Disciplined Hope

Оглавление

Shannon Craigo-Snell. Disciplined Hope

Disciplined Hope

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prayers

Bibliography

Отрывок из книги

Prayer, Politics, and Resistance

by Shannon Craigo-Snell

.....

But is this the primary question? Theologian Howard Thurman says that a person who prays does not first calculate whether or not intercessory prayer will be pragmatically effective and then choose how to proceed. A person who prays brings their concerns to God, including concerns for those he loves. In Thurman’s words, “[a] man prays for loved ones because he has to, not merely because his prayer may accomplish something.”14

In my year of political prayer, I let my own intercessory prayers go public. A community of prayer developed in response, as people prayed with me, made prayer requests, and responded. This afforded me a glimpse into the intercessory prayers of others. I’ve come to believe that intercessory prayer (expansively defined) is extremely common and almost instinctual. When we learn of someone suffering, we want to channel all the goodness of the universe in their direction. We want to comfort them, shield them from harm, and surround them with healing. Our desire for their well-being means that we connect the person, in our thoughts and emotions, with all that we know of goodness and love. And we use whatever language we have at hand—given by religious communities, borrowed from science-fiction, salvaged from a past we barely remember, or invented on the spot—to bring that person to God.

.....