Well, I have to confess that my prayer journey is off to a slow start.
Thank you to everyone who has been asking me how it is going - I hope I've been honest enough with you to say that it is going very very slowly! I did say that prayer wasn't my strong point, didn't I?
So instead of zipping along the M1 of prayer, I am firmly stuck in the traffic jam of the spiritual life. But not disheartened. It's too easy to get either guilty or fed up, and decide that's it, I'm not going to bother. I don't want to succumb to these temptations. I also want to try some of the suggestions in the Kellys' excellent book.
Past of what I am doing at the moment is removing some of the blockages to prayer. I've spoken about guilt already, I've spoken about the fact that we need to be really persuaded that God is on our side, not waiting to appeased by us, or argued into grudgingly helping us out. I really believe that, and I'm determined to put it into practice.
The next sermon on this subject will be preached on June 23rd, at 8am and 10am in Holy Trinity Hertford Heath. There will also be blog posts on the subject of chapter two - prayer as a rhythm. I am really looking forward to this - I sense that my own efforts at prayer are fitful and clumsy because I lack any rhythm. I hope to be reporting on some ways to bring God into the ups and downs of my life pretty soon.
As someone who also struggles with prayer, it is a real blessing to me to see that you struggle too - sometimes it can feel like a very solitary problem. God bless you on your prayer journey - through it you will bless many others.
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