Prayer & the absence of God

Christ is risen!

Ok – listen. I don’t hate reading. On the contrary, I enjoy it – I just get easily distracted. That’s not to say I never finished a whole book either – I totally have. Like…once or twice. I think.

One book that I couldn’t put down, though, is “Beginning to pray” by Met. Anthony Bloom. It’s an easy read, very practical and at times it feels like an evening heart-to-heart with a friend over a cup of coffee.

One chapter that stood out and has been brewing in my head for a while is “God’s Absence” in prayer. I have another post lined up with my favourite bit from the chapter, but this particular post was inspired by the following paragraph:

A relationship [with God] must begin and develop in mutual freedom. If you look at the relationship in terms of a mutual relationship, you will see that God could complain about us a great deal more than we about Him. We complain that He does not make Himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for Him, but what about the twenty-three and a half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer “I am busy, I am sorry” or when we do not answer at all because we do not even hear the knock at the door of our heart, of our minds, of our conscience, of our life. So there is a situation where we have no right to complain of the absence of God because we are a great deal more absent than He ever is.

After reading that chapter, it had just occurred to me that God isn’t just available only after we draw the sign of the cross and stand for prayer. it’s not a “God’s presence on/off” button. God is always there. Always. But we’re not.

Here it is – hope you enjoy it! And remember to follow and share! 🙂