Sword in the Fire

Here's a quick post I did for OCN in response to the tragedy in Colorado.  Make sure to read the others.  There are some really good reflections here.  I struggled with this one. How a Dark Night Rises in My Heart

For years, I would come to God throughout the day and proscribed times to offer up prayers and commune with Him.  While at times, I found a form to follow when praying, it was always a rough formula based on the Lord's Prayer or some other scheme that tried to include all types of prayers such as Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.   Not that these extemporaneous offerings were bad, but I noticed I would always same the same thing.  Novelty in prayer only lasts so long.  Perhaps my creativity is lacking, but look at the blessing before meals as example.  How many ways can you ask for God's blessing and offer Him thanks without eventually settling down into a certain rhythm? Eventually I needed more form and certainty in what I was saying.  My prayers could easily devolve into selfishness and egotism, and saying those words daily was not shaping me into the likeness of Christ, but into a parody of myself.   The solution w...

Below you will find a link to my latest post on OCN's Blog the Sounding. Why We Should Bring the World into the Church