Sunbathing Prayer

"When you're lying on the beach something is happening, something that has nothing to do with how you feel or how hard you're trying. You're not going to get a better tan by screwing up your eyes and concentrating. You give the time, and that's it. All you have to do is turn up. And then things change, at their own pace. You simply have to be there where the light can get at you." - Rowan Williams


That's the fascinating way Rowan Williams described prayer.


In a thought provoking article in the Guardian, Giles Fraser said: "Prayer is about being where the light can get at you and helping you adjust to the truth of how things really are."

Honestly I hate sunbathing it bores me stupid. I could go on holiday to sunny climbs and still come back a whiter shade of pale whilst another would come back looking like they had changed their ethnicity overnight.

But it wasn't overnight it was hour upon hour of sun worshiping that gradually changed pale skin to dark. We might not realise it in the moment but sunbathing in prayer is transformational.