Christ Church Moreton Hall

This month I want to do a small plug for Radio West Suffolk, the hospital radio. They broadcast on 1350AM so you can listen to them at home or in your car.

It is run purely by volunteers and they do a wonderful job. They have a "Thought for the Week" every Thursday evening and I am privileged occasionally to be invited to speak.

At first I found it quite disconcerting not being able to see the people to whom I was talking. Was anyone listening or was I just talking to myself?

In church of course it is quite different; I can look into the eyes of the congregation - those who are awake. (Abraham Lincoln once said "If everyone who fell asleep in church was laid end to end they'd be a lot more comfortable").

It occurs to me that prayer is a bit like speaking on the radio. When we pray to God and seem to get no answer how do we know that we are not just talking to ourselves.

There's a story of a sailor who falls in the water he prays "Dear God, you don't know me because I've never prayed before, I'm Sam the sailor. I'm drowning, I'm on the verge of death, please send a lifeboat or helicopter quickly, I know you are probably too busy to bother with someone like me, I've not lived a good life, but I promise if you save me I'll never bother you again".

The poor sailor made the same mistake many of us make; he thought his life was not worth anything to God so he had never prayed. There are also those of us who have stopped praying because we never see our prayers answered. But prayer is all about having a relationship with God. We build up relationships with people by speaking to them and listening to them. It is the same with God.

We have to build our relationship with him not only through prayer but also by worshipping him, serving him, discovering more about him in the bible. God wants us to bother him, he is never too busy.

The more we mix with other Christians the closer we get to God and the easier it is to hear his answer to our prayers. He does listen to us.

We have a powerful God who loves and cares for every single life he ever created. He knows the needs of every person on earth. At Christ Church we have found it so encouraging when we have prayed and received answers from God, even when they were not the answers we were expecting.