Status Updates From Working the Angles: The Sha...

“Prayer is never the first word; it is always the second word. God has the first word. Prayer is answering speech; it is not primarily “address” but “response.” Essential to the practice of prayer is to fully realize this secondary quality.”

“The implication of this for pastoral work is plain: it begins in prayer. Anything creative, anything powerful, anything biblical, insofar as we are participants in it, originates in prayer. Pastors who imitate the preaching and moral action of the prophets without also imitating the prophet’s deep praying and worship so evident in the Psalms are an embarrassment to the faith and an encumbrance to the church.”

“Am I keeping the line clear between what I am committed to and what people are asking of me? Is my primary orientation God’s grace, his mercy, his action in creation and covenant? And am I committed enough to it so that when people ask me to do something that will not lead them into a more mature participation in these realities actions I refuse?”