Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Relational

Dialogically— to participate in dialogue

I recently read an article about praying dialogically. The writer, Kenneth Paul Kramer, refers to this way of praying as relational. Martin Buber in I and Thou writes of God's presence in relationships.

Do I sometimes only think of prayer as something I do alone? Certainly there are communal prayers and prayers as beginnings and endings. And when I address God am I quiet enough to listen or just reciting a litany of requests followed by praise—sometimes as an afterthought.

How often do I realize that God's been listening and sending a response through someone's words or actions?

Every time we enter into a conversation or even stop to pay attention our words may be just what that person needs—perhaps a need they didn't even recognize, but God understood.

Martin Buber notes that when dialogue is genuine and mutual it always includes more than the speakers—God is present.

Kramer asks the question, "How can I hear God speak?"

I can release the notion of anticipating bells and whistles, thunder and quaking and realize that one way I can hear is by being attentive each day.


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