Prayer: Session #1

Prayer
Conversation in an Intimate Relationship with our Creator & Redeemer

"The Lord is inviting you and me to come home, to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created. His arms are stretched out wide to receive us. His heart is enlarged to take us in. For too long we have been in the far country; a country of noise and hurry and crowds, a country of climb and push and shove; a country of frustration and fear and intimidation And he welcomes us home; home to serenity and peace and joy, home to friendship and fellowship and openness, home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation." Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding Your Heart's True Home

Friendship

Oh the comfort - the inexpressible comfort - of feeling safe with a person
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words - but pouring them all right out - just as they are
Chaff and grain together
Certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them
Keep what is worth keeping
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.
... Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

"Prayer is conversation with God, not magic. Prayer is not some magical formula through which we hope to entice an apathetic God to act in a way which pleases us. Our prayer is the worshipful recognition that God is continually acting in the world and the signifying of our desire to be a part of that activity." William Willimon
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Scripture Study
1 Chronicles 29: 10-20 - Prayer of David
John 17 - Priestly Prayer of Jesus

Oh Lord, help us to turn and seek you; for you have not forsaken your creatures as we have forsaken you, our Creator. Let us turn and seek you, for we know you are here in our hearts, when we confess to you, when we cast ourselves upon you, and weep in your bosom, after all our rugged ways; and you gently wipe away all our tears, and we weep the more for joy; because you, Lord, who made us, do remake and comfort us. Prayer of St. Augustine, 4th-5th Centuries