back back to Faith previous previous story  |  next story next

Prayer for the week

Miranda Threlfall-Holmes reflects on Providence

for a competent living

Although I doubt not of thy fatherly provision for this my poor and needy life, yet, forasmuch as thou hast both commanded and taught me, by thy dear Son, to pray unto thee for things necessary for this my life, I am bold at this present to come unto thy divine Majesty, most humbly beseeching thee that, as thou hast given me life, so thou wilt give me meat and drink to sustain the same; again, as thou hast given me a body, so thou wilt give me clothes to cover it, that I, having sufficient for my living, may the more freely and with the quieter mind apply myself unto thy service and honour. Amen.

Thomas Becon

The Pomander of Prayer (1558)

THIS PRAYER was written 450 years ago; yet the sense of nagging financial worries that it conveys is instantly recognisable today. Thomas Becon was the most popular religious writer of the 16th century. His Pomander of Prayer, in which this prayer appears, went through at least five editions in the first 20 years of publication.

Becon’s readers were not the destitute poor, but included many of the increasingly literate working classes, and the rapidly growing middle and professional classes of Tudor England. They, like us, are unlikely to have been experiencing a pressing need for food and clothing. Also, like us, they would often have found themselves worrying about money. This is a prayer “for a competent living”, for a comfortable sufficiency. But how much is enough?

It seems that one of the enduring features of the human condition is a tendency to worry continually about our financial status and security. A recent survey asked people earning more than £50,000 a year whether they felt rich. The average respondents said that, in order to feel rich, they would need to be earning £125,000, own at least two houses, and be educating their children privately.

Other research has suggested that, although people believe they would be happier if they were richer, there is in fact no link between happiness and income, above a certain minimum of about £10,000.

This prayer addresses our financial anxieties with a tender realism. It takes seriously both our worries and our sense of guilt about bothering God with worries that we are perfectly aware are rather self-indulgent. The prayer begins by giving us permission to pray about this at all. “Although I doubt not of thy fatherly provision for this my poor and needy life, yet . . . thou hast both commanded and taught me . . . to pray unto thee for things necessary for this my life.”

Not many written prayers begin with that “although”, and yet that is often how we actually begin our private prayers. “Dear God, I know I shouldn’t ask for this, but it is really worrying me . . .” It is good to be reassured that we can pray for whatever is on our minds.

The stated aim of the “competent living” prayed for is that I “may the more freely and with the quieter mind apply myself unto thy service and honour”. Yet this prayer does not merely hope for this, but does what it can to help bring it about.

It starts from where we are, in the midst of our worries, and has us ask only for enough. In limiting the amount we ask for to that which we need, we are gently reminded that our needs and our wants are not the same. We are also reminded that the aim of this prayer, and of a satisfactory income, is not merely freedom from want, but freedom to focus our minds on God.

Yet all this can get too smug. In a world where many do not have “a competent living”, what are we to make of the implication that God, having created us with bodily needs, has some sort of a duty to satisfy those needs? This is the central accusation brought against God by humanistic atheists: that a God who could create us, and then allow us to suffer, is guilty of terrible neglect.

I find myself coming back, however, to that initial “Although . . .” We know, in our best moments, that God is good and cares for us. Yet, in the face of the suffering and poverty we see around us, it can be hard to hold on to that conviction. This prayer accepts that ambiguity in our feelings, and helps us to pray with it, and through it.

God, we know (we hope) that you are good. Help our unbelief, and accept our prayers for the things that make us doubt you.

The Revd Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is Chaplain and Solway Fellow at University College, Durham.


back back to Faith up back to top previous previous story  |  next story next


© Church Times 2006 - All rights reserved

Website by Baigent