Saturday, May 2, 2009

PRAY! and other great quotes


This wall shows a colorful sign that says, PRAY! It was made by some of the members of our Conversations in Prayer class. It is a fun technique, using a sheet of clear acetate, where you first paint the lettering (or a logo or other outline image) in black on the front; let it dry completely; and then turn it over and paint a colorful image or design, which then shows through as a background. Here it is hung on the wall, but it also looks wonderful when hung freestanding, with natural or indoor light behind it, illuminating the colors and causing the words or outline to stand out.

Around it are quotes on prayer. Here are a few of them:

"True prayer is God the Holy Spirit
talking to God the Father
in the name of God the Son,
and the believer's heart is the prayer-room."
- Samuel M. Zemer

"God does not stand afar off as I struggle to speak. He cares enough to listen with more than casual attention. He translates my scrubby words and hears what is truly inside. He hears my sighs and uncertain gropings as fine prose."
- Timothy Jones

"No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer."
- J. Edwin Orr

"Prayer is keeping company with God."
- Clement of Alexandria

"Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God."
- Andrew Murray

"Praying is no easy matter. It demands a relationship in which you allow someone other than yourself to enter into the very center of your person, to see there what you would rather leave in darkness, and to touch there what you would rather leave untouched."
- Henri J. M. Nouwen

What is one of your favorite quotes on prayer?