After two false starts, it with relief and a certain amount of chagrin that I can say that this project is ready. Over the next two weeks, there will be a series of quotes from the book on our FaceBook page and the Home page of the Website; the series will run through Lent.

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Trained as a journalist, Philip Yancey has a knack of writing books that tackle questions of faith in ways that

are readable and absorbing. This book on Prayer is no exception; we benefit from a journalist’s tenacity to get to the heart of the matter and be able to talk plainly about what they found; his years as a thinking and committed Christian mean that we find we are joining a fellow traveler on the road, rather than an expert in theory.

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You can buy the book and read it, new £8/used £4.

We have some copies in the church library available to borrow.

Each day in Lent, you will be able to listen to a reading from it,

posted on FaceBook and the Website.
 

The book is a good read even on a busy day, each chapter is broken into 5-10 minute sections that are worthwhile in themselves – I found it helpful to read the book like that whether busy or not, it gives time to savour the thought before moving on. It is a hugely helpful book by a popular author which I find myself going back to again and again as an encouragement and help in faith as much as in prayer.  

Quotes...

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn’t act the way we want God to, and why I don’t act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.

"Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration,

flashes of joy and bouts of irritation.

In other words, prayer has features in common

with all relationships that matter."

"I write about prayer as a pilgrim, not an expert. I have the same questions that occur to almost everyone at some point. Is God listening? Why should God care about me? If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent, even capricious?"

"Why does prayer rank so high on surveys of theoretical importance and so low on surveys of actual satisfaction? What accounts for the disparity between Luther and Simeon on their knees for several hours and the modern pray-er fidgeting in a chair after ten minutes?"