Unanswered prayer
In her best selling novel ‘Just My Luck’ Adele Parks weaves a tale about winning the lottery. It has the sub-title ‘What if winning means losing everything’ and chronicles the impact on Lexi and Jake and their circle of winning £18 million. For fifteen years they have played the same six numbers with two other couples. Just prior to drawing the winning ticket there had been a rift in the group so their friends are seemingly ineligible to gain part of the bounty. It is a gripping tale playing on what many see as the biggest answer to prayer and how unsatisfactory that answer can be. Prayer to God is set forth by Christ as analogous to children’s requests to their parents. I am aware as a parent how difficult it can be answering requests for money from your children. Sometimes they ask you with fingers crossed, like the symbol of the National Lottery, hoping luck will prevail. Though crossed fingers go back to pre-Christian times they are resonant of an essential of Christian prayer, t