Whole Prayer: Speaking and Listening to God

Wangerin, author of the bestselling The Book of God, seeks to understand why people need to pray. Using personal stories, poetry, hymns and scripture, he defines and explores four aspects of prayer: how we speak to God; how God listens to our prayers; how God speaks to us; and how we listen to God. On the matter of our listening to God, Wangerin reflects: ""It is so important that we know OURSELVES in order to listen to our Father with discrimination and clarity.... The self-centered supplicant is a dreadful contradiction. There are no other voices he can recognize, for he has made a god of himself."" While some of the stories border on the sentimental and the simplistic, Wangerin's clear prose and his accessible definitions of prayer offer practical ways to deepen relationships with God. (Jan.)