Suffering (week 4)

If you’re reading this & you aren’t caught up on some of the previous blogging from the first three weeks, go do that first! Also, don’t forget to participate in the discussion on last week’s questions. You need to comment on at least 2 teammates posts.

Wow.  This chapter gets right to the tough stuff.  One of the aspects of this book that I really appreciate is that Mark doesn’t avoid the hard parts of prayer…he gets right into the thick of it.

The presence of suffering is something that has perplexed people for centuries.  Mark offers some great suggestions on how to think about it & some practices for dealing with suffering in your own life.  One of my favorite musicians wrote a song about this difficulty of understanding suffering.  Rich Mullins actually died before he was able to record the song (which makes the song all the more meaningful), but you can check out someone else’s interpretation of the song here.

Start by telling me about what in this chapter really stuck out to you.  Why?

There are 4 experiences this week.  Remember that I’d like you to try out every experience each week (by spreading them out throughout the week).  Please write about 2 out of the 4 experiences here (but you can journal about all of your prayer experiences in your journal : ).

Looking forward to reading your reflections and experiences.

Fear (week 3)

If you’re reading this & you haven’t blogged from the first two weeks, go do that first!  Also, don’t forget to participate in the discussion on last week’s questions.  You need to comment on at least 2 teammates posts.

It’s been great reading your responses so far.  Make sure to take your time and fully answer the questions.  There aren’t many this week, so take a little longer with your answers.  And don’t forget to write your requests, thoughts, dreams, and about your experiences in your prayer journals!

It’s interesting to me that Mark writes that “To pray is to be vulnerable.” It means that even in the very act of prayer, we’re having to face some of our fears. Prayer gives us the choice to trust God. Can you think of a time in your life when you’ve had a hard time trusting God (maybe even now!)?

Fear is something everyone struggles with.  Some people hide it more than others and people have different fears, but we all have them.  Fears change some, too, as we get older.  Some things you’re afraid of now, you won’t be later, but other fears may replace them.  God’s presence of peace and hope in the midst of fear is one of my favorite parts of faith.  It’s so helpful to know that someone much bigger than you is present with you in every situation.

What’s something that stuck with you from this week’s reading or that has left you thinking?

Tell us about one of your prayer experiences. How was it helpful? What did you learn?

Longing (week 2)

If you’re reading this & you haven’t blogged about the first chapter (Introduction & Love), go do that first!  Also, don’t forget to participate in the discussion on last week’s questions.  You need to comment on at least 2 teammates posts.

I loved reading the responses to the reading and experiences every week. This week’s chapter on Longing was really interesting.

I want you to start by looking up and reading one of the stories of desires being brought to God found on page 31.  If you don’t know where the stories are located in the Bible offhand, you might want to figure out some key words from the sentence description and go to http://www.biblegateway.com and do a key word search.  Then you can look it up in your Bible and read the whole story.  Tell me which story you decided to read and where it’s found in the Bible.

One of the exercises this week encourages you to write some things out.  One of the practices that I’ve found to be really helpful is to have a prayer journal.  A prayer journal is basically a place to write out your thoughts, prayers, requests, thanks, etc to God.  This week I want you to find a notebook or journal that you can use as your prayer journal.  What you write in this will just be between you and God.  I’d encourage you to write out some of your prayers to God, to reflect on your prayer experiences, and/or to write out different prayer requests you have.  Bring it with you on Sunday so that we can know that you followed through…but whatever you write in it is private, so be honest & open.

One of my favorite music groups, Gungor, took one of the prayers of Augustine that’s quoted in this chapter and put it to music.  You can listen to it by clicking here.

Tell us about one of your prayer experiences this week.  What’d you do?  How did it make you feel?  What did you learn?

Intro & Love (week 1)…here we go!

Well, here we go!  For those of you that went on the trip last year, you probably remember the experience of reading and blogging together and hopefully you learned a lot from it.  This is one of my favorite things to do throughout the year, as I get to read all of your responses and hear what you’re learning.

Each week I’ll post a couple questions on here.  Please take the time to respond to them below by leaving a comment (make sure you include your first name & last initial on the comment so I know who it is).  And when you come each week, make sure to review the previous week’s conversation and read what your teammates have written & respond to & interact with them…we’re in this together!  When you respond (either to the questions or your teammates), take your time & write out your thoughts.  Be honest with your thoughts…honesty builds community & will allow us to trust each other and really grow as a team.  Don’t just try to finish your answers as quickly as you can…make me read a ton ; )  Seriously…the more you think through this stuff, the more it’ll help you prepare.

So how did Mark’s description of prayer in the Introduction surprise you?  Was there anything that stuck out to you?

Tell us about the space you chose to read the book.  Mark encouraged us to choose a place that would allow space and privacy.  What space did you choose?

Tell us about one of the 3 contemplative exercises.  I want you to do all 3 at some point (hopefully you’ll space them out throughout the week, rather than trying to cram them all into Saturday night), but you only need to describe one of them in your comment this week.  What did you do?  What was it like?  What did you feel like afterward?

This Sunday is the luncheon, so come ready to serve…see ya then!

Welcome!

You made it…here we go!  In just over a month, we’ll be headed off to Boston!  This blog is where we’ll be having conversations each week as we prepare to go to Boston together.  Make sure you check in a few times every week to post your response to the questions and to participate in the conversation with your fellow team members.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!