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Prayer, The Embrace of Love

Author:	Andrew Clitherow
Published By:	SPCK (London)
Pages:	148
Price:	£10.99
ISBN:	978 0 281 06152 5

Reviewed by Ursula Franklin.

Andrew Clitherow, an Anglican priest in Lytham, has written a compelling book, which challenges both heart and will.  He shows how the relationship each of us has with God is the well from which each of us draws refreshment, challenge, and encouragement.  Away with the ‘gymnastics’ of prayer which are so often advocated - this is skins to skins relationship and bones to bones sacrificial learning to pray.  It is love itself at work, cleansing, teaching, and upholding.

The author’s first intent was “to write a book about prayer by exploring certain passages from the Bible”; he ended up writing about “prayer” and “love”.  It has proved to be a rewarding angle.  When the disciples, struggling against the storm at sea, thought Jesus to be a ghost, Mark comments, ‘their hearts were hardened’, for they had not yet understood the meaning of the feeding of the five thousand.  They did not recognise that Jesus was the one through whom God was changing the world of human relationships; the condition of their hearts was not right.  Andrew Clitherow agues that, in order to pray aright, our hearts have to be softened by God.  He goes on to expound why and how we pray in the night time of life.  This book, anchored in every-day experience, makes for a satisfying read.