Dan J. Brennan

Prayer, Sex, and Friendship

I don't know yet if I am going to stick with that as a working title, but I am thinking about my second book along the lines of prayer, sex, and friendship.  This would be my sequel to Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions.  I think with the rich range of sexuality and intimacy accessible in cross-gender friendships that I could write several books on the theme of sexuality and friendship and not be redundant.  When I first started writing Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions I thought there was no question I would be addressing in at least one chapter, prayer intimacy between men and women--particularly men and women who were not married to each other. 

That changed when I neared the end of the book.

Escaping Solitary Confinement: Relational Prayer

I taught a class today on relational prayer.  I said relational prayer is a call out of the solitary confinement of evangelical spirituality.  We have scores of books by popular Christian authors on the value, benefit, and struggle of private prayer and solitude.  There are so few books on "relational prayer." While most books on evangelical spirituality and the value of private prayer focus on Jesus getting away from the crowd to get alone to pray, hardly any books focus on John 1:1 which, perhaps may be one of the greatest verses on communion and conversation in the Bible.  From all eternity, before time began Jesus was with the Father.  And that is where we are going: the communion of God and the commuion of saints. There is some use and blessing in private prayer.  But modern evangelicalism has promoted, advertised, celebrated, cherished, and proclaimed with great wisdom that private prayer is essential to your identity before God in spirituality.

Rarely, you will ever hear the counsel, that you need to delve into the discipline and rhythm of relational prayer.  Praying with and for others is almost viewed as an extra value or benefit  in addition to, or on top of, your hectic schedule and the chief cornerstone of evangelical spirituality: private prayer.   

I encouraged everyone to consider the possibility and practice of relational prayer as a pulsating, rich, communal, spiritual discipline that can help us escape the solitary confinement of evangelical spirituality. I wasn't just simply referring to prayer here and there, although there is value in that.  But to consider the possibility of even daily relational prayer as a possibility of rich communion: emails, Im-ing, and cell phones make intentional relational prayer a rich possibility even though you maybe separated by suburbs, states, or even oceans.

 

Prayer is Hot!

Prayer is hot! 

If you read most evangelical books on prayer, you rarely get this impression.  That's because for many evangelicals prayer is a solo act.  But as I have mentioned in the past on this blog, prayer intimacy and sexual intimacy have many parallels.  In other words, prayer is a lot like sex.  I had intended on writing this post this week.  It somehow seems fitting that I should write it while in the midst of a messy spirituality series.  One of my favorite quotes from Paul Wadell is "For Christians, intimacy begins not with sex but with prayer."  Eugene Peterson is one of the few evangelicals who gets it.  According to him, when we are speaking of intimacy, he writes, "When we develop and express our love to another person we are using the same words and actions and  emotions that are also used to develop and express our love for God; and vice versa." 

God's Story and the Weird Stuff

"Hey Dan, do you know Wendy" (a fictitious name) asked my pastor friend.  "I know who she is but we never have met."  He asked, "I wondered if you are available to pray for her and with her?  She is seeking a deeper connection with God and I thought of you immediately." 

I said yes I was.