Church school

The church is a school (when it’s at its best) in which we learn how to surrender ourselves, our souls and bodies entirely to God. 

The most important thing a church does is teach its members how to pray. By prayer we don’t mean a certain method. Prayer is relinquishing one’s self and one’s will to God, so that God can have you, hold you, and love you. There are many methods for praying in this way. The goal of prayer is a relinquishment of one’s will to God that God’s will and your will might be united and God’s will be done.

So many of life’s problems are rooted in the fact that I have not yet learned to pray. That’s good news because I can learn to pray. I can learn to surrender myself to God. The church is a school in which we learn to let go as a form of prayer.

If you dare to turn on your television and take a glance at the news, you will see a whole bunch of people who have not yet learned to pray. That’s all. The problems that plague the world will not be solved when we work out the details of a deal. Problems large and small can only be truly solved by surrender to God through prayer. Many people think that’s naive. Maybe it is. 

People who pray are most often highly capable of self-reflection and self-regulation because their chief desire is to draw close to God in love. Therefore anything that gets in the way of that goal is up for examination.