From Inside Student Blogs (http://blogs.iesabroad.org/jasmine-hunter/a-moveable-feast-paris/)

MANY people are drawn to atheism not because of the philosophical arguments for it but because they are egalitarians suspicious of any form of hierarchy. They are not just suspicious of hierarchy, they are downright uncomfortable with it. This suspicion and discomfort make prayer almost impossible. After all, prayer is the act of addressing an infinitely higher being.

The egalitarian who attempts to pray is similar to a man dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and baseball cap appearing in the court of a king. To the man in the baseball cap, the regalia of the court is absurd and embarrassing. He may approach it with the interest of an antiquarian visiting a museum, but not as something real. The trappings and ceremony are so unnecessary. But more than that, the authority of the king makes the egalitarian intensely uncomfortable. He can either ridicule the ceremony that surrounds him or feel how primitive his own position is, which would be a shattering discovery.

The egalitarian finds it difficult, if not impossible, to pray. (I am referring to serious praying of course, not the squishy, self-centered emoting, in which God is a guy in a baseball cap too, that often substitutes for it today.) The problem with this is that God often does not communicate with a person until the person communicates with him first. This puts the egalitarian in a bind. He cannot discover God because he cannot speak to him.

For the egalitarian who truly wants to pray but feels that to do so is alien and foreign to him, there is a solution.

He must present himself in the court and say nothing. Even with his baseball cap on.

He should, as St. Francis de Sales once wisely advised, stand in this magnificent court like a statue and simply offer his presence. That is the first step for the person steeped all his life in equality to learn how to pray.

“In the palaces of kings there are statues arranged, which serve only to recreate the royal vision. Be content, then, as one of the these in the presence of God. He will animate this statue when he pleases.” [Consoling Thoughts, On Trials of an Interior Life, St. Francis de Sales; Tan Books]

— Comments —

Jeff W. writes:

One of the meanings of repentance is a change of understanding.  In Greek the word for repentance is metanoia, which means a change in our nous.

It is human nature to ignore God, or to believe that he is uninvolved in human affairs, or to believe that he can be placated with gifts or ritual behavior.  Christ calls upon us to believe the truth about God and man, that God is a loving Creator who rules the universe, and that man’s proper role is to accept God’s rule by entering into his kingdom.

Repentance has many facets to it.  It is not merely a change of heart where we acknowledge the bad things we have done and feel sorry about them and resolve to do better.  It is a part of a total renewal of heart, mind and will.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).  “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).

It would be a very good first step of repentance if the man in the baseball cap would stand still before God and offer his presence.  But it is only a first step of repentance.  He should resolve to accept all of the truth about God and himself and to act accordingly.

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