Prayer

I was re-listening to a favorite talk from a few years ago by Mark Oestreicher, then-president of Youth Specialties (YS).  He called the talk "A Rant from a runt on what the church is doing wrong in America."  You can read the text version here if you like.

He reminded me again that prayer can be aided by silence and time.  One way that has been used in the history of Christianity is to have things like prayer walks, stations, gardens and such.  One that shows up in architecture is the labyrinth, which is a path with designated locations to pray about specific things.

Two years ago I walked through a labyrinth at a YS youth workers' convention.  They had assembled a quiet place, with an audio "tour guide" and relaxed background music to lead you from station to station.  It was a wonderful time between  me and the Lord, where just for a season he made an ordinary place into a holy space.  (If you think this sounds a little creepy, it wasn't.  Actually, the creepy New-Agey stuff is mimicking Christian tradition, not the other way around.)

There, the idea crystallized for me that we are held, and beheld.  Held by God, in his arms; beheld, as in gazed upon with love and acceptance.

I also heard the phrase, "Living as the body of Christ hasn't been tried and found wanting; it has been tried and found hard."  It's hard in the sense that living as a no-kidding inter-dependent community is counter-cultural.  But it's very, very rewarding.

Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that two of the major themes of the book are along those same lines.

Having told you a little of why I think labyrinths are a good thing, I'll suggest you consider learning a bit more.  Maybe you need a way to help yourself get alone and quiet with God.  Maybe you need encouragement to be quiet and still, in the midst of our noisy and busy worlds.

The one I walked was developed by Johny Baker and a very small but very creative group of Christians in London.  The details, including an online version, are here.

If you're feeling stuck and prayerless, perhaps using a new-old format will help.  I hope so.

Obviously, I overestimated my abilities...

...at incorporating edits in the book manuscript, doing layout, etc.  It'll be a couple of days, because the lady who edited/reviewed this for me did a wonderful (detailed) job.  (Thanks, Christina!) I needed this!