Part of the reason for the name of this blog is because prayer or the active tense, praying solicits a conversation between us and God.  It is the ONE THING Jesus' disciples ask for him to teach them.  Over the years I have collected many thoughts about prayer.  Here are some of those reflections.

* As an act of love, prayer is a courageous act. It is a risk we take. It is a life-and-death risk, believing in the promises of the gospel, that God's love is indeed operative in the world. In prayer we have the courage, perhaps even the presumption and the arrogance or the audacity to claim that God's love can be operative in the very specific situations of human need that we encounter.  --   John E. Biersdorf --  excerpt from Healing of Purpose

*"The testing of Christian speech is prayer" - Stanley Hauerwas

*"Prayer is a participation in willing God’s will." - Marjorie J. Thompson

* The art of praying, as we grow, is really the art of learning to waste time gracefully—to be simply the clay in the hands of the potter. This may sound easy—too easy to be true—but it is really the most difficult thing we ever learn to do.... This is the real reason why so few of us ever come, in this life, to the full experience of God’s love for us.- Thomas H. Green from When the Well Runs Dry

* "To be a Christian is to let yourself be pulled by Christ into a completely different quality of time and space, one produced by his infinitely loving death and its raising up by God to life. -Tony Bartlett, Virtually Christian

* ". . . The contemplative does not pray in order to coax satisfaction out of the universe. God is life, not a vending machine full of trifles to fit the whims of the human race God is the end of life, the fulfillment of life, the essence of life, the comng of life. The contemplative prays in order to be open to what is, rather than to reshape the world to their own lesser designs." - Sr. Joan Chittister

AND MY FAVORITE

* "There are two basic forms of prayer, everything else is addition: Help, Help, Help, and Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" - Professor Hans Van Den Blink

Here's to continued praying attention and all that stuff - Pastor Andy

I just finished watching an interview with Reza Aslan with Jon Oliver on the Daily Show.  You can watch the interview here http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-17-2013/exclusive---reza-aslan-extended-interview-pt--1

I read an incredible amount of the Historical Jesus when I was in college (it was all the rage then).  I got to meet Tom Wright (N.T if you like) 3 weeks before I attended Seminary (where he told me I would meet a future professor named Mark Allen Powell who was taking up the leadership of the Jesus Seminar.).  We haven't heard much about the historical Jesus in years because we all thought 'that topic' had been explored.  Then, apparently, Reza Aslan writes a book entitled "Zealot."

What I loved about this interview was Jon Oliver's response: "I really like this Jesus.  This Jesus I can relate to."  And THIS ^ response makes me ask the question: WHat the heck are we missing on telling people about THIS Jesus?  People who have been far removed from the church respond to the 'man Jesus' over the 'christ of faith.'  I get the reason for separation and appreciate Aslan's approach but as a person of faith I must say: We ARE talking about the SAME guy!

What is it about liking Jesus as a man as opposed to the Messiah? Maybe that isn't as important as the entry to explore the very person who lived, taught, suffered and died.  And maybe the reason Jon Oliver (and others like him) "Like This Jesus" is because the Jesus Aslan describes is a rebel that took on a religious and political system.  AND 'That Jesus' has not been preached very much in our churches or talked about in the political parties of America.  Because this Jesus might upset the very organizations that we hold near and dear.  Praying Attention - Pastor Andy

I can't seem to escape it.  From cable news reports and interviews, to facebook friends calling to forgive her, Paula Deen has been everywhere recently.  When the reports of her deposition (that happened a while ago) surfaced, in which she was asked if she ever used the 'N' word, she responded with 'of course.'  Much has been made of this, and this is not a blog post about Paula Deen.  What became disturbing was the factions that became evident when the news became available drew people into choosing sides.  You were either with Paula Deen or against her.  Nothing can be that simple.

What disturbed me as a Christian is the call to forgiveness....blanket forgiveness.  "It is time to fogive Paula Deen" or "Click like if you agree with Paula."  OF COURSE, none of this really began to become important until money was at stake.  Corporations and endorsements removed themselves from Paula's empire.  Paula's people did their best to run damage control and she got in front of tv's and newspapers with the best posture of contrition and simply stated (As she cried) "I is what I is and I ain't gonna change."

The problem with forgiveness is that there is some expectation of change.  When there is no expectation of change within the person, it is called defiance.  Calling for forgiveness of a person who is not contrite or truly remorseful is within the Christian code of ethics.  We do it all the time, we forgive people who don't ask for it.  We turn the other cheek when it is foolish to do so.  BUT somewhere in there we ought to account for what forgiveness looks like.  And anyone that has received forgiveness will tell you, accountability is the hardest part.  To have the wrongs that we have done, the sins and the shame we carry are all put in front of us before God and one another.....we are then freed from these things.

Scripture tells us that "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." - 1 John 1:8-10

But then, you must acknowledge that what you have done is sin, which prompts me to ask: Why didn't anyone bring up Alec Baldwin's faux pas?
-Praying Attention - Pastor Andy