As I enjoy my final months of being 59, I resonate with this writing: "The human soul is like a fine wine that needs to ferment in various barrels as it ages and mellows. The wisdom for this is written everywhere, in nature, in scripture, in spiritual traditions, and in what is best in human […]

"The human condition teeters on the edge of disaster. Human beings are in trouble most of the time. Those who don't know they are in trouble are in the worst trouble. Prayer is the language of the people who are in trouble and know it, and who believe or hope that God can get them […]

There is a scandalous little line in the Psalms, when the praying person entreats God to 'bow down Your ear.' Consider the implications of such an invocation. A subject of the Most High, who ought to approach in trembling obeisance, asks the King to bow down to him. We picture the master stooping to the […]

"In prayer we intend to leave the world of anxieties and enter a world of wonder. We decide to leave an ego-centered world and enter a God-centered world. We will to leave a world of problems and enter a world of mystery. But it is not easy. We are used to anxieties, egos, and problems; […]

"Prayer is language used in personal relation to God. It gives utterance to what we sense or want or respond to before God. God speaks to us; our answers are our prayers. The answers are not always articulate: silence, sighs, groaning -- these also constitute responses. The answers are not always positive: anger, skepticism, curses […]

"Prayer is not the place to be good, but the place to be honest." (John Coe) I don't know what has happened to us humans, but prayer these days often feels performative and kind of prissy. We are rarely honest. We try to sound better and more religious than we are. We talk to God […]