Chapter 1.

Our Deepest Longing

Was there anything in Chapter 1 that surprised you?
Yancey begins the book/chapter describing an accident he had while jogging in Moscow. His injuries were not life threatening. He does however describe his “fear” of getting caught in the Russian health system. So, he went to the email, and sent out a email request for prayer.
Is this what prayer is? “We send signals from a visible world to an invisible one, in hope that Someone receives them.”
Does prayer feel like that to you? How do you know if prayer is “heard”?
Why do you pray?
What prevents you from praying?
Is prayer satisfying to you? Is it a privilege or a struggle?
What disciplines do you have for prayer?
On page 16, Yancey states: “I am convinced that human beings have an inborn desire for God”. Do you agree?
Page 17 Does it help to understand prayer as “that place where God and human beings meet”? If this is true, where are some places where you meet God?


Any comments about the chapter or these questions?

Chapter 2

A View from Above
What is the major theme of the chapter?

Isn’t it amazing how live as if it were all about us. A gaze at the stars at night, or of the vast ocean, a flash of lightening exposes for a “nanosecond what I would prefer to ignore, my own true state of fragile dependence”. What do you think Yancey means by fragile dependence? Have you ever experienced such “fragile dependence”.
Do you find rest in the grace of the world as Wendell Berry describes it?
How easy it is to lose “sight of God’s perspective”!!! How does prayer restore our vision to one that more resembles God’s?
Yancey states that modern life conspires against being still. Is this true? How?
How do you withstand this “conspiracy”?
Some of Yancey’s thought follow:
Prayer invites us to play truant, to step down from our throne and allow God to be God. Prayer is a channel that helps us remember who we are, God’s creation, and faith to imagine what we will someday be, God triumph. Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view.
What new insights into prayer did the chapter offer you?
What more would you add? Is there anything you would like to ask prayer for?