Like most people, Christian or not, my wife and I have been deeply impacted by the tragedy that is unfolding in Haiti. Not many years ago a tragedy of a different sort happened on the doorstep of my nation. The boxing day tsunami brought untold suffering to so many with it's most redeeming feature being that we all might fulfill the words of Jesus Scripture:

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I have read some sickening replies to this tragedy, replies from contemptable men who have the nerve to prefix their name with Reverend, replies to contemptable men whose vision is so tunneled that every word they speak is like venom, men who if they stopped for a single second to consider their words and thoughts and motivations would shrivel up in horror at the people they have become.

To those voices and for all of our edification I commend this article; may we never forget the human toll nor that where there is grieving, there is also our God who grieves with us.

“I don’t know if all things happen for a reason,” Arends said on Friday. “I do know that when things happen, God is there. I know that God is on top of a high hill in Haiti, weeping in pain. I know that God is on an airplane with a widow, weeping in pain. I know that God is in Duluth with a couple parents, weeping in pain, and yet promising to hold and keep and give whatever they need.”

By examination of the historical views of prayer and prayerfulness we discover a dynamic intimacy with the heart of God through expressions and thoughts that are lost to us or diluted by time.

As we have examined the historical views of prayer and prayerfulness we have seen a dynamic intimacy develop between the heart of God and the prayer. Some of these dynamics are confronting.

Julian of Norwich for example prayed to experience all sufferings that a person on the brink of death would experience and to then be restored to health in order to better understand the depth of her salvation. Such experience goes much deeper than a cerebral understanding of the mission of Christ "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) To a partnership with Christ "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."(John 3:17)

Martin Luther offers us a systematic approach to prayer that does not constrain the prayer but liberates their prayer life by asking the believer to look back on the faithfulness of God in the past both to help inform us of His will in our lives, and to strengthen and encourage us by seeing how God has answered our prayers in the past.

John of the Cross develops an understanding of prayer as a technique of growing spiritual maturity that is closely associated with the concept of the ‘dark night of the soul’. This dark night marks a transition point that necessitates a deliberate action on behalf of the believer to seek God although they feel anhedonic with their current relationship with God. To use contemporary parlance they need to ‘push through’ the boundaries that define their spiritual relationship and when they do they will find a deeper and more rewarding relationship with the heart of God.

Guyon introduces two patterns for reading Scripture that move us past simply seeking advice in the written word to moving us to an encounter with the living Word.

Douglas Steere brings us a fresh understanding of the life of the intercessory prayer. Though his insight we begin to understand that when we seek the heart of God to intercede in the life of another, we are firstly seeking to align ourselves with the will of God. Intercessory prayer then allows us to work in cooperation with God, it removes the barriers of selfishness and individualism and asks us to put the life and considerations of others first.

It is not suggested that all of these practices must be followed, however they provide a breadth of expression that will no doubt will catch many people within it’s wide net. These practices from the past not only inform our contemporary spiritual practice they may very well enhance it and bring us all deeper into the heart of God.

Douglas Steere is a well regarded academic and scholar. Called a brilliant thinker by some he studied at both Harvard and Oxford and in his early life was a Rhodes scholar. Steere was a Quaker who skilfully authored many devotional books and is part of a small circle of people who have managed to combine their academic integrity with their spiritual authenticity. As a missionary with his with Dorothy Steere is credited with well balancing the contemplative, or inner life with action, or the outer life.  His work Prayer and Worship engages the reader to take up the highly important work of prayer, particularly intercessory prayer while keeping in mind the need to respond to the call of God with actions.

Steere contends that,"Prayer for others is a form of petitional prayer that makes deep demands on the faith of an individualistic generation that has so largely lost its sense of inner community."  If the spirit of our age is, as it is widely reported, consumerist and individual, then prayer that is centred on the other must draw us deeply into a place that is unnatural to us.

When we are holding up the life of another person before God we are putting their needs before our own. We may be praying for their release from destructive behaviour, for the restoration of health or perhaps the strength to resist temptations in the world. When we engage in this prayer for the other "only then do we sense what it means to share in God’s work… only then do the walls that separate us from others go down and we sense that we are at bottom all knot together in a great and intimate family"

In prayer we begin to experience the community of God and the community of the Church. In intercession we are agreeing with God that the needs of others are important and acknowledging that it is outside of our power to bring change to some situations. It is to say that with God all things are possible so to God we ask for the impossible to be done. This is not to say that we can change God’s mind on matters, "Such prayer is only cooperation with God’s active love in besieging the life or new areas of the life of another."

In prayer Steerecontends that it is an active force not only for what we pray but for changing the heart of the prayer. "In all petitional prayer, the one who really prays must be ready to yield."  We may start with clear intention of who we are praying for and what we believe needs to change in their life to see the breakthrough that we desire, but it is God’s active love that will be the final determiner of what needs praying for.

"There can be no complete prayer life that does not return to the point from which we began."  This petitional prayer is an outpouring of love and concern for the life of another of which our expression is a reflection of the heart of God for every soul. This prayer returned onto itself is what Steere refers to as "adoration". "Adoration is ‘loving back’. For in the prayer of adoration we love God for himself, for his very being, for his radiant joy."

When we seek the heart of God to intercede in the life of another we are engaging in an activity that aligns our thoughts with God’s thoughts and our will with His will. We are not so much changing the mind of God but ourselves coming to understand God’s will and acting in cooperation with God’s active force of love.

Born in Montargis, France, Guyon married an invalid man aged over twice her then 15 years. Unhappy in this marriage, Guyon looked for happiness within a devotional life. After living in a convent for a year she was imprisoned for the next 25 because of her religious beliefs. During this time she wrote many books including Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ from which the following quotes were garnered. Guyon’s spiritual influence was vast.  Watchmen Nee had the book translated into Chinese and recommended it to every new convert. Francois Fenelon, John Wesley and Hudson Taylor all commended this text to the believers of their day.

Concerned with the inner life of the new believer Guyon penned two suggestions for those seeking to know Jesus. The first was to ‘pray the Scriptures’ and the second ‘beholding the Lord’. Both of these methodologies require discipline and a bible in order to encounter God.
Praying the Scripture involves:

"reading and prayer. Turn to the Scripture; choose some passage that is simple and fairly practical. Next, come to the Lord. Come quietly and humbly. There, before him, read a small portion of the passage of Scripture you have opened to... Taste it and digest it as you read."

The objective of this exercise is to slow the reader down in order to focus not on the overall theme of a passage of Scripture, rather to encounter God in the detail. In this method "you do not move from one passage to another, not until you have sensed the very heart of what you have read."  From there you will take that portion of Scripture and turn it into prayer.

This method ensures that at the end of a devotional time very little is read but the essence of what is read is well understood and absorbed.

Beholding the Lord has an altogether different purpose from praying the Scriptures. This methodology moves the reading of Scripture from the centre to the periphery. Its purpose is to provide a springboard into the presence of God. "Once you sense the Lord’s presence, the content of what you have read is no longer important. Scripture has served its purpose; it has quietened your mind; it has brought you to him."

Guyon commends this practice in order to turn our minds from the outwards things to the "deep parts of your being. You are not there to learn or to read, but you are there to experience the presence of your Lord!"

These practices while mutually exclusive in their execution provide a reminder for the use of Scripture to be not simply a conduit of spiritual advice or point of scholarship. No, these exercises of reading the Scriptures are designed to lead us deeply and directly into the heart of God.

Born in Spain, John became a Carmelite monk in 1564. He studied philosophy and theology in one of Europe’s leading universities and was ordained in 1567. That same year his leadership and spirituality was recognised and John was put in charge of the order. During this time he was named "John of the Cross" as a testimony to his suffering and commitment. He spent the remainder of his life in service to Catholic Reform through his leadership and writings. Eventually arrested by those opposing reform, John wrote his most famous work The Dark Night of the Soul in confinement. 

The concept of the "dark night" is now an integral part of understanding the spiritual journey providing a framework in which we might better articulate the movement of God thought the life of a believer from as Paul might term it the "milk" of the new believer and the "meat" of maturity.

"At a certain point in the spiritual journey God will draw a person from the beginning stage to a more advanced stage. At this stage the person will begin to engage in religious exercises and grow deeper in the spiritual life. Such souls are likely to experience what is called ‘the dark night of the soul’... when those persons lose all pleasure that they once experienced in their devotional life. This happens because God wants to purify them and move them on to greater heights"

John’s contemplation strikes at the heart of many pastoral conversations. The question "Why don’t I feel like I used to about God? It feels like he is not there anymore" The contention here is that this experience of the dark night is a deliberate act on the behalf of God in order to develop our spiritual maturity.

This development of spiritual maturity is through the practice of religious exercises. These are practices such as prayer, which deepen the relationship between the believer and God.

In the early spiritual life John says it is as if God is nurturing the soul by the Spirit "like a loving mother, God cares for and comforts the infant soul by feeding it spiritual milk."  During this tender time it is noted that the believer will "begin praying with great urgency and perseverance"

When journeying through the dark night of the soul the life of prayer is also transformed into something more mature. While the prayer life is defined by urgency and perseverance, God purifies because "the devil will often inflame their fervour so that their pride will grow even greater"

The antidote to this spiritual pride is to work in humility, to focus on just how great God is and on how little we can in actual fact do for him. This is born in prayer, developed in prayer and shows its fruit in prayer.

By not avoiding the dark times, the dry times John teaches that we will see God’s will being done in it, growing us to be more Christlike.

Martin Luther is well known as the originator of the Protestant Reformation. Born into a humble family life Luther sought to better himself by pursuing the scholarly life. It was at the age of 20 that Luther began to suffer a deep anxiety about the surety of his salvation, which drove him to join an Augustinian monastery to soothe his religious conscience.

By auditing Luther’s writing we discover that he is not only a man of brilliant theological understanding, he is also a man of deep piety. Luther’s thoughts on prayer are a rich seam of insight born not from theory but from experience. As a theologian however he does present teaching on prayer in a systematic format breaking it down into themes of supplication, petition and thanksgiving.

"In 'supplication’ we strengthen prayer and make it effective by a certain form of persuasion; for instance, we may entreat one to granta request for the sake of a father, or of something dearly loved or highly prized".  As a supplicant Luther suggests that our prayer is reinforced by an appeal to a personal or biblical remembrance such as Solomon praying "Remember David in all his affliction" or Paul "I... entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ"

In Petitioning, Luther encourages us to clearly state what "we have at heart, naming the desire we express in prayer and supplication. Ask... seek... knock."  This is an expression of a simple truth of Scripture, 'how can you receive if you do not ask?’ Luther premises this concept squarely on "Ask...seek...knock" (Matt 7:7)

In Thanksgiving we "recount blessings received and thus strengthen our confidence and enable ourselves to wait trustingly for what we pray."  It is important to be able to look back at our past petitions and to discern how God answered the requests. This has the effect,not of building our self-confidence, rather it has the effect of building our confidence in God "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matt 7:8)

"Prayer is made vigorous by petitioning; urgent by supplication; by thanksgiving, pleasing and acceptable."

Luther’s account of prayer is an encouragement to hold tight to the promises of God, that He indeed hears and answers our prayers. Our prayers should be predicated on the movement of God in the past and within our lives, which we can identify in thanksgiving.

Julian is one of the most popular English mystics and wrote the book Revelations of Divine Love. Living as a Benedictine nun beside the St. Julian Church (from which she most likely derived her name) her theological outlook is based on a series of mystical experiences.

As you may well expect from a book entitled Revelations, Julian’s writings are a reflection of personal interactions with God in the form of visions and physical malady very much out of the ordinary for contemporary Christian experience in the Protestant and Charismatic traditions.

Her prayer life is confronting Julian experienced a three-fold revelation "The first was a deep recollection of his passion. The second was a bodily sickness. The third was to have, of God’s gift, three wounds” with these revelations finding their centre around the topic of suffering. The tone of Julian’s writing suggests a deep desire to experience pain, to experience hardship, and to share in the sufferings of her Lord.This was not because of some sadist mindset or belief in necessary penance, rather suffering was an avenue in which she could know and experience God more fully.

This desire to experience pain and suffering is an anathema to 21st century life.

The same Julian who prayed for "every kind of pain, bodily and spiritual, which I would have if I were to die - every fear and temptation” also carefully conditioned her prayer asking "Lord, you know what I want. If it is your will that I have it, or if it is not your will, do not be displeased with my prayer, for I do not want anything that you do not want.”

The heart’s desire here is to live better for God, to not shy away from the pain of life and death but to confront it and be cleansed by it. Julian sought the refiner’s fire in her prayer and did not shrink from it when it came. Rather she seemed to identify with the words of Jesus in Scripture that says "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27)

Through Julian’s writing we may discover that prayer is more than a simple conversation with God, rather it is a portal for experiential interaction and an interpretation of life’s sufferings.

"For the highest form of prayer is to the goodness of God. It comes down to us to meet our humblest needs. It gives life to our souls and makes them live and grow in grace and virtue”

Revelations of Divine Love from Foster et. al, Devotional Classics, (Hodder and Stoughton, 2002)

Prayer is perhaps the most intimate of daily Christian spiritual practice. In prayer we have the opportunity to consciously open ourselves up to our creator, to invite His interaction within our lives and to share the most private regions of our heart.

While prayer can be private, it can also be public, supportive, contemplative, confessional, exhortational, intercessional, formulaic or some other form that facilitates communication with the Holy Other. Prayer might not come with words but by the groaning of the soul, through artful expression or through action.

We may offer up prayer selflessly, selfishly, absentmindedly or accidentally but it has been and will always remain an intimate connection to the heart of God available at all times for all people.

By examination of the historical views of prayer and prayerfulness we will discover a dynamic intimacy with the heart of God through expressions and thoughts that would otherwise be lost to us or diluted by time. Through the profiling of historical personalities and their prayer and contemplative lives, we will discover how such contemplation enhanced their relationship with God and learn from them so as to enhance and edify our own prayerfulness.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be profiling 5 historic figures and hopefully we can learn together from their examples.

Are Christians wrong in their thinking about heaven? Is it all clouds, singing and endless reminiscing? Bishop N.T. Wright doesn't seem to think so and I have to strongly agree. The general Christian perception of heaven seems to be shaped by culture and not Scripture.

Wright quotes a children's book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What's Heaven, which describes it as "a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk... If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]... When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him." That, says Wright is a good example of "what not to say." The Biblical truth, he continues, "is very, very different."

If you have ever been to a Christian rally of some description, you will have no doubt heard the following question:

    What if you died tonight, would you be ready? Would you go to heaven or hell?
    
In retail circles this is known as the hard sell. It is a pointed question to force you into a decision without full facts, full knowledge or full understanding of what you are committing to.

This question has always grated against my soul for two reasons"

First, as I've already said, it's a hard sell and you don't know all the facts. Christianity is about becoming Christ-like, but asking a question purely on eternal destination is like asking "Will you be catching the right bus home tonight?" It's orthogonal to the conversation.

Second, following of from the first, the question gives no appreciation to the question, "How now shall we live?" What happens after you make a commitment to Christ (praise God) and like the 99.9999999999% of people who leave the rally you don't die? How are you going to live?

This should be the informing factor of faith development. To do otherwise leaves us with churches full of people in Spiritual arrested development only concerned with the destination and not the journey.

Richard Beck over at Experimental Theology and written a fantastic article about about the phenomena of Bait and Switch Christianity.

When she reached spiritual matters we had the following exchange:

"I need to spend more time working on my relationship with God."

I responded, "Why would you want to do that?"

Startled she says, "What do you mean?"

"Well, why would you want to spend any time at all on working on your relationship with God?"

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"

"Let me answer by asking you a question. Can you think of anyone, right now, to whom you need to apologize? Anyone you've wronged?"

She thinks and answers, "Yes."

"Well, why don't you give them a call today and ask for their forgiveness. That might be a better use of your time than working on your relationship with God."

Obviously, I was being a bit provocative with the student. And I did go on to clarify. But I was trying to push back on a strain of Christianity I see in both my students and the larger Christian culture. Specifically, when the student said "I need to work on my relationship with God" I knew exactly what she meant. It meant praying more, getting up early to study the bible, to start going back to church. Things along those lines. The goal of these activities is to get "closer" to God. To "waste time with Jesus." Of course, please hear me on this point, nothing is wrong with those activities. Personal acts of piety and devotion are vital to a vibrant spiritual life and continued spiritual formation. But all too often "working on my relationship with God" has almost nothing to do with trying to become a more decent human being.

It's a provocative thought and worth exploring. Jesus had the following exchange with someone seeking to live for God.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt 22:36-38)

But he didn't stop there:

"And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt 22:39-40)

Our godliness can be increased when we take both of these together. When we work on our relationships with others, we are working on our relationship with God as well. When we go to those who have wronged us and forgive them, we are practicing godliness. When we help the poor and needy we are being Jesus to them.

The point is to be Holy people.

While reading another blog this morning I came across this definition for faith, and I quite enjoyed it:

    Faith is a recognition of human limitation followed by an attitude of openness and trust towards the unknown.

This is not specific to religious faith, although it does encompass it. What are the things we have faith in?

I have faith in people / relationships. I have faith in the trust I have given to my wife and the openess I share with my friends. Faith that it will not be betrayed.

I have faith in some institutions. I have faith in the trust I've given to my insurance company to pay out when something bad happens.

I have faith in God. I have faith that when he says he will never leave me or forsake me that he will keep his word.


I've written previously that all love is an exercise in faith, faith begins on the cusp of the known and the unknown.

Blind faith is false faith. To say I trust a person with my secrets when I do not have a relationship with them or to hand my money to a bank with fresh paint on the sign is blind faith. These are foolish applications of faith because you have no basis for trust, no basis for openness and no recourse is your risk turns out to be a misstep.

For faith to be, it needs to have it's basis in an objective reality out of our experiences. I have faith in my wife and confidence in our relationship because it has been proven in a growing relationship. At first we took tentative steps of friendship, then we allowed ourselves to open of wider and wider building on the trust before. But when I asked her to marry me, it was at that point I saw the limitation of myself and needed an attitude of openness and trust towards the unknown. This is faith.

Each day from there is an exercise in faith, it is unknown and unknowable. To try and harness and control it would kill the relationship.

One day a shepherd walked in the desert places and came across a bush burning, but not being consumed. He came close and heard a voice speaking out of it. "Take off your shoes, your on Holy ground". And there begins a new relationship. Moses walked with God, starting with the experiential then moving towards a place of trust where he could be open to the unknown. This is faith.

Our faith in God is not blind, it is not misplaced because it has a basis in something real. From there we move to the unknown.

How has this happened in your life?

My life, my faith comes not blindly but from experience. It comes from God showing me that he is trustworthy and using that as a springboard into the unknown. My faith in God is a recognition of my own limitation followed by an attitude of openness and trust towards the unknown.