Prayers for daily life
Malcolm Elliott reviews a book of prayers by Ray Salmon
Many of us find difficulty with prayer. We want to give thanks. We hope for peace and for an end to the sufferings of others. We may find it easy to offer up spontaneous thanks to God for the blessings of this world, but to engage in daily prayer is to invite all sorts of questions about the nature of God. We face the stark fact of our own trivial existence against the infinite wonder of creation. How can we truly believe that God hears our prayers, and if so what kind of a cosmic switchboard can cope with such a profusion of importunate mortals, while still keeping an eye on his ever-increasing plethora of galaxies?
We do not pretend to understand why we pray, but, despite all our rational doubts, we continue to do so. We pray for loved ones in pain and we pray for our wonderful, yet so fragile, civilisation. Prayer is endemic in our human condition, so it is good to have the help from other people in knowing how they pray.
Ray Salmon of Leicester Meeting has been practising daily prayer for many years and has made a habit of writing down his prayers. He has just published a collection of these in a book, Prayers for Daily Life. The prayers come from his personal conviction of God’s love. He explains in a preface how in the spring of 1961, he ‘had an experience of the spirit’ which he sees as his ‘conversion’. ‘As my experience of the spirit had arisen out of a prayer, albeit brief, I felt the need to share the notion of prayer as a route to the divine for those wishing to take it.’ Some years later, he says he ‘took up the notion of having a writing period before going to work, the writing consisting of religious reflections and prayers. In the evening I drew and painted.’
Ray uses an almost conversational style in his prayers that reminds one of that delightful book, Mister God, this is Anna. Take for instance this prayer about overcoming death: ‘Almighty God, it is taught that Jesus atoned for our sins, and overcame evil and death, but is this teaching correct? Does death need overcoming? Surely it is just a biological event, although possibly attended it is true by distressing circumstances both in the manner in which death may be brought about, and in the effects death may have on those close to the person who dies, but in itself, Father, is death an evil? Surely not. Sleep is one of your many precious gifts, a pleasure in itself and a boon in the beneficial effects it accords us, and sometimes I think of sleep as a rehearsal for our permanent sleep. Surely this too, if not a pleasure, is a good and accords your creation benefits, and also those who die. We thank and praise you for dying, for brother Death and his several merits, not least that he ushers us into a new life, hopefully one which is closer to you, our heavenly Father.’
Ray’s personal worship has an Anglican background and his Quakerism is not often explicitly mentioned in the 881 prayers printed, but the following gives a flavour of his daily offerings: ‘Heavenly Father I thank you for the wonderful gifts which you have granted to us week by week in our Meetings for Worship and Sunday School classes, gifts of inspiration and insight, of understanding and comfort; and I thank you for the wonderful gifts which you will be making possible for us today: in anticipation, thank you Father, THANK YOU!’
Those who wish to share Ray’s journey in the spirit can obtain a copy of his book from bookshops, the publisher being Troubador/Matador, ISBN 978 1848765 320 at £12.99.
The book may also be viewed on his website, www.thefellowship.me.uk. The illustrations on the web are slightly different, being paintings he has done this year.
