{"id":6606,"date":"2010-02-02T00:08:01","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T05:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/"},"modified":"2010-02-02T00:08:01","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T05:08:01","slug":"lengthening-our-memory-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Lengthening Our Memory 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>


<\/b>\"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 lands on an insight that is fundamental to prayer:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Our image of God. That is, what image of God do we have in our heads and hearts when we begin to pray? That image, Hall reminds us \u2014 and a host of theologians and writers have said the very same thing, will shape how we pray.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What are your suggestions for developing a healthier image of God? What do you think of one recited prayer being used over and over? (Other than the Lord\u2019s Prayer.)<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He tells a delightful story from John Cassian about Serapion and Photinus. Photinus was charged with implementing Theophilus\u2019 no-image idea of God and he explained it to Serapion, but this crushed Serapion\u2019s prayer life because Serapion conceived of God in very physical terms. He thought God had a body \u2014 and so did many other early Christians of this period.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Chris Hall then reminds us that God accepts our prayers: \u201cGod\u2019s grace is always surrounding, supporting and empowering us we pray; even when we err \u2026 God still accepts our feeble offerings\u201d (118).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWe do not have to pass a theology exam before we dare to pray\u201d (118).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Hall then mentions a few bad ideas of God: distant, demanding, whiny parent; divine drill instructor; self-indulgent grandfather.<\/div>\n


\nSerapion, so Hall explains, could learn from Evagrius and Cassian and Abba Isaac who believed in the wordless and imageless form of prayer. It is about the mind\u2019s ascent to God, where prayer is not so much an activity of the mind but the state of the mind. In addition, they believed in retreat into the desert to find utter solitude in order to focus on God. And they believed in examining the life of Jesus for instruction in prayer \u2014 and he was perfect and yet prayed.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
And Abba Isaac instructs the one who wants to pray to learn to use Psalm 70:1 as a formula to which the mind returns: \u201cHasten, O God, to save me: O Lord, come quickly to help me.\u201d Why choose this?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Because \u201cit contains an invocation of God in the face of any crisis,<\/div>\n
the humility of a devout confession,<\/div>\n
the watchfulness of concern and constant fear,<\/div>\n
a consciousness of one\u2019s own frailty,<\/div>\n
the assurance of being heard,<\/div>\n
and confidence in a protection that is always present and at hand\u201d (135).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
While it might strike anyone as odd to select this verse, what times shows is that the one who is struggling can make profound use of this verse. (Hall provides plenty of examples.) And Isaac also believed in disciplined use of the hours of prayer \u2014 regular times for prayer.<\/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 lands on an insight that is fundamental to prayer: Our image of God. That is, what image of God do we have in our heads and hearts when we begin to pray? That image, Hall reminds us \u2014 […]<\/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-6606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-and-formation"],"yoast_head":"\nLengthening Our Memory 5<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris Hall, in Worshiping With the Church Fathers , examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and lands on an insight that is fundamental to\" \/>\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\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lengthening Our Memory 5\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris Hall, in Worshiping With the Church Fathers , examines the topic of prayer in the fathers and lands on an insight that is fundamental to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-02T05:08:01+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\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/\",\"name\":\"Lengthening Our Memory 5\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-02T05:08:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-02T05:08:01+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 lands on an insight that is fundamental to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/02\/lengthening-our-memory-5\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lengthening Our Memory 5\"}]},{\"@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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