A lively conversation will often display a tension—either a disagreement or a misunderstanding. Maybe even a willful opposition. Yet if the speakers share mutual love, trust, and common values the exchange is likely to be productive. It may even be a pleasant process. But we’re less optimistic if the participants don’t like each other and […]
A Friday morning chat with Terry about conversations, and then reading Pete Sanlon’s book on Augustine—including a feature on Augustine’s conversations with God—set me up for this post. It’s a topic worth revisiting on a regular basis even apart from these reminders. Conversations are the threads that make up the fabric of life and our […]
This post was originally written by Peter for Biblical Preaching. We hope you visit it and enjoy. —————– There is a strange phenomena in the church when it comes to praying for people. Obviously this is a generalisation, but I have observed it enough to suggest that it may be a pattern. When people become […]
Prayer can often be strangely alien. If you think about it, prayer in our churches can be quite otherworldly. Prayer often seems to be inexplicably a-relational and bizarrely formulaic, which conflicts with the reality presented in the Bible. In God’s story we find that prayer has depth, ceaseless frequency, and a naturalness many of us […]
You have a chunk of time and decide to pray. Now what? Perhaps a pattern would be helpful? Now some might object that this would squelch the reality of a true relationship. Then again, when Jesus was asked how to pray, he responded with a pattern. As a young believer I was taught the A.C.T.S. […]
