Thy Will Be Done

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” – Luke 5 v16

Dear Friends,

Have you read the Mr Men and Little Miss Books to your children or grandchildren? Little Miss Busy would get up at three o’clock in the morning to read her favourite book called ‘Work is Good for You.’ Then she refused to stop for a second until her bedtime at midnight. She was one of those people who didn’t know what to do with herself if she stopped working.

Are we like this? Do we get so caught up in our full diaries that we have little time to come to a place of inner quietness in which to spend time with God?

Jesus had regular times when He withdrew from the immediate and insistent claims on Him in order to be totally available to God. He welcomed a place of solitude so that He could spend time with God.

Both in our personal prayers and when we come together as a community we regularly say “Thy will be done.” But do we really mean this? In our own tradition, the Church meeting is the place where we come together to take time out to discern collectively the will of the Spirit. How often do we arrive at a Church meeting prepare to do this, and how often do we come with our desires and plans already sorted out and without real willingness to listen to the voice of God which might possibly be calling us in another direction?

Do you think it is possible for churches as well as individuals to have burn out? Maybe we can become so drained of energy and so starved of personal nourishment that we are tempted to abandon the journey altogether.

It is when we are feeling like this that we need to find a renewed source of energy from God. It is then that we need to turn to God in silence and stillness and prayer.

As we are now at the beginning of Lent, this is a good time to ask ourselves if we actually spend enough time in prayer. As it was so important to Jesus to pray to His Father, shouldn’t it also be as important to us?

With love in Christ from your Elders