Casey Estep: The Phenomenology of Prayer 1

My favorite portion of the first section of Bruce Ellis Benson and Norman Wirzba's The Phenomenology of Prayer was the story of the young 3 year old boy learning what prayer was. His parents explained it has "Asking God for things" and the first thing that he asked for was gelato! This has stuck with me ever since I first read it as it is to applicable to my life. I was raised in a Christian household and have been praying for a large portion of my life, but even to this day I catch myself staying stuck within this element of prayer. I selfishly ask, and it is only during this asking that I am attempting any communication with my God. The authors describe five elements of prayer. Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession, Petition, and Intercession. I tend to only focus on Petition and sometimes thanksgiving. The others feel much more unnatural to me. Confession is something that I struggle with. If I need to confess something that is admitting that I have a problem worth confessing which I don't like to admit.

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