Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Praying Shapes Chaos Into Order

Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin - Linda and I will be here today and tomorrow!

When I pray I am peaced back together. Since to pray is to live experientially in Christ, I am the recipient of His peace. I love the way Richard John Neuhaus describes the power of God's peace (shalom):


“This means the bringing together of what was separated, the picking up of the pieces, the healing of wounds, the fulfillment of the incomplete, the overcoming of the forces of fragmentation.” (Neuhaus, Freedom for Ministry, 72)

Praying takes inner chaos and transforms it into order. The Hebrew word shalom means "peace" in the sense of things or events or persons once distanced and in conflict come together. In praying God peaces the heart together. This is heaven’s peace experienced now in an unpeaceful world.

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See my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.