{"id":6578,"date":"2010-01-29T05:58:14","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T10:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/"},"modified":"2010-01-29T05:58:14","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T10:58:14","slug":"lengthening-our-memory-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Lengthening Our Memory 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Pantocrator.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Chris Hall, in\u00a0Worshiping With the Church Fathers<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>, examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and begins with a rather bald description of his own difficulties in praying \u2014 that paragraph is worth the price of the chp \u2014 and the chp is worth more than its own value. (Make sense? maybe not.) Anyway, there\u2019s much to harvest here.<\/p>\n

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What, or who, has been your best teacher for prayer?<\/b>\n
<\/div>\n
Clement of Alexandria: prayer is communication with God. But this brings in theology: \u201ctrue theology is the adoration offered by the intellect\u201d (86). Hall here explains the Trinity in terms of perichoresis: God is love in communion, God has always been love in communion, and God created out of that love. Prayer is communion in that communion and God wants us to talk to him because those who love one another want to hear from one another, even when they know what the other one asks.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Prayer is not the time to show off, and the fathers counseled against loud prayers (Tertullian, Cyprian).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They learned to pray from the Psalms. Daily. Some did it hourly. Some monastic communities prayed the whole book of Psalms every day! Aloud. Like Bonhoeffer, they saw Christ present everywhere in the Psalms.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\nOn praying without ceasing: Hall discusses this through Cassian\u2019s famous Conferences.\u00a0<\/i> There is a reciprocal link between our bodily behavior, the inner state of the soul, and the cultivation of the virtues necessary for unceasing prayer (93). We must purge the passions (special meaning and not just strong emotions). Our thoughts need preparation by cultivating the \u201cheart\u201d. We need to cultivate moderation. Thus, unceasing prayer is learning to focus by ridding the soul, heart and mind of distractions.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Prayer involves supplication, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings. Christ is the model. Cassian\u2019s figure \u201cIsaac\u201d speaks of \u201cfiery [wordless] prayer\u201d and finds it in Romans 8\u2019s famous lines about groaning.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Cassian asks if God answers prayer? God is apt to respond to folks who are hopeful and confident in God, who are persistent, and who are assured that their prayers are answered.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The next chp directly gets to the issue of unceasing prayer.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
These chps touch on themes that I found so important in my study on fixed hour prayer: Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Hall, in\u00a0Worshiping With the Church Fathers , examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and begins with a rather bald description of his own difficulties in praying \u2014 that paragraph is worth the price of the chp \u2014 and the chp is worth more than its own value. (Make sense? maybe not.) Anyway, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1733],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-and-formation"],"yoast_head":"\nLengthening Our Memory 4<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris Hall, in Worshiping With the Church Fathers , examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and begins with a rather bald description of his own\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lengthening Our Memory 4\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris Hall, in Worshiping With the Church Fathers , examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and begins with a rather bald description of his own\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-29T10:58:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/assets_c\/2010\/01\/Pantocrator-thumb-250x487-10826.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/\",\"name\":\"Lengthening Our Memory 4\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-29T10:58:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-29T10:58:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Chris Hall, in Worshiping With the Church Fathers , examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and begins with a rather bald description of his own\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/29\/lengthening-our-memory-4\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lengthening Our Memory 4\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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