Following recent discussions with the Vestry, I thought it might be helpful to offer my understanding of prayer as we practice it as Christians. Obviously this is a topic as broad and deep as the history of the church as it extends back to ancient history with the call of Abraham and Sarah, and moves into the distant future as we look forward to the coming of the Lord to gather all the cosmos into God’s self. So, a few words must suffice.

The official teaching of the Episcopal Church defines prayer as “responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words,” and is in response to “God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.” (BCP, p 856)

Our prayer, whether formal or informal, is made in the loving and infinitely generous grace of the Holy Trinity, and always by God’s invitation. It is always communal, always corporate. It is never a purely private act because we are united each to the other by virtue of our Baptism in the Name of the Trinity. We are baptized into the Body of Christ, a Body at once Crucified and Risen. We are not a club that may bring us greater or lesser degrees of satisfaction. Our prayer may be intensely personal, but it can never be private. We are all the “our” in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven.”

Many of us may remember a time when the majority of people living in the USA were Christian. It was an assumption as common as the air we breathe. But that time has long passed. We now live in a rich variety of difference, some of it welcome and good, some of it not. And to make life even more interesting, we have yet to arrive at a common understanding about what is good and gracious. This is a project that will occupy us for years to come.

We may be living next door to or work with a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, or someone who practices no religion at all and may be intolerant of all religious expression. What is the Christian to do in public gatherings where prayer may be offered by someone who does not profess the Christian faith? What are we to do if we are leading prayer with a diverse group of people?

The supreme theological virtues, those things we hold to be of the greatest importance are faith, hope, and love. We know that St. Paul tells us that “the greatest of these is love.” We deal with difference, sometimes substantial difference, with love. We do not condemn, we do not judge, we do not act as if another’s approach to the Holy One is inferior and incomplete.

Yet, we are perfectly within the boundaries set forth by love when we claim our heritage as Jesus’s daughters and sons. If we are hosting an interfaith group at St. Andrew’s we are required, under the rubrics of charity, to graciously excuse anyone who may not wish to participate in prayer. As the hymn has it, “they will know we are Christians by our love,” an ideal which may be easily acted out in something as simple as good manners and a warm welcome. These are certainly not the sum and total of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, but they are often a good place to begin.

Finally, I am a firm believer that prayer offered in love has the power to bring about great change. But it must be offered without any hint of coercion or harm. The brilliantly sainted Julian of Norwich wrote that God graciously condescends to use our prayer to forward the work God had already intended to do! We are partners in God’s ongoing work of creation and its continuing renewal.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit we have been given the loving and creative energy and talents to right many wrongs without expecting a miracle from God. Sadly, we often fail to use these gifts. Let our prayer, followed by our actions, begin our participation in the transformation of the world.

Many blessings,

Fr. Carlton