conversation is an engine

Deep Stuff Happens With This Connection

The Word became flesh and dwelt among them. And while Jesus had a priority of walking and talking with the people, he also had a habit of stealing away for focused bouts of conversation with God. Why pray, since Jesus was/is God? Is there something about the human condition that invites conversation with God?  And is there something in prayer that connects us as we live in this human condition? There is talk in prayer—clearly. Experienced praying people say listening comes after the talk. Those who have gone far in prayer say tell of listening coming before talk and even replacing talk.

Prayer is a model of communication because of the intent and listening that motivates and surrounds the practice. Speech-act theory, when combined with this notion of communication with the God of the Universe, suggests insights into the nature of the performatives uttered by the praying person—performatives like no other communication.  Prayer becomes an engine behind listening-rhetoric (“pursuing the truth behind our differences”) with the possibility for permanently altering individual lives, states and nations. All because of the connection with the Eternal. And as people pray together, profound, inexplicable connections grow. The result is that a praying people may also be a people profoundly open to the work God is accomplishing in the world—and a people profoundly connected to God and to each other.

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