Article April 19, 1982 Issue

Prayer in sport

ROWLAND D. GEORGE

Would it be unfair—"not cricket" in English parlance—for a player to enlist outside help, the power of God, through prayer, if his opponent did not do so? Although the tone of this suggestion from correspondence in an English newspaper was lighthearted, the question could well prompt one to a deeper consideration of the relevance of prayer to sporting activities.

Understanding God's government of man and the universe is fundamental in every aspect of experience. The textbooks of Christian Science—the Bible, and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy—are replete with guidance. Are we too apt to apply these statements in a single direction, the one that first occurs to us, instead of realizing their wider application to all that concerns us? "Pray without ceasing,"^{Thess. 5:17.} we read in I Thessalonians, and this injunction must of necessity relate to all right activity, including sport.

This certainly does not imply that before a race we should pray barefacedly that we will win! That would be tantamount to praying for our will to be done. Of course we want to do our best, and in this ambition we are given specific advice by Mrs. Eddy, on the very first page of the textbook: "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."^{Science and Health, p. 1.}