When we write on the back of something, we endorse it. The word includes the idea of approval. Something that is endorsed has our assent. We probably did not manufacture the original cheque, contract or international agreement but we accept its veracity and associate ourselves with it.
So it is that we endorse a proposal or form of words with a flourish. We are not being original or creative in formulating a document. We come to it as to an undertaking that is done and dusted. We accept it for what it is and set our seal on it.
So what kind of endorsement if any is there as far as prayer is concerned? The ‘Amen’ we say at the end? Yes, that is an opportunity to endorse a prayer that has been said. But there is more.
Prayer is many-sided. In and beyond the Book of Common Prayer there is a heritage preserved in parish churches. It includes the form of a collect. Augustine and Cranmer handled that very well. Like a sonnet, a collect is pithy, succinct and to the point. Prayer can also take the form of a hymn. Luther and Charles Wesley were masters in that field. And prayer can assume the form of a cry, a call for help. ‘Betwixt the stirrup and the ground, mercy I asked, mercy I found.’ William Camden gave us that classic plea. An emergency gives urgency to our calling upon God. Prayer also takes the form of listing others and their needs. Cranmer’s litany is a peerless example of this.
In passing, we do well to measure these examples of prayer with the Lord’s Prayer. We find that the scope of that prayer pushes us into viewing our priorities – and our short-sightedness. We pray for ourselves and we pray for others – not because we know what is good for them and for us but because we recognise that God knows more about these things than we do.
So where does endorsement come in? When we pray, we do not come to God with our minds made up. We recognise that we are poor at praying for things that are beyond our limited understanding. We have no ready-made programme for which we seek God’s endorsement. That can be called late-stage prayer. It can easily slip into arrogance. Better to start at the beginning. If we are appropriately wary of asking God to endorse what we see to be desirable, we can happily contemplate endorsement. I say amen to that.
‘SAY ONE FOR ME’
St Paul’s church, Holgate, York (built in 1851) has this unaffected offer of a prayer line on its website. It is also neighbour to the National Railway Museum and in a position to demonstrate the close ties between steam and prayer that once characterised our transport system. Oh, and Holgate also has a windmill, currently being refurbished. Leading the ministry team is Paul Millard.
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