By the Way: A Culture of Prayer

By Roland Weisbrot on August 2, 2025.

My wife and I recently had the opportunity to travel to Egypt this past June. Although there is much I could say about the pyramids, tombs, mummies, temples, and other such wonders of antiquity, I want to focus on prayer.

Egypt is a highly religious country. The largest religion is Sunni Islam, but there is a sizable presence of Christians, primarily Coptic Orthodox, as well. Five times per day, the mosques make a call to prayer, and although this call is ignored by many, I was surprised to see how many obeyed it.

During times of prayer, I witnessed people from all walks of life stop whatever they were doing and pray.

Admittedly, I was impressed by this display of piety, as research shows that many in North America struggle to pray even a few minutes per day, let alone commit themselves to five sizable times of prayer per day.

Even in the several churches my wife and I toured, we could always find various individuals and groups simply praying. Without a doubt, whether Muslim or Christian, in Egypt, prayer is a serious thing.

Perhaps the most striking example of this culture of prayer came from a most unexpected source. Since our tours usually started very early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day, my wife and I spent many mid-to-late afternoons indoors watching movies.

The first time we did this we were watching a movie on one of the TV channels and suddenly, the movie stopped. A screen popped up and alerted all who were watching that it was time to pray!

For the next ten to fifteen minutes, a little program showing verses from the Qur’an, stylized scenes of Mecca (the primary holy city of Islam), and sung calls to prayer aired. Then, once the prayer time was over, the movie resumed.

This left a lasting impression on me. As North American Christians, when was the last time we interrupted something to simply stop and pray?

Perhaps we have a lot to learn, or relearn, about prayer from cultures that still take it so seriously.

Pastor Roland Weisbrot is lead pastor of Victory Lutheran Church

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