THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501250121
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUDITH PARKER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Speaking before an audience of nearly 240 military and civic leaders from throughout South Hampton Roads at the 24th Annual Prayer Breakfast, Capt. Richard Meryon of the British Royal Navy addressed a question as old as humanity: Why should people pray?
``We came together today for this prayer breakfast presumably because we believe that prayer can work,'' Meryon said Tuesday.
``But why should it, and who causes it to?
``Why do we have any right to expect God's attention and subsequent intervention when we pray?'' he challenged the audience.
Answering his own questions, Meryon focused on two attributes of God that he described as intrinsically linking the Creator of the universe and his creations. Meryon's statements also served as an admonition against believing that salvation can easily be obtained.
``God is love, and God is also just. Loving and just. He balances these two qualities,'' Meryon said.
``Of course, God loves us unconditionally, so it's not surprising that this causes him to hear his children's prayers.
``But how many of you as parents respond to every request of each child? First you assess whether it is good for that child . . . then you consider whether it is fair. This is the other critical facet of God that is relevant to God's response to our prayer.
``So don't be seduced into thinking that God is all-loving, and therefore won't let you perish eternally. This is a warm and cozy philosophy that has no groundings in the Scriptures,'' he warned.
Trained as a mechanical engineer, with advanced studies in gas turbine design, Meryon said there are no inconsistencies between his scientific background and his firm belief in a divine plan for the universe.
``I am an engineer, and in training came to appreciate the many laws that govern this great universe of ours. A very wise Creator has drawn all this together. He has established an intricate network of logical, coherent principles on which our universe, and everything beyond it, is founded.
``I am drawn away from some indefinable and nebulous Mother Nature. Little, if anything it appears to me, is left to chance.
``The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. There most surely is,'' Meryon said.
``And to live under his authority, with the umbrella of his protection, to have access to the full resources of heaven whenever I pray is the most wonderful privilege.''
Meryon, a graduate of the Britannia-Royal Naval College, is assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Norfolk. He is a trustee of the Royal Sailors' Rests, an evangelical outreach of the British Officers' Christian Union, and also works for the Naval Christian Fellowship.
The prayer breakfast, which celebrates the long-standing partnership between the city and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, was held at the Holiday Inn. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Capt. Richard Meryon is a trustee of the Royal Sailors' Rests, an
evangelical outreach of the British Officers' Christian Union.
by CNB