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What is the point of prayer?

Someone asked me to blog on the point of prayer.  Actually, she might have been joking, but as I have been failing pretty dismally at my Lent discipline of blogging daily, I'll do my penance and have a go.

There are lots of different reasons to pray.  

1. To thank and praise God.  These are really two types of prayer but there is some crossover.  When you praise God for a beautiful day you're also thanking him for making it.  When I'm asked to do a children's talk as part of a service I often use interactive prayer and I usually break it down into praise, thanks, sorry and please.  But I'm not sure my 'praise you fors' and my 'thank you fors' are that distinct.

I guess prayers of praise are telling God how great he is without reference to anything he has actually done for you.  I'm reminded of the phrase 'cupboard love' used by my cynical parents when I was growing up.  I love you because I want something out of your cupboard (or because you've given me something out of your cupboard - prayers of thanks).  Prayers of praise are God-focused rather than me-focused.  That's probably why I find them tricky.

2. To say sorry.  I have become increasingly convinced of the importance of confession.  There's something about admitting to God that something I've done or said was stupid and selfish that is very freeing.  I can let go of my need to be in the right and admit that I'm in the wrong.  God doesn't smirk and hold it against us (that's why it's easier to confess to him than to other people.  But confessing to others that we've been stupid and selfish can be incredibly powerful).

3. To listen to what God might be saying.  This is really hard for people like me who find it hard to stop doing stuff, sit down and shut up long enough for him to get a word in edgeways.  But sometimes he speaks even when I'm not listening properly.  A couple of times in my life I've heard a quiet voice (telepathic rather than audible) which has said something which has brought peace with it, and which seemed too wise to have been thought up by my subconscious.  

4. To ask for stuff.  This is both the easiest and the hardest.  Easy because we all have stuff we want, either for ourselves or for other people; hard because God doesn't always give it to us, and we don't know why that is.  See my previous blog posts on God and suffering.  

I'm sure there are other reasons to pray, or ways of praying, so go ahead and add your comments, fellow pray-ers.

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