I once knew of a man called William Corney. He was an old man, well into his late 80s, and more or less housebound. A devout Christian, he was one of those people who seem to have a ‘hot line’ to God. Whenever anyone went to visit him he always had just the right word they needed to hear/receive… even if he knew nothing of their situation. Where did this ‘hot line’ to God come from? Well Mr Corney had a favourite chair which he sat in for most of the day. He called it his ‘prayer chair’ because that is what he did for most of the day… listening to God and not just talking to God.

Vasily Rozanov (1856–1919), the prominent and highly controversial Russian philosopher, literary critic, and journalist… known for his deeply personal, often paradoxical writing style in which he challenged traditional Christian views, believed that the Family was more important than the Church, and that the family meal was more meaningful than the Eucharistic… famously asserted that ultimately ‘All religions will pass but this will remain: simply sitting in a chair and looking in the distance.’ I beg to differ, and would suggest that as long as we continue to sit in that chair… gazing thoughtfully and prayerfully into the distant future, looking forward seeking to discern the heart and mind of God (and not just nostalgically into the distant past)…   that very act of contemplation and seeking meaning, embodied in those quiet moments, will enable us (and the church and world for which we pray) to engage with God in a deep and powerful way.

We do need to use this time to look thoughtfully and prayerfully into the distant past. It is not wrong to look back… it depends on how we do it? Let me tell you of another elderly person we had in one of our churches, Dennis (not his real name). Dennis was a genuine Christian but very opposed to change or anything he considered ‘newfangled’. As far as Dennis was concerned nothing significant had happened in the Church since the 1950s when Billy Graham first came to the UK. He ran his own ‘unofficial’ Home Group – consisting of Dennis, his wife, one or two friends, and anybody else he could lure from time to time. They would listen to reel-to-reel sermon tapes (not even cassettes), watch Christian videos (not DVDs), and listen to Christian music (on old vinyl) all from the 1950s. If Dennis could have turned the church clock back 70 years he would have done so in a heartbeat. Nostalgia – a  sentimental longing/wistful affection for a period in the past – is a real killer when it comes to spiritual vibrancy/being in step/tune with God!? NB. Much the same could be said for those ‘baby boomers’ amongst us who want to take us back to the charismatic movement or the contemporary praise and worship movement of the 1970s/80s. God himself has moved on from all of that. Since those days the charismatic movement has significantly changed direction from an emphasis on the empowering and gifting of the Holy Spirit to an emphasis on the purpose behind such an empowering – engaging in meaningful integral mission – as Jesus himself emphasised in Act 1:8. Corporate contemporary worship has also moved on to a much more meaningful (and attractive) lively liturgical approach involving contemplation, re-engaging with scripture, grounded preaching, intercessory prayer for the church and the world, and so on.

There remains a place, however, for sitting in our prayer chair and thoughtfully and prayerfully looking back at the past. My wife Julia and I have recently ‘retired’ from active ministry (if Baptist Ministers every really retire), and moved back to the delightful Georgian riverside town of Bewdley, in Worcestershire. Bewdley Baptist Church was my first church after leaving Spurgeon’s College in 1969. During my time there I was privileged to lead the church through an amazing period of spiritual renewal, during the early 1970s, which not only deeply affected the church but the town itself and, indeed, the whole area. So (perhaps naturally, but also under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) I have found myself – sitting in my own prayer chair – looking back thoughtfully and prayerfully over those years to see what was good and Godly about those days; what was not so good; where I got things right and where I got things wrong; where God ‘broke in’ in those halcyon days and why; what was achieved that was of lasting value; what we have ‘lost’ or ‘forgotten’ since those heady days when the Spirit of God fell upon a whole community as he did at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4,11).

At the same time I have been attempting to also prayerfully look into the distant future in order to try and discern what it is God is seeking to do – in the nations, here in Bewdley and the surrounding area, and in our own lives – in the future. I am not one of those nostalgic people who sits in his chair looking back and longing for days long gone, by the way. I genuinely believe – as ridiculous as it may seem – that God intends to ‘break into’ our spiritually moribund society and Church in a significant way once again – an awakening for the nations and a renewal of the Church.  As A M Hunter reminds us ‘His is the art of feeding new and extraordinary happenings into that history of which he is Lord.’ Quite when or how this will come about I do not know. We certainly cannot bring it about in and of ourselves – although realigning our lives with God, his ways, and his plans and purposes for us, is no bad thing for us to do. This kind of awakening and renewal is within God’s sovereign gift… so the best we can do is to keep praying and preparing our hearts and lives for it. Neither can we know for certain quite what it will look like. No doubt it will be quite different to what we expect to happen.

When Billy Graham came to the UK in 1954 he visited Wales. While there he spoke at a meeting for ministers and laymen, many of whom could remember the 1904 Welsh Revival. ‘Do you remember the Revival?’ Graham asked. ‘Yes! Yes!’ came the reply from the congregation. ‘Are you praying for God to send another Revival?’ Graham asked. ‘Yes! Yes!’ came back the enthusiastic reply. ‘Would you like the Revival to be as it was in 1904?’ Graham asked. ‘Yes, indeed yes!’ his excited hearers responded loudly! ‘Are you prepared for such a Revival to be completely different?’ asked Graham. His congregation replied with a stunned silence!

For the last couple of years I have struggled with my eyesight, particularly my right eye. I have been with a certain well-known chain of opticians for several years and they told me that I had a degenerative condition that could not be resolved without major surgery. This problem with my eyes affected my ability to read (and I do a lot of reading) and undermined my confidence in driving our car (Julia does most of the driving these days but I want to be able to help her out on long drives and be able to make short trips to the doctor, dentist, shops, etc. without Julia having to take me). I have prayed a lot about this, especially since the beginning of the year, and believed God was going to help me overcome this problem. I didn’t know how – a miraculous healing or sufficient grace to live with the problem? What actually happened was not at all what I expected.  One day, a month or so ago, I was walking through our town and felt prompted to call in at our local independent optician. He turned out to have been in the town for 40 years (in fact Julia helped him out as a temporary receptionist some 30 years ago). I had a very thorough eye examination (covering far more areas that the well-known chain of opticians had) during which he identified certain issues and  reassured me that the problem could be resolved to quite some degree enabling me to read more clearly and drive with confidence. Two weeks later – complete with new spectacles – I find that I can indeed see far more clearly enabling me to read easily and drive with confidence. I believed God was going to answer my prayer (because it was a good prayer, a right prayer)… I just wasn’t expecting him to answer that prayer via an optician?!

Gazing into the distance, however, is not simply about praying for renewal in the Church and an awakening for the nation. Although not an Anglican myself, one of the things I do appreciate about traditional Anglicanism is the prominent place they give to intercessory prayer ‘for the Church and the World’ (something sadly often missing from Baptist Worship Services today). I am often told by my fellow Baptists, ‘Well, we pray at other times!’ By this they usually mean poorly attended times of prayer either in a small group or on Zoom. My conviction is that the best time for corporate prayer is when the majority of the church get together i.e. Sunday Morning Worship… and if we, as a gathered Body of Christ are not praying for the Church and the World, who is? It is said that Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) never prayed for himself (believing that God already knew his needs) but constantly for the Church and the World. Sitting in our prayer chair, gazing thoughtfully and prayerfully into the distance, will surely enlighten and inspire us to pray for the Church and the World ( 1 John 5:14,15).

My late mother-in-law (well into her 90s at the time) used to say, ‘Sometimes I sits and thinks… and sometimes I just sits!’ Now in my early 80s I know the feeling but now ‘Sometimes I sits and thinks… and sometimes I just sits… but more often than not I now sits (in my prayer chair) and thinks… and looks prayerfully into the distance!’

Jim Binney