Yesterday a request landed in my inbox for input to an upcoming, local prayer event.  I try to support these as I think they are important, though along with a lot of people groan at the potential for one-up-church(hu)man-ship that arises with the 'two items for praise and thanks'.

This time as well as the usual, laudable if flawed, request for two items of praise/thanks and two for prayer came two others.  The first of these was 'one item of unanswered prayer.'  I'm afraid I saw red at this point, as it reflects a theology that, at its berst, reduces God to a benevolent genie who will grant boons to the faithful; and at worst to a capricious puppeteer who merely dallies with her creatures (see I can have a bad feminine deity, I'm not biased ;0) ).  Way back in Sunday school I was told there were three answers to prayer, 'yes,' 'no,' and 'wait.'  It is maybe simplistic, but I have a sneaky suspicion it's better theology than the alternative.  Anyway, why reply was that I didn't believe in unanswered prayer, just prayers that failed to accord with God's will, and we didn't have any.  Or words to that effect but a tad more gracious.  This morning I saw this picture on a social network site, and it seemed to connect:

The other thing we are asked to do was to identify one thing God is teaching our church just now.  I wrote something about the patience and challenge needed to exercise a prophetic witness.  I think that was an OK answer.  What I wish I had written was something like "I love you with an everlasting love" or "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" or "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, God's mercy never ends, eveery day they are fully renewed, such if God's faithfulness".  AH well.

I know all the questions are well meant, and I am not meaning to disrepsect the person or church who drew up the list.  Just wish we actually were a bit more clued up about what prayer is not!