This week's news

In Luke’s account of Jesus’ teaching about prayer, we read the familiar words of The Lord’s Prayer, but we also find that the commentary that follows makes for an interesting reflection on what happens when we ask something of God.

This week's news

It’s a boy! That was the gist of the announcement that was posted on an easel at Buckingham Palace.  This was how the Royal Family told the world that the Duchess of Cambridge had been ‘safely delivered of a son’, although the somewhat archaic traditional language used omitted any reference to the word ‘baby’. At the time of writing, no names have been confirmed, but it’s probably safe to assume that the royal prince will not be called ‘Wonderful Counsellor’. Good wishes have come from around the world and prayers for his future have been offered by religious leaders. 

New life can seem very fragile and the fears of parents are not helped by statistics  that suggest that huge numbers of children are at risk from falling television sets.

The temperature in the UK has been several degrees higher than is normal, although the heatwave may now be on the wane.

Village fetes and national sporting events have been anticipated without the usual fears for what to do if it rains as cloudless skies have been the norm. The abnormally warm weather has of course led to problems, some trivial but others more serious. 

However, the hot weather didn’t stop a Christmas shop opening in Cornwall. 

Parents in many US states are protected from prosecution for child abuse when treating their children’s medical conditions through prayer. However, a recent case in Wisconsin, has shown that other charges cannot be defended under the same provisions. More than 300 American children have died in the last 40 years when medical care has been withheld on religious grounds.

Reflection

Naming a newborn baby is one of the pleasures of being new parents, although it is not without its problems. The way in which people are named certainly varies from one part of the world to another. 

In some cultures names are chosen more than a month after birth to reflect something of the child’s character. 

In contrast, before he was born Jesus was given that name because he would ‘save the people from their sins’. He would also be called Immanuel because he would be ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1.21,23). While not expected to ‘save his people’, the new-born prince is expected to rule his people and his name will reflect that. Growing up in the knowledge that his future is set will not be easy, but he has a family who have learned to manage such expectations. 

Be careful what you wish for, or, as Oscar Wilde put it, ‘When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.’ Many people will have been praying for fine weather for their holidays, or for outdoor events planned by church, school or community groups. Those prayers have been answered over the last few weeks, but there are other consequences that may not have bee foreseen when those prayers were offered. Those prayers would surely also have been countered by other prayers that were seeking rain and a cooler climate. On this occasion did God decide to side with the hot weather pray-ers, but normal service will be resumed again next year? 

Our Gospel passage could encourage the view that the only function of prayer is to ask God for what we want. Just as a human father (or mother) does not give a child a snake when we ask for a fish, so God gives us what we want, or rather what we need. Wasps have followed bees and sparrows in having disappeared from our gardens.

We might think this an answer to prayer, but wasps ‘play a vital role controlling numbers of more prolific groups of invertebrates, including many pests of plants and commercial crops’. Perhaps there are occasions when we pray for a fish, but what we really need is a snake!

Prayer

Our God, 

we give you thanks for the safe arrival of our new prince. 

We rejoice with his parents, and their wider family. 

We recognise that this child has been born into a royal household 

and that he is a boy ‘born to be king’. 

We pray that he will experience a happy childhood 

and that when he grows into manhood, 

he will love you and desire justice and righteous for all his people.

We thank you for this period of warm weather; 

for village fetes, church picnics 

and national sporting events that have been enjoyed without fear of rain. 

But we also recognise that the heat has caused problems 

for organisations and individuals and give thanks that for them, 

relief is on its way. 

Our God, 

we confess that we are often selfish in our prayers:,

praying for what we want rather than for what we and others need. 

Give us this day our daily bread, 

forgive us our sins and may we forgive those who have sinned against us. 

Our God, 

we thank you that you show us that you care for our all our needs 

– those of our stomachs and those of our hearts. 

May we be honest with you as we share all aspects of our lives with you. 

Amen.

Questions

The Old Testament passage this week takes us back to the story of Abraham’s apparent haggling with God over whether or not God would wipe put Sodom. Abraham and God eventually struck a deal at not destroying Sodom if 10 innocent people could be found there. 

• Was God’s mind changed? It wouldn’t be the only time in which the Old Testament tells us that God ‘repented’ about his actions – cf. Jonah and Nineveh.
• Or was it that God already knew that there were fewer than 10 innocent people in Sodom, so God also knew that Abraham was wasting his time?
• How does this Old Testament passage connect to Jesus’ teaching on prayer? Is it simply a matter of asking, or does God need to be persuaded by fervency and the number of people who are praying?
• Most Christians would reject the actions of those parents who denied their children medical help and relied only upon the ‘power of prayer’. Is prayer only there to be used when medical intervention is unable to save us? 

Action

In the film Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey plays a man who gets the chance to be God for a short time. Early on  he finds that people’s prayers are an endless barrage on his ears. In this clip we don’t see the outcome of Bruce’s ‘solution’ to the problem. If you’ve seen the whole film you will know that Bruce’s solution asks more questions than it answers, but does this film help us come any closer to understanding prayer? 

Young People

Do you know why your parents gave you the name(s) you have? Do you know what your name means? Find a book that gives the meaning of names and see which names would be most appropriate for a prince who is likely, one day, to be king of our country.

Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film.

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