The Strategy of Prayer

When I heard that a Muslim from Yemen set his computer to remind him to pray five times a day, I thought of Jean-Francois Millet's famous painting, The Angelus. The work of this 19th century French artist pictures a man and woman who stop work on their farm when bells call them to pray at noon, one of the three times in the day the Angelus prayer is said. Was their prayer a petition for a good potato yield, gratitude for their harvest, adoration, or repentance?

     In 2016's Christian Holy Week, when terrorists tore up lives in a Brussels airport and rail station, we were reminded to pray for peace among neighbors, religions, and countries.

     At Christmas, we recognize that God didn't just get the universe started by creating something out of nothing and then forget about us. He came to Earth and experienced our joys and sorrows. And after He rose from the dead, He said the Holy Spirit would come to guide mankind into all truth.

     When we lived in Philadelphia, my daughter attended her early grades at Friends Select, where the headmaster of the school founded by Quakers was Jewish. Every week, all the students walked a few blocks to a 100-year-old Friends meeting house. There, they sat in silence until the Holy Spirit moved some or none to speak. In this holy season, the wisdom to bring peace may be but a moment of silent prayer away.

     The God much greater than ourselves, who has no beginning or end (a concept we cannot begin to understand), is at our beck and call. We don't need to set our computers to remind us when to pray. Whether we are young or old, farmer or tycoon, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, Sikh, or Zoroaster, we can pray anytime. And in our silence, we'll receive wisdom.