I’ve been reading Jacques Ellul on the difficulty of prayer in modern life. He writes:
“The man [sic] of our times does not know how to pray; but much more than that, he has neither the desire nor need to do so. He does not find the deep source of prayer within himself. I am acquainted with this man. I know him well. It is I myself.”
These are strong words, but they ring true somehow, and I get why Ellul would see it as a problem of our age generally.
At the same time, I think he overstates it.
I heard this story recently ...
It’s about three grade 9 girls sitting at a picnic table in a park. They had been friends through middle school and were talking about their friendship and how they wanted to keep connected even though they were going their separate ways in life.
One of the girls suggested they pray. This came out of the blue. She didn’t have a religious background and had grown up in a very difficult family situation. Somehow in this moment, it felt right to express her hopes and desires in prayer.
The girl next to her liked the idea. She didn’t have a religious background either and came from a similar life situation.
The last friend was surprised by all this talk about prayer. She thought of herself as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and she had never heard her friends talk like this.
The other two girls had always sensed their friend might be religious somehow, but they had really never discussed it. Something felt different now.
“How do you pray?” the first girl asked her.
“It’s not hard,” she said. “You can say what you like to God. Like in a conversation ... with someone who loves you ...”
“Who should start?”, the second girl chimed in.
“I don’t know. How bout you guys go first and I’ll finish.”
And they prayed together sitting at that picnic table in the park.
No worry about proving if it’s true or deciding if it’s right. They just prayed—from the heart—like it was the most natural thing to do.
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