Are you pointing in the right direction?

I read with interest recently about the problems Muslims are having with their mosques in Mecca.

According to the BBC, the recent development of high rise buildings in Mecca has revealed a number of mosques are not actually pointing towards the holy Kaaba shrine at the centre of Mecca's Al-Haramthe mosque.

What's the problem? Well, put simply, worshippers who have been using these mosques for umpteen years are not actually facing Mecca (even though they are in Mecca!). Specifically, they are not facing the centre of Mecca, which is the Kaaba shrine.

There's talk of laser beams being brought in to correct the problem while officials at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs have moved to assure worshippers that the effectiveness of their prayers over the last few decades has not been impeded by this unfortunate discovery.

As far as I can tell, no one has bothered to help the Muslims in Australia who must be wondering if their mosques are aligned with the Kaaba shrine down to laser beam accuracy.

How different all this is to what Jesus taught. In John 4, we read of the fascinating discussion Jesus had with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in Sychar.

"Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem," she said.

Jesus instructive reply removes any doubt that to pray effectively you must be in a particular place or positioned in any specific way.

"God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth," Jesus answered.

But Jesus was not just interested in correcting the praying errors of those outside the covenant people. Some of his strongest warnings about prayer were given to those who claimed to worship the true God.

See Matthew 6:5, where the position of the prayer is actually taken into account, but not the way you might think. Jesus demands that we do not pray in such a way as to "be seen by men" as the goal of the prayer.

Two verses later Jesus warns against prayer marathons as a way of getting God's attention as though he won't listen until your word count is up into the thousands.

It seems the only time Jesus was careful to position himself for prayer was when he was trying to find a solitary place so he could be alone with his Father and if he ever looked anywhere it was "toward heaven" (John 17:1).

For most Christians, the positioning of their bodies for prayer is not really the issue (unless you keep falling asleep kneeling against the bed!). It's far more serious; the doing of prayer.

Jesus prayed "often" (Luke 5:16) and sometimes he did all-nighters (Luke 6:12). Just Jesus and the Father. No crowds, no accolades.

Now that's the way to align yourself, no laser beam required.