Learning to Pray...

Church may not be the best place to learn how to pray. I've suspected this all along, and Philip Yancey gives my theory some strong support in his article, The Word on the Street. (Read the full article here.)

"If you're writing a book about prayer, you should hang around the homeless for a while," said my wife, a veteran of inner-city ministry. "Street people pray as a necessity, not a luxury."

Her advice made sense, especially after I interviewed Mike Yankoski, a Westmont College student who, along with a friend, left school for five months to live on the street. (His book, Under the Overpass, tells the story.) Mike told me that homeless people, having hit bottom, don't waste time building up an image or trying to conform. And they pray without pretense, a refreshing contrast to what he found in some churches.

I asked for an example. "My friend and I were playing guitars and singing 'As the Deer Panteth for the Water' when David, a homeless man we knew, started weeping. 'That's what I want, man,' he said. 'I want that water. I'm an alcoholic, but I want to be healed.' As I spent more time with David, I realized that a connection with God is his only hope for healing. He simply doesn't have the inner strength. He relies on prayer as a lifeline."

Prayer is more about honesty that flows out of need (even desperation) than it is about saying the "right things" to God. Just as our human relationships grow from complete (and sometimes reckless) authenticity, our relationship with Jesus grows as we honestly interact with Him. We need to pray by laying all pretense aside and opening our heart to the One who knows it already, but waits for us to willingly share it.

Yancey's Full Article