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Why, then, do we pray? A school of prayer

Prayer is one of those things that we as Christians know we’re supposed to do, but few of us have learned to pray in a way that produces joy, contentment, and a sense of ongoing dialogue with God. Prayer has no immediate payoff, in the words of Richard Rohr. Our success in prayer cannot be measured on a rubric, and, if we get answers at all, they are rarely the ones we are after.

So why, then, do we pray? And, perhaps more importantly how do we pray?

“If prayer is spiritual formation and not God-management,” Brian Zahnd writes, “then we cannot depend on our self to pray properly. If we trust our self to pray, we just end up recycling our own issues—mostly anger and anxiety—without experiencing any transformation.” Prayer is a means of being transformed into the image and likeness of God. And with Brian Zahnd, we are going to learn how to pray. Especially in this cultural moment, prayer enables us to respond to life and not react. Prayer keeps us centered. We cannot be effective agents of the Kingdom of God if we are not centered in the person of God, and prayer brings us back to that center every time.

When Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing,” it is hard to imagine that he meant for them to talk at God all the time without taking a break. Rather, we are to become people who at all times recognize our dependence on God, connecting with God in mundane life, moment-by-moment. In his Prayer School, Brian Zahnd will help us see prayer in new ways, developed during his lifetime in pastoral ministry. The prayer school will provide you with a valuable, sustaining framework for community and personal prayer life.

Join us as we learn (or re-learn) how to pray. We will meet together the evening of Friday, October 13th and again during the day on Saturday, October 14th. Special children's programming for children through fifth grade.

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