The readings we will hear this week are Acts 10.44-48 and John 15.9-17.  Perhaps the most obvious link to rogationtide is the invitation in John's gospel from Jesus to ask him for things.  It may sounds excitingly like a blank cheque at first glance, but if we're not careful we can tie ourselves up in knots.  The idea that God will give you whatever you ask of him can lead us in many unhelpful directions - to me the most obvious are the heresy of the so-called prosperity gospel.  That is the notion that placing your trust in Jesus automatically leads to a stress free, disease free, wealth-filled life.  It only takes a cursory glance at the life of Jesus or any of his immediate disciples to see that that is clearly a pile of nonsense to be shunned by any serious believer, and that it's time to change the channel pretty quickly.

The second is perhaps even more insidious: falling into the trap of thinking that prayer is about asking God for things, and that saying 'in Jesus name' at the end is a sort of magic spell for ensuring they will happen.  What madness that way lies!  For when, inevitably, some (if not all) of our prayers don't pan out the way we expect, the conclusion can quite often, rather unhelpfully, be that either we didn't pray hard enough, or believe faithfully enough, or that God doesn't exist enough...

How, then, might we approach these words of Jesus in a way that honours them, and fuels our prayer life helpfully?  I think the key words come right at the beginning of this passage - 'abide in my love' says Jesus.  If we start from that context then we can find the notion of praying in his name transformed.  It stops being about invocation of a power, and starts being about connection with a person.  To pray in Jesus name is to pray with his personality, and presence; it is to pray - because we are abiding in him, an he in us - as he would pray, and to pray the things that he would pray.  And if we look at the way Jesus prays, it's very rarely a shopping list of personal wants and desires.  The prayers of his that come to mind to me are the Lord's prayer, and his prayers in the garden of Gethsemane - which both share with the prayer of Mary his mother a central notion - 'Thy will be done'.

Perhaps here, then, is an invitation in prayer not to focus on ourselves and our needs, but an invitation to relax into the love of God, and be led by him into his desires for his creation, and for his children - the people he calls us to live amongst and love.  So our prayer can then become a time and space through which we can allow our hearts to be conformed to his, and our desires shaped to match his own.

It seems to me that that sort of prayer might get answered with a frightening degree of regularity; and I suspect that we might find that quite often we are ourselves the answers God is looking for.

Pause for prayer:  How about taking a Rogationtide pilgrimage from the comfort of your armchair?  Here's a suggestion on how you might: find a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.  Spend a quick, quiet moment, recognising yourself in the presence of God, and ask His companionship on your journey.  Draw your home, nice and small, in the middle of the page (I say draw, but this doesn't need to be a masterpiece - a quick squiggle is fine, or even just a dot - you know what it's meant to be, and so does He!), then take a moment to pray for it, for yourself, for anyone else who may live in it, or visit. 

When you're ready cast your mind around the area, and start sketching in places, landmarks, locations as they come to mind.  Don't force it, don't feel the need to be systematic: as different places surface, add them on.  Rest with each for a moment with God, and pray into and for them.  Keep going until you're done, don't worry if you've not been 'everywhere' - just trust that you've been where you were meant to go.  Thank God for walking beside you.