God changes my mind and provokes me to action. This is often the case when praying with others. I see new possibilities, am reminded of the importance of grace and generosity, and I become conscious of the needs of others compared with my own. Prayer stimulates hope and subverts the fatalism of nothing can be done.

Today the current Archbishop of Canterbury raises questions to politicians of how a no deal brexit will affect the poorest and most vulnerable. At the same time he says that he prays for wisdom, courage and strength for them in such difficult decisions. As a fellow Christian, I too want to use the gift of freedom by participating in the democratic process, without ignoring the possibilities of prayer.

Show less