“The real difficulty is that our generation has been conceiving of prayer on too low a plane. Faith is not endangered by the advance of science. It is endangered by the stagnation of religious conceptions. If religion halts at some primitive level and science marches on to new conquests of course there will be difficulty. But let us not fetter science, let us rather promote religion. We need to rise to a truer view of God and to a loftier idea of prayer.” — Rufus M. Jones, (1863-1948)
Though he was writing in a different world, in which science had not made nearly the progress it has to date, Rufus Jones aptly described the problem with religion. In a rapidly developing world (via science, but also what we call technology, global communications, etc.), religion may seem stuck at what Jones calls, “some primitive level.” I sort of agree, but the problem is not with science; it is with those of us too timid to promote religion. Perhaps we mistake inclusivity for hospitality, overlooking that hospitality requires we have something of value to give.
When Jones says we need a truer view of God and a loftier idea of prayer, I think he’s talking about two sides of a very thin coin. We get a truer view of God by being in relationship with, in conversation with God. And, of course, that conversation is prayer. Tradition can be a prayer killer. The past has delivered us to today. It cannot carry us into tomorrow. (Though we can take some of it with us into tomorrow.)
Where Jones writes, “But let us not fetter science, let us rather promote religion.” I want to insert, “Let us not fetter God, let us rather promote prayer.” I believe the world longs to meet the God you know, to have an introduction made, and to be invited to carry on the conversation after you’ve left. Your vocal prayers, much like a phone conversation overheard only on your end, reveal more than you can imagine about the God on the other end of the conversation. Your manner of being with the Holy reveals much about That Power to which we pray.
As Jones writes,
“Prayer is an extraordinary act. The eyes close, the face lights up, the body is moved with feeling, and (it may be in the presence of a multitude) the person praying talks in perfect confidence with somebody, invisible and intangible, and who articulates no single word of response.”
Are you willing to pray out loud as a way of shining a light on the glimpse you have been given of God? Are you willing to be seen engaging in the holy conversation?
—Jennie Isbell
Jennie Isbell, M.A., M.Div. is a Quaker spiritual director and retreat leader. She is co-author of Finding God in the Verbs: Crafting a Fresh Language of Prayer, and author of Leading Quakers: Discipleship Leadership, A Friends Model.
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