WOMAN & PRAYER

From Deborah to Hannah, from Mary to the modern day, women have voiced their relationship with God in prayer.

T here was a time when women were seen as 'the second sex', when the chief place of the woman was the domestic, when a woman could own no property. Yet there was something a woman could do to help with her limited circumstances.

There was a time when the vast majority of the female population were illiterate and their spirituality was seen as inferior to men. Yet women came unaccompanied before the very throne of the Almighty in prayer. In 400BC, the Greek philosopher Thales expressed gratitude that he was 'born a human being not a beast, next that he was a man and not a woman and thirdly, Greek and not a barbarian.'

Later the thought was incorporated into morning prayers of thanks for not having been created a slave, a gentile or a woman. But in the eyes of God this has never been so. Some 1900 years ago, in a dramatic reversal of the thoughts of men, the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians in what many believe was a baptismal creed that 'there is neither Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.'

The Silence of History

If you study anthologies of prayers collected throughout history you could be forgiven for thinking that women hardly prayed at all. Yet when British author Dorothy Stewart put together her anthology Women of Prayer, it was quite another matter. 'when you look at published anthologies of prayer, you're lucky to find one prayer which was written by a woman. You get the impression that women weren't praying....Yet when I started looking for women's prayers. I easily found 350 and proof that women were and are still active.'

Historically, communication of the deepest thoughts of human beings include only rare female representation. Where are the large numbers of women actors, poets, sculptors and playwrights of ancient times? There are a few, but for centuries access to these forms was barred for practical and social reasons. In Renaissance times, artists trained in apprenticeships. They required freedom and materials. Even writing, which theoretically required only paper and a pencil, in reality needed a place of quiet and sufficient freedom from household chores.

Yet the art of prayer, the deepest and most personal medium of communication, could always be accessed by even the poorest, most uneducated woman. She needed no classical allusions, no elegant language or experience of the wider world. She could speak from the heart. Her praise, her personal needs and longings, her vision of the future, all these were poured out before her Creator.

It is this we find in the pages of the Bible. The prayer of Hannah, for example, is a tearful, heartfelt plea to God in the face of childlessness. Yet interestingly, Hannah's prayer was misunderstood by the high priest, Eli, who assumed she was drunk. But Hannah explained: 'I am a woman of sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord' (1 Samuel 1:15, KJV).

Mary's Vision of Justice

Perhaps the most famous prayer by a woman is the joyful response of Mary to the news that she has been chosen to bear the Messiah. It is known as 'Mary's Magnificat', but in the hurly-burly of extreme attitudes towards Mary, what she actually said can be forgotten.

It is a prayer of great power and beauty. The young woman betrothed to a Nazarene carpenter sings out to God of her joy at the coming, from her very womb, of the one who would bring justice to her troubled world. Mary's prayer, shared with her cousin Elizabeth, is a vision of a kingdom where oppressors would be brought low and the humble raised from their poverty. Her words - 'He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble' (Luke 1:52) - sprang from her own experience. The young Jewish woman may have seemed unimportant in the occupied country in which she lived. But in the eyes of God she was 'favoured...blessed...among women'.

In her older age, Mary continued to play an important role in the Christian community. The primary witnesses of Christ's death by crucifixion were largely made up of women, one being Mary. The book of Acts lists her as one of the first Christians present on the Day of Pentecost. She was among the group of whom Peter said: 'Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy (Acts 1:14, 2:18).

'That Better Part'

Prayer has always allowed women a freedom they knew nowhere else. Women who were hardly recognised by those around found honour with God. In the story of Martha and Mary, Jesus tells Martha that Mary's desire for spiritual; understanding was right. Christ himself said that he came to earth as one who served. But in this case Mary had chosen 'that better part' and put to the top of her lists of priorities 'the one thing necessary to be barred from the spiritual by their domestic duties.

So what do women pray about? Is there a uniquely female voice of prayer? The answer seems to be that women pray about almost everything. Many biblical prayers by women are to do with pregnancy, children or childlessness. But these personal events are the circumstances in which our relationship with God grows, not its totality.

Another common concern is justice. The prophetess Deborah, fourth judge of Israel, lauded God: 'The voice of the singers at the watering places. The recite the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel' (Judges 5:11). Of course, most prayers are not written down. They are conversations in complete privacy. Like the Psalms, though, some prayers have been recorded. Dorothy Stewart's anthology includes prayers of women on every aspect of life. (See 'A Historical Voice'.)

Sadly, the voice of women is often missing from the pages of human history books. It is unrecorded in anthologies and underrepresented in the libraries of literature greats. But women of faith have always been heard by God. Their prayers have been answered. Today, women continue to bring their lives before God. Whatever their struggles, their joys and their most private thoughts, prayer is still the most personal and liberating from of expression possible.

Irrespective of society's views, our ability to come confidently before the throne of grace is unhindered. Because of Christ's sacrifice, we can enter the Holy of Holies, the presence of the Most High. Whether old, young, married, single, pregnant, healthy, suffering, joyful, disabled, or dying - there is no code of admission to God's presence other than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Any inequalities are utterly removed in our relationship with God, before whom men and women are 'heirs together of the grace of life' and our 'prayers are not hindered'.

A HISTORICAL VOICE Anne Bronte, one of the Bronte sisters of Haworth, wrote many prayers. In one she confides: 'I feel that I am weak and prone to every sin...unworthy as I am, cherish me.' The American poet Emily Dickinson asks 'one favour, that we may be forgiven'. Julian of Norwich, who lived in the 14th century, prayed 'God, of your goodness, give me yourself. . . . If I were to ask less, I should always be in want.' Some women prayed during trials. 'I do not know, O God, what may happen to me today, ' begins a prayer by Madame Elizabeth of France (1764-94), in prison awaiting the guillotine. She prays for 'patience in troubles'. Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of England whose short life spanned from 1537 to 1554 pleaded from her prison cell for courage to 'stand fast, above all things taking the shield of faith, praying always that we may refer ourselves wholly to they will'. Other heartfelt prayers reflect the pain of loss due to bereavement. The wife of Edward Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, prayed after her husband's death: 'All the beauty of our past life together, the home we made, the dignity and glory of it, the fellowship, the humour, the conspiracies, the discussions, the life. . . all this is over. Give me strength and power to be still and see what Thou wilt do.' There are many other subjects for prayer included in Dorothy Stewart's volume Women of Prayer. Some are centered on a woman's experience of the world. The experience of childbirth, menopause or even emotions on finding a lump in the breast. Some are personal and humorous - seeking a positive attitude to unexpected visitors, for example: 'May it all turn out to be shining and good and lovely, to compensate for my sense of distress, ill humour, of not wanting to bother.' Then, of course, these are the global concerns: peace, injustice, poverty and refugees. The needs of our troubles world are brought before God by women who have in many cases experienced the consequences of a deeply flawed society. Some of these women known only to God. Some have prayed from places of torture or war-zones. Some like Mother Teresa, who helped. From her place with the dying of Calcutta she prayed: 'Make us worthy to serve our fellows through the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them, through our hands, this day their daily bread.'