Hi Wesley. I wouldn't want to stop or put down anyone in such a way either. The pastoral question for me that remains is how to sit with someone who has prayed in this way, and is wrestling with why God didn't do what they wanted, er, prayed for. I would rather model a different approach which is congruent with my theology (which I'm still wrestling with, of course), which might be rather than asking God to fix the wrestle, asking for God's presence in the wrestle with us. I think God does work like that -- God is with us always, everywhere, and our invocation/request of/for God's presence is really just a reminder to ourselves of that.
Through a close friend I've recently met a young father about my own age, who is left with a 3 year old son; his wife died a year ago of cancer. Prayers didn't result in physical healing for her. I can only begin to imagine the pain and confusion. I look forward to when our quickly deepening relationship enables us to begin talking about where God is in all of this for him, and wrestling with what this means for faith and theology. Regards, Rohan Rohan Pryor Manager, Information Technology Services Synod of Victoria and Tasmania Uniting Church in Australia Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: (03) 9251 5243 Fax: (03) 9654 4110 Website: http://vic.uca.org.au -----Original Message----- From: Susan & Wesley [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 2:03 PM To: 'insights-l' Subject: Re: Praying for Rain > Hi Wesley. > > If we expect God to deliver rain because we prayed for it, what happens > when the rains don't come? That's a pastoral and theological issue as well. > Perhaps it's not so much what we pray for, as how we pray for it. Hello Rohan, I agree with that, we have no right to expect to get what we pray for (we can rest assured that God doesn't work like that!). The point I wanted to raise is that we should not stop or put people down if they choose to pray for rain, or as Amelia said good health for the sick. Wesley ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
