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“He every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” (Isaiah 55:1) This call, taken from Isaiah 55, is a call to prayer. Some of you ask: “Why pray? What is the good of it?”
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I think we need to pray. We are incomplete without contact with the living God – and that is what prayer means. We are beings created by the living Spirit of Goodness, Truth, Love and Justice, who wish to return and draw from our source renewed energy with which to carry on our lives. We pray, then, for the increase of our spiritual power. We need sustenance and exercise for our spirits, quite as much as we need food and gymnastics for our body. We meditate on God’s law of righteousness, and the desire to be better and to do better fills our hearts. Why pray? We pray in the first place that we may live more fully.
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We are all conscious of some wrong doing in our lives which separates us from God. We pray for the power to overcome evil in ourselves, and to become one with God. We are each of us directly responsible for the conduct of our lives. We have to destroy the wrong by our own efforts. The consciousness that God is real – that something of His spirit is in our hearts, even while, in its perfection, it is the supreme life force in the universe, this faith gives us the power to overcome sin, for it makes our will strong and directed towards good. We pray, therefore in the second place for self advancement in righteousness.
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As we pray, we feel ourselves united with every aspiring human being; his life and well being are part of our own lives. We understand his needs, for we actually share them, and so the third blessing which we discover in praying is the unity of mankind.
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But we would like to alter the world? we would wish to see some of the evils and misery, cruelty and injustice swept away. So we pray for the removal of evil, though it still persists and sometimes seems to grow in magnitude. What then is the good of praying?
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The good lies in another direction. In prayer, we realise the value and power of human personality. We pray, and the possibility of achievement is unveiled before our eyes. We can choose good and reject evil. That is our human prerogative. The same privilege belongs to the men and women who are in positions of great power and responsibility. We would not surrender the freedom of human personality. When we pray we show the connection between belief and conduct.
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Freedom is part of the human inheritance. Prayer has revealed the power of man to create the better world through obedience and loyalty to the laws of God. It is for us to help in establishing the kingdom. We must not ask God to do it for us, and so surrender our human independence. He has offered us the power to work with Him. Arise, shine![1] ”Arise, Shine,” a phrase Lily Montagu repeated in numerous sermons (and the title of an address delivered at the West Central Club on October 11, 1959) is from Isaiah 60:1.
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We love to pray for our dear ones, and sometimes we pray and the calamity we wish to avert comes just as if we had not prayed at all. Why then, we ask, does not God hear? I believe that God does hear, and it is well for us to think of our dear ones when we are considering the reality of God in prayer. Let us seek from His revelation ways to increase our wisdom and our power of loving. Perhaps we shall lose some of our selfishness and our ability to give pain. But when things don’t do right, as we believe, for our beloved, we must remember the limitation of our vision and that what seems evil to us may in the end be good. Through prayer we learn to trust in the supreme love of God, and that He acts only through love.
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Life is sweet for you all. In spite of its sad, gloomy passages, you have the power of learning and loving. You can see some beauty in the world, even if the glimpses are few and far between. You can sometimes see the wonders of nature and hear glorious music. Most of you have behind you the security of home life and the trust of those who love you. You, because you are young, can experience the pleasures of the body and the mind. You feel grateful for life. In prayer you can give thanks.
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May I appeal to you to pray daily – to feel yourself consciously in the presence of God? If doubts assail you, face them and wrestle with them. In the end, they will, I believe, add strength to your faith. Don’t give up prayer because it is difficult. Learn to create the right atmosphere for prayer, the atmosphere of reverence and humility. Clear your hearts before you pray from selfishness and insincerity, and your mind from impure thoughts. Then throw yourself into the “Everlasting arms”[2] Another phrase frequently used by Lily Montagu, the image of God’s “everlasting arms” is from Deuteronomy 33:27. of God, and in the depths of your heart you will hear Him speak. “Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.” (1 Samuel 3:9) I beg of you not to delay praying until you are too faint and weak for want of spiritual nourishment to pray at all. Pray now! Tomorrow it may be too late.
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An essay on the praxis of prayer as contained in “Club Letter №3” (March 1939) written by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) and found in the Private Collection of Hannah Feldman, London. The essay was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 51-54.
Source(s)
Lily Montagu, sermons, addresses, letters, and prayers – The Nature of True Religion – p. 51 Lily Montagu, sermons, addresses, letters, and prayers – The Nature of True Religion – p. 52 Lily Montagu, sermons, addresses, letters, and prayers – The Nature of True Religion – p. 53 Lily Montagu, sermons, addresses, letters, and prayers – The Nature of True Religion – p. 54
Notes
