Is anybody there?

... pray continually... 1 Thessalonians 5.17

The church website is down so, until it is fixed, I shall be speaking into the abyss, as it were. Prayer can seem like that. Is God listening? Is anybody out there after all? Iain Crichton Smith wrote a Gaelic short story about a bereaved man who spends his night in a studio listening forlornly for voices from outer space, perhaps hoping to reconnect with his late wife, or simply reaching out for evidence of there being more to life than the emptiness he feels.

The Bible takes a different line. It communicates an unequivocal conviction that God is and therefore everything and every creature finds meaning and purpose in God and in our communication - or relationship - with God. For humans, that involves praying. When we consider prayer from this perspective, it becomes clear that it requires at least as much - if not more - listening as expressing.

In his grace, God invites us to pour out our hearts, to bring our requests to him (great and small), to share our most intimate feelings and to be honest in confessing our sins and admitting our weaknesses. We shall conduct ourselves wisely if, in responding to such a generous invitation, we are careful to make space for God's response, by listening. Unlike the man in Iain Crichton Smith's story, we can be certain of an answer.