"Prayer means that we deal first with God and then with the world. Or, that we experience the world first not as a problem to be solved but as a reality in which God is acting." - Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles

I confess that I am a slow, narrow reader. Some people I know read more books in a month than I have in the last five years. I respect that prowess, however, it just doesn't jive with my reality.

At this stage in my life, Eugene Peterson seems to tear me limb from limb with everything he writes. He makes a very simple assertion in "Working the Angles" - that prayer is secondary language. It is fundamentally a response. God speaks first, then we speak back. Prayers that try to stand alone are like cut flowers in a vase: "As long as they are artificially provided for with a container of water, they give a touch of beauty. But not for long: soon they drop and are discarded."

I have been a follower of Jesus for a long time but prayer has always seemed to be an elusive thing. Maybe it is because I have viewed prayer as icing on the cake - something to kick off worship times or potluck dinners but not as where the real work gets done. "Most of the people we meet, inside and outside the church, think prayers are harmless but necessary starting pistols that shoot blanks and get things going." Even in the discussion about "What is Church?" and "What does it mean to be an authentic Christian?" am I more attentive to the latest idea than to what God is speaking?