Watch and Pray

Jesus spent his whole ministry teaching people to see. He complained of those who could tell the weather but couldn't read the signs of the times. He complained of those who looking do not see. He tells a story about those who ask 'Lord when did we see you naked or in prison or hungry?'

He also tells his disciples to 'watch and pray'. Watchful praying and prayerful watching are what we are about. We need to take time out, like Jesus had, to pray in order that we can see. We need to spend time in the world in order that we can pray.

Prayer is coming into contact with the reality of God. It is therefore the exact opposite of the 'opium of the people', it is the way to be truly awake in the face of numbing addictions and lies that the secular world puts out. Advertising, propaganda and so much else surrounds us all the time that we need to take time away in order to be able to tell the truth.

"To go through life with open eyes, to discern Christ in unimportant people and, alert, to do the right thing at the right time: that is what praying and watching is about. We believe so that we can see - and can withstand what we see."

Jurgen Moltmann, In the End - the Beginning

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