Comments on: Prayer

By: specialgathering

specialgathering — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:44:14 +0000

Carol, you left out the fact that John Arnott(of Toronto Airport Vineyard and the Renewal)was a neighbor and her daughter was a friend of yours. The Arnott family was at your home almost daily for about three years. How could you forget?

What about the Margaret Feinburg stories? Come on, Girl, you have some tales to tell.

By: Pam

Pam — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:13:45 +0000

While I share the theological quandaries about prayer, I find myself praying a lot about the weather these days, and if my child wants to pray for snow, I say go for it. In an age of climate change, it’s like praying for world peace — just because you don’t expect it to arrive overnight doesn’t mean you don’t keep praying for it, because you know it’s good for the whole of creation.

Love your blog!
Pam Fickenscher

By: Carol Howard Merritt

Carol Howard Merritt — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:46:53 +0000

Alas, I was a kid and can’t remember it well. What I do remember is he was young and just starting out. A nice guy. You know… just the kind of guy any parent would have over for dinner. And to me, he was kind of exotic. I had never met a Christian Arab Palestinian.

Mom and dad were on the PTL Club a couple of times too. Mom’s got some Tammy Faye stories from back in the day. They are even in the PTL Club Devotional Guide (”Daily Friendship Messages by Jim Bakker, the PTL Family and Friends”).

I’m pretty sure that Brian married me to get closer to my parent’s rolodex. He and his buddy, Jesse, would spend days imagining what they would say to Oral Roberts when they called him on his home phone.

I never met Jim or Tammy Faye, and I was deathly embarrassed by the whole celebrity Christian thing as I was growing up. I thought it was tacky (imagine that…). Now I wish I would have met her. You know, there’s a whole slice of religious Americana that I missed out on.

May TFM rest in peace.

By: Ryan Kemp-Pappan

Ryan Kemp-Pappan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:50:25 +0000

I want some Benny stories as well.

By: David Williams

David Williams — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:12:41 +0000

I thought you were just speaking metaphorically. You know…sitting around the teevee with the foldout trays and the Husky Man Dinners, watching Benny slay ‘em in the spirit.

But Benny Hinn? In all his kata sarka glory? Over for dinner? Dang.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:40:47 +0000

Carol, have you written about a Benny Hinn supper? I would love to have you paint that picture. Also, this post has made me realize that we grew up with opposite attitudes toward money. In my family, having money was suspect.

By: Carol Howard Merritt

Carol Howard Merritt — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:10:26 +0000

Yes. He did. You had no idea I was so cool did you?

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:08:41 +0000

Carol, are you serious that Benny Hinn used to come over to your house for dinner?!?!

By: ryan kemp-pappan

ryan kemp-pappan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:28:44 +0000

I arrived to seminary with a prayer posture that I had to be in the right frame of mind and pray [ask] God in the right manner in order that my prayers would be answered.
I consider myself a pray-er. I pray about everything. It drives Mere crazy. I love to reflect theologically in prayer. I love to meditate in rushing thought in prayer. I am learning that prayer is more for me soul than it has been for the stuff I pray about.

I see it now as an exercise of connectivity rather than provision. I still pray that my brother wins the lottery and that God send s radical, life-changing, ass kicks to me and the church I am serving. I pray that stuff happens that only God could cure or provide. I want those Pentecostal, revival like miracles to invade the righteous reason of where I am and shake shite up. I believe prayer can do this. How? I have no idea. I just know prayer works and my understanding of it changes with the wind.

I love this story. I pray it snows as well.

By: Paul Andresen

Paul Andresen — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:28:37 +0000

Lydia wrote: “some friends and I were sitting talking about prayer when our theological professor stopped by for a quick listen. As he walked away he asked, ‘Who is prayer for . . . you or God?’” I think this says everything about seminary and spiritual life.

In my experience, I found that in Austin within the seminary there was very little “spiritual” life. It was an academic and vocational community in the same way law school is an academic and vocational community. I think Lydia’s observation makes the point as the professor turns the discussion from what it was to an academic exercise in theology.

This isn’t a slam against the professor, the professor was doing what academics do, not what pastors do. What could have become a pastoral exercise became a Theology Ord Prep opportunity. It’s an observation about what an academic community is. Before seminary, I worked over ten years in Higher Education. I have also been an ordained deacon and elder in the church. In my opinion, seminary presents the best and worst about the Church and the best and the worst about higher ed in the same breath.

Seminary forces the student and family to become more intentional about a spiritual life because of the way it is not and cannot be that community. A seminarian has to find pockets of spirituality with friends, family, and colleagues, and yes, they exist. They just aren’t part of the formal experience.

Yes, I include chapel. After my second week, I don’t think I ever went to chapel without looking for or finding some subtext. With classes in theology, polity, worship, and homiletics it was impossible to go to chapel without looking through the academic lenses. Especially since papers and journals were due which required this sort of informed reflection.