Prayer is for others, not the self

Archbishop Stephen Cottrell — The Lord’s Prayer

Marquee at Phyllis Court

Sunday, October 5

ARCHBISHOP Stephen Cottrell began his engaging presentation on prayer by freely admitting that he didn’t know who the audience were and what they wanted. He extended this to say controversially that the majority of those who pray don’t also know what they want.

The Lord’s Prayer was the most well-known prayer in the world, he added, but said that simply repeating its words by heart does not provide any answers. Rather, we were encouraged to stop and think about what the words in prayers actually mean.

He believed that the act of praying was an opportunity to talk with God. It’s not about what we say to God, but what he wants to say to us. The words of the Lord’s Prayer were given to us by Jesus, so we are using his own words back to him to recharge or revitalise ourselves, so that all of our life could be a prayer to God. Prayer is not about what we can get for ourselves, but what we can give to others.

The audience was encouraged to consider the opening words “Our Father”, where “Father” was an intimate word to describe a close family member and “our” meant all of us together in mankind. Suddenly, we were being asked to regard all others in the world as being just one family, sharing the same father and having all others’ interests in our heart with unconditional love, as in family life.

Moving on to the expression “Give us this day our daily bread”, Archbishop Stephen interpreted this to mean a plea to let us have enough for one day and no more. We were asked to think about what is enough for us — and why do we always need more? Wars have been started by those who want more and to take from others: more land, more riches and more power in the world.

In response to a question from the audience, Archbishop Stephen was asked how he found the time to write books, when his life was so busy. He frankly admitted that he didn’t know, but that he believed that we always find the time for those things for which we are passionate about.

He had written about
20 books so far, working out that it was a rate of about one book a year in recent years. He certainly was passionate about prayer, currently taking a tour around the North of England to teach people about the Lord’s Prayer and promoting two books, Praying by Heart — The Lord’s Prayer for Everyone and the illustrated The Lord's Prayer: A Beginner’s Guide, intended for children to learn about prayer. Judging by the very long queue for him to sign newly purchased books at the end of his presentation, his message is certainly being well received in Henley!

Terry Grourk