Prayer

I love Adrian Plass. He is a very funny guy. He came to Perth for a one night only performance. During the performance, he was talking about prayer, and how sometimes we totally miss the point. He was telling us about someone who prayed something like this:

Lord we pray for your holy fire. Lord we pray for that fire to come. Lord it will come and it will be a hot fire. Lord it will be a fire that burns, it will not be that cold fire. Lord it will be a burning hot fire, and it will consume that which was previously unconsumed. There will be a mighty conflagration, and we pray for your holy fire to come right now.

And Lord we pray for your holy rain. We pray that that rain will come. It will come Lord, and it will be a wet rain. Lord, it will be a wet rain that falls. It will be a falling wet rain, Lord. Lord it will not be that rising dry rain, but a rain that will fall, it will be wet, Lord, it will come, and it will make wet that which was dry. Lord there will be a moistening, of the unmoistened, when that falling wet rain comes, and Lord we pray for that holy rain to come apon us now.

And finally Lord, we pray for your holy wind. we pray for that holy wind, lord, we pray it will come, and it will be a real moving of the air. Lord, it will be a moving of the air, it will not be that wind of still air, that does not move, but it will move, and it will be a holy moving wind that will removes that which was unremoved.

Actually, as you were, lord, I think we got the order a bit wrong here, because, thinking about it, if your holy rain comes immediately after your holy fire, it will make a terrible mass, and your holy wind won't have a hope of shifting a great lumps of soggy ash, so perhaps thinking about it - if it's all right with you - we'll have your holy fire, followed by holy wind - not too quickly, or it will fan your holy fire to life just when we want it to go out - followed by holy rain just to freshen everything up, amen.

I'm glad God has a sense of humour.