“A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” Mark 4:26-27

True prayer is always a response to God’s initiative toward us. Prayer is not something we initiate or control for our own purposes. The goal of Christian prayer is to become friends with God. Therefore, prayer can never be without positive results, whether we are consciously aware of them or not. The only way to fruitlessness in prayer is not to pray.

Oddly enough, we are often less than ecstatic about God’s invitation to friendship. Discipline and structure in prayer are necessary in order to train our hearts toward him. Toward that end we at Church of the Sojourners seek to weave a habit and rhythm of prayer into our daily lives. One of the ways we have done this is by adopting the praying of the Psalms from the Office of the Hours as a common prayer discipline together in our households. (The Office of the Hours is the centuries-old practice of corporate prayer used in monasteries and convents involving scripture readings at certain times of the day. In doing this we not only join with one another in prayer; we join with the people of faith around the world and across thousands of years of history.) This is in addition to whatever personal prayer practices individuals live by, as well as our times of prayer for one another and for those outside our circle when we gather.

For a more thorough understanding of our attitude towards prayer, please see the article In Order to Listen, by Jack Bernard.