The Call to Prayer

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By Judith Anderson


My group has returned home from Iringa, Tanzania and while on the plane from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, these are the thoughts that were filling my mind.

In Tanzania there are Christians and Muslims in about equal parts. In each town and village where we slept, we would be awakened by the Muslim loud speakers on a mosque sending out their call to prayer.  This sound, unfamiliar to most of my fellow travelers, led to discussion on how we Christians, Lutherans in particular, have no formal call to prayer. 

My feelings are that yes we do. Some times I am called and other times it is a private matter where I must open or reopen my conversation with God.

Bawna Jesu Asifewe. Amen 

As we are gathered in a group the pastor says, "Let us pray."  This is a call to join in to add our amens to a prayer or to join in the recitations of common prayer, such as the Lord's prayer.



In Tanzania you may pray in English or in the Swahili you have struggled to learn. 

We are called to prayer when asked to say the table grace, or to lead the devotion after a day of visiting the preaching points Bega Kwa Bega. 

Pastor Chris formally called us together at the Amsterdam airport to join him in a prayer of thanksgiving for bringing us safely down the mountainside from Iringa to the airport in Dar. Thanksgiving for our gifted driver who took us down roads most unfamiliar to us, keeping us safe as he drove. We asked for the rest of our journey to be safe, and we are all home now with the hymns of Tanzania still singing in our heads. 
 
For me the most important call to prayer is heard in my heart.  This is when my prayer is a conversation with God; no formality, language the same as if speaking to my family or any of you. I speak, I listen, I am filled with Grace. 

Would a formal call to prayer be a good thing? I don't know. I do not believe it is wrong, it is just not how I am called. Christ spoke of prayer, saying to go into a quite place and pray. 

What ever your conversation with God, may you find solace and joy, peace and understanding.

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