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Language of Prayer
language of prayer. The author is Eugene Peterson. THE LANGUAGE OF PRAYER We prepare to pray not by composing our prayers but ourselves. The pre-prayers of Psalms 1 and 2 get us ready, forming the inner life so that it is adequate to the reception of truth, not just the acquisition of facts. But when we engage in the act of prayer itself, there is no preparing, no getting the right words, no posture to take, no mood to assume. We simply do it. Prayer is primal speech. We do not first learn to do it, and then proceed to do it; we do it, in the doing we find out what we are doing, and then deepen and mature in it. - Eugene Peterson in ANSWERING GOD: THE PSALMS AS TOOLS FOR PRAYER, HarperCollins Publishers, 1989. [Lord, help us to compose ourselves with humility and honesty as we prepare to respond to you in prayer. Thank you for hearing us even when our words are rough. Amen.] "Just do it!" Have a great week, Chip Stam Pastor of Worship and Music Chapel Hill Bible Church Chapel Hill, North Carolina |