[re]Understanding Prayer

I got David Gray's "Lost Songs" playing right now. I have the blinds drawn and all but one light out in my office. I have a few pieces of Hazelnut Dairy Milk chocolate leftover from last night and this book in front of me. The perfect setting to talk books. Almost perfect anyway. An americano with cream would be perfect. Ah, can't have everything.

I'm now at a place of putting into language those particular moments of deep connection with God. Deep connection with God likened to those between, say, a husband and wife. And yet this is no husband-wife relationship. Far more. Not so much sexual, but at times intimate. Thorough. Hidden. Transparent. Near.

How do you put into words moments of deep connection held between a husband and wife that are not always intended for others? And if those moments are then taken and placed on the marked of public exchange, do they not lose their essence and sanctity in the transmission of those ideas? Here lies my anxiety. Does the husband or wife not, then, feel some sense of betrayal when their experience has gone public? So how do I talk about this primal, deep connection with God without betraying the essence of what it is? I have to admit the possibility that I may miss this entirely. In putting this thing into words, I may lose the sanctity of what it is.

I believe this is the reason Phyllis Tickle described prayer as "a place." "Prayer is a spot where we go just as surely as a church sanctuary is a place," she continues. "When we [pray], we are going into a place built from words. Or at least it's a place where words are the parameters, the walls into which we enter." This place is not necessarily physical. It's not something that can be stripped, reduced, and formulated into a seven-step process."
Kyle Lake, [re]Understanding Prayer, pg. 155-116.

I resonate with this. Prayer is a place. And it can't be reduced to formulas or steps. Even though this was found 3/4 the way through the book, I think it sums up Kyle's purpose for writing the book. Even though you can't strip, reduce, formulate or put prayer into steps, Kyle does attempt to talk about it. What he ends up doing, like his other book: Understanding God's Will, is blow apart myths surrounding the character of God and myths surrounding prayer. He writes about the problems of prayer as drama, prayer put into steps, prayers with big words, the insider language of prayer and more. All stuff I pretty much resonate with. So for me, not a lot new here, except that I find freedom in knowing that what I think is not just what I think but what others think. I find freedom in the fact that my prayer life is not contrary to everyone else's. If find freedom in knowing that others ask the same questions I do about faith. I find freedom ultimately from the guilt that surrounds my approach to prayer. Kyle talks a lot about prayer as a way of life. He talks about practicing the presence of God, quoting Brother Lawrence and other authors I like to read about prayer as life. But really, this idea is not widely accepted. I could get into this whole idea but it's a tangent.

So yeah, this book is not a whole lot new for me but I was glad I read it none the less cause it articulated a lot of what I have been thinking.

What I didn't like about the book was Kyle's tangents and weird thoughts. They seemed to have no purpose. One example is a whole chapter which is a letter to Garth Brooks debunking his song "Unanswered Prayers." I get his point but did he really have to write a letter to Garth Brooks? I also found that Kyle quoted a lot of people's material, which is fine in itself, but I found that I would rather read the people he quotes, like Henri Nouen and Brother Lawrence.

If you know anything about Kyle Lake then you may be thinking I am being a little harsh. I am sorry. Kyle died a year ago in front of his congregation. He was about to baptize a woman. He adjusted the microphone and received an electric shock that killed him. He was the pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco Texas, which Chris Seay and David Crowder started. So I don't mean to be harsh but the book does deserve an honest review. I will tell you though, I thought of his wife and kids a lot throughout the book. He talked about them lots and it is evident he loved them very much. I ache with them and the whole church community. Kyle lake will have touched more lives than he will ever know, including mine.

So, who should read this book? You. It is a good discussion on prayer. It is not too intensive. It is refreshing. It is a good first book on prayer. If you are a theologian or a philosopher, then, maybe it will be too basic for you. But I think you will come away refreshed and challenged at the same time.