Reader Writes June 2023

The old King was often afflicted with early awakenings; his legs would twitch and his

shoulder feel cramped while his wife breathed deeply and rhythmically in a distant

universe. But there were compensations when the nights were short. The black redstart

was always the first to start its sweet cascading song from the top of a roof at the hint of

dawn; but he was lucky if he ever saw it as it hid behind a chimney or spied out over the

ridge of the palace roof. Meanwhile, nightingales were still singing in the forest below.

So he was up early brewing strong Turkish coffee for himself ready to sit in the first rays of

the rising sun. Maybe he would go down and find Father Thaddeus in his apothecary and

present one of those conundrums that go round and round in his head with the redstart’s

whistling song. What do we expect when we pray? The Reformers in Geneva had made

us all understand that God doesn’t love us for our merits; no, he cares for us because he

loves us despite ourselves. So prayer is not a reward for our efforts, but more to do with

……how we relate to him perhaps.

Indeed, Father Thaddeus was to be found in his herbarium bundling up leaves and flowers

to dry; he was far too old and wise not to recognize the King’s question as one he had

almost certainly had himself. Prayer was certainly not a catalogue of needs presented in

intercession with “the gods”, but far more the expression of a relationship with our

sovereign Heavenly Father to whom we belong and with whom we shall spend eternity.

Father Thaddeus found his worn old bible amongst the books and bottles and turned to

Joshua Ch1, apparently a favourite of his. God’s instruction to Joshua, on the eve of the

conquest of Canaan, was to be “strong and courageous”, repeated 3 times.

One supposes that God could answer prayer with magic and turn every sickness, for

example, back to instant good health. Of course he could. But it is very clear in Joshua

that he is telling them they must use their God-given gifts and strengths and experience; at

the same time it takes courage to carry on trusting him. The Israelites succeeded when

they obeyed God; in other words when they trusted him. So the King and Father

Thaddeus, in between drinking more coffee and discussing birds, agreed that prayer was

about our walk with God, how we relate to him. That usually means work, obedience, our

gifts, trusting God whether its keeping the wild boar out of the oats or the Turks out of their

Kingdom.

The old King trudged up the many steps to his palace. Courage, strength, trust, thanks,

yes courage, trust, thanks he muttered as he went. No redstarts or nightingales now, but

the swifts were screaming around the walls, black scimitar wings against the endless

summer sky. No need for lists, he thought; thank goodness for that. He could pray as he

walked, or indeed twitched in bed in the early morning. It was all about trusting God, and

obeying him. Our faith is not a religion, he thought, but it’s a relationship. And that means

obedience and trust as we walk with him. And courage; thank you Lord for courage.

Robert MacCurrach