The Incongruent Believer

When I first started work many decades ago, I remember working with a young engineer (who was older than me at the time) who was constantly being barracked by our MD. I remember the MD’s name as we soon became good friends as I climbed both the managerial and social ladder at the company where I worked, and Jim (I won’t share his surname) and I both practiced the same martial art. But early in my time at the company I asked one of the managers why it was that Jim would often come out of his office shout at this young engineer, then reassured by something they said, return to his office. The manager, ‘Dickie’ Bird (not the Yorkshire cricketer, but one with the same name and nickname as that famous gentleman), said “It’s because he always tells him what he wants to hear” and went on to explain that if something was going bad they would tell Jim that it wasn’t, or offer some bogus account just to get him off the hook, then Jim would find out, and things would escalate, and again the young...

Driving past a local church the other day I noticed a banner outside inviting people to a “Prayer Café” held at the church, the banner headlined “Prayer Changes Things”. This bold statement got me to wondering; Does prayer change things? And if it does, in what way? My first thought was that if you were reading that poster as someone who did not believe in God or some benevolent deity or deities you were probably were drawn to the secular idea of prayer where one asks for things, such as the delivery of a loved one from a serious illness, or help finding that perfect job, or even a big win on a lottery. My understanding of prayer is not even close to that, and the comment on prayer in Matthew 6:7-8 speaks volumes, here Jesus says, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”  The most poignant statement in these verses be...