Prayer Is

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful, because I come to you for safety. In the shadow of your wings I find protection until the raging storms are over. Psalm 57.1

We may not be skilled like the writers of the psalms to express our joys or our fears, but like them, when we pray we bring our whole selves before God. Sometimes we may have a practical problem, sometimes we may be worried about a loved one, but whatever the particular reason we are praying, underlying the prayer is the way we feel in our heart toward God. It may be that our feelings do not greatly change from day to day, there is a certain mood which is characteristic of our life. This mood is expressed in our prayers: it may be altered by the fact of our praying and God answering. He gives us 'the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness' (Isaiah 61.3).

There are hymns which express the feelings with which we come in prayer. Hymns like this one:

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
Where none but God is near....

Prayer is the glory in all of life's circumstances, from the child's first simple talking to God, to the intelligent praise of the student or scholar, from a joyful release from the power of sin to strength in spirit when our bodily strength is failing.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The majesty on high.

Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice
And cry, 'Behold he prays!'

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
His watchword at the gate of death;
He enters heaven with prayer.....

When we read words like these we often wonder - who wrote this? What were his life experiences? (It is the same with the Psalms, for example when an incident in David's life can throw a vivid light on the words he speaks to God.) The hymn we have been quoting was written some 200 years ago by James Montgomery of Sheffield.

James was born in Scotland into the Moravian fellowship. Both his parents went off as missionaries in the West Indies, leaving him at school to train for the ministry. They both died, very soon, leaving James stranded at school near Leeds. His chief interest at school was not in the curriculum - poetry. He was apprenticed to a baker, then to a store keeper. He went to London, but failed to make his fortune as a writer. Despite all this, it was writing that became his career in Sheffield. For 30 years he was editor of the local newspaper, he wrote poems, and twice he was put in prison. This was because of his political views, especially his praise of the Revolution in France - the English authorities deemed this a dangerous tendency.

In his work he fought the cause of child chimney sweeps and of the abolition of slavery. He lived to be over 80 and had streets named after him, and was commemorated for his work in establishing Sunday schools (in the days before state education). During his life he wrote some 400 hymns, starting in his teen years and in later life supporting the Anglican Vicar of Sheffield whose congregation did not like new hymns. Many of his hymns were methodical teaching hymns, but often there was a flash of inspiration - two hundred years on, we still sing 'Angels from the realms of glory' at Christmas.

'Prayer is the soul's sincere desire' also contains the verse
O Thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hath trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray.

Montgomery's active life as poet, editor, activist, philanthropist, must have taught him his need for the inner peace and assurance of prayer. He was aware not just of his need to pray, but of the need for prayer to be genuine. 'Lord, teach us how to pray aright.'