Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today

by Scot McKnight

“For Jesus the Fatherhood of God had become a profoundly religious experience, long before it became a doctrine to be communicated to others.”

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

In the psalms I find myself at my worst and my best. Here I can acclaim God with warmth and confidence and hope, but here also I can give vent to those black thoughts that might otherwise lie hidden in the dark and angry corners of my heart. Above all the psalms express the reality of my longing for God and my joy and sufferings in the vicissitude of my search for him. Sometimes God is close, sometimes distant. I seek him in the desert and on the mountain, in poverty and in emptiness and in waiting. Today God is mindful of me, tomorrow he may not visit me. Today I am brought to the mountaintop, tomorrow I am calling from the depths. Today I am radiant, tomorrow I face darkness. Today I enjoy life, tomorrow I feel the hand of death.

The purpose of prayer is not to get good at it, but for the Church to become good through it.