Article February 18, 1967 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Harold Blake Walker, Rudy H. Thomas

The Rev. Dr. Harold Blake Walker First Presbyterian Church, Evanston in Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine Chicago, Illinois

We often are disposed to think that prayer is something to fill the gaps between the normal activities of life. That is to say, we pray at bedtime when we are thru with the day, and of course, prayer at bedtime may be helpful. Or we pray at the beginning of the day. But Paul insisted that we pray constantly, as if prayer were not something only for the gaps, but also a mood characteristic of all living, a practicing of the presence of God in the office or at luncheon, or during the coffee break.

There is, of course, a time for retreat in order to "see life steadily and see it whole" in meditative prayer. Jesus went often to the garden to fill the gaps between activities with prayer; but it is clear also that He lived His days in the spirit of prayer, walking thru the marketplaces of His world "in quietness and in confidence" as if He knew He were in the presence of God not only in the garden, but also in the marketplace.

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