Prayer does not change things
Rather, to borrow from Oswald Chambers, prayer changes me, altering the very fabric of my being and empowering me to better participate in the divine life. The goal is to radically restructure my life as an ongoing act of prayer, a continual outworking of my wrestling with the timeless Augustinian question “what do I love when I love my God?”, and a faithful response to the Event that lays claim to me.
That is the nucleus of the post I wrote yesterday on prayer for Open Table Theology. It should be published sometime later this month.
In the meantime, add the feed to your reader and join the in dialogical experiment!
Posts
Email
Amen. That actually makes a great little sermon or series. Prayer doesn't change things- prayer changes people- people change things. Very nice post- thanks! Peace, bro.
Scott
3 Jul 09 at 9:25 am
Blake, this is so what i needed to read about prayer. BUT, how does one actually pray. i feel like my prayers are too simple, superficial and lack the right focus. i feel like i am throwing past at the wall and waiting to see what sticks. Also, G-D seems so random to me at times and often i feel like i am a deist in my view of G-D. Your thoughts?
Thanks so much for your ALWAYS insightful and thought-provoking posts!
EP
Existential Punk
3 Jul 09 at 10:27 am
i meant to say throwing pasta on the wall!
Existential Punk
3 Jul 09 at 10:28 am
I hope my longer post will help when it is published — because I am
wanting to say that I stand with you, that I don't know at times to
whom I am praying or what my prayers should consist of. But I still
continue even though I don't know. Then I also want to say that there
is no such thing as a simply or superficial prayer because our prayers
are deeply personal and idiosyncratic so there's no one-size-fits-all
way of doing it. You do want is comfortable for you and what you feel
helps you to work toward deeper transformation.
That may have just been a really elaborate way of not answering your
question.
Know that you are not alone. I too, struggle with those same issues.
Blake Huggins
3 Jul 09 at 11:23 am
Amen. That actually makes a great little sermon or series. Prayer doesn't change things- prayer changes people- people change things. Very nice post- thanks! Peace, bro.
Scott
3 Jul 09 at 3:25 pm
Blake, this is so what i needed to read about prayer. BUT, how does one actually pray. i feel like my prayers are too simple, superficial and lack the right focus. i feel like i am throwing past at the wall and waiting to see what sticks. Also, G-D seems so random to me at times and often i feel like i am a deist in my view of G-D. Your thoughts?
Thanks so much for your ALWAYS insightful and thought-provoking posts!
EP
Existential Punk
3 Jul 09 at 4:27 pm
i meant to say throwing pasta on the wall!
Existential Punk
3 Jul 09 at 4:28 pm
I hope my longer post will help when it is published — because I am
wanting to say that I stand with you, that I don't know at times to
whom I am praying or what my prayers should consist of. But I still
continue even though I don't know. Then I also want to say that there
is no such thing as a simply or superficial prayer because our prayers
are deeply personal and idiosyncratic so there's no one-size-fits-all
way of doing it. You do want is comfortable for you and what you feel
helps you to work toward deeper transformation.
That may have just been a really elaborate way of not answering your
question.
Know that you are not alone. I too, struggle with those same issues.
Blake Huggins
3 Jul 09 at 5:23 pm
[...] Prayer does not change things (blakehuggins.com) [...]
Prayer (still) does not change things at (Ir)religiosity
14 Sep 09 at 5:47 pm