Pete Greig - God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer

Pete Greig has written an extraordinarily honest book, so I need to begin this foreword honestly, with a confession: I love the subject of prayer (because I love to pray) and I have read a lot of books on the subject, but I havent liked quite a few of them. Some have struck me as formulaic and full of easy answers, which is a euphemism for dishonest answers. They made unrealistic promises and were full of some of the unhelpful misguidance that Petes book effectively, but gently, seeks to correct.

Several of these books were guilt-inducing, preoccupied with quantifying how much prayer is necessary for a truly committed Christian and shaming people for not praying enough, or the prescribed way, or whatever. This approach always hurts my prayer life, because after reading them, as soon as I say, Dear God or Our Father, my next thought is, Im sure Youre already disappointed in me because I havent prayed enough this week. Oops, I probably didnt start this prayer right. Okay, let me start again er

A few of these books, though, have been so important in my life that they made getting through all the others worthwhilejust to find these gems. I think, for example, of Richard Fosters Prayer, or C. S. Lewiss Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer or Anthony Blooms Beginning to Pray. The book you are now holding is the most recent member of this B-list. (There is no A-list. B in this case means best, beautiful and be sure to recommend it to others.) In fact, I just gave this manuscript to one of my sons and made him promise to pass it on to my other son when he finished.

I said this is an honest book, but its not just politely honest; it goes a lot farther than that. Im tempted to say brutally honest, but theres nothing brutal about this book. It would be better to say tenderly honest or, even better, compassionately honest, because compassion makes a veteran in prayer tell even painful or embarrassing or troubling truths so that beginners (and other veterans) will know they are not alone in their confusion, discouragement, doubt, anger and disillusionment with prayer. I think youll find yourself saying, Oh, thank God, Im not the only one, after all, who has ever felt that way! Im not the only person who has thought or asked that.

Along with honesty, this is a book of theological depth. Pete draws from the Biblenot in a superficial proof-texty way, but reaching deeply and broadly into the biblical texts, with a mature sensitivity to context. Not only that, but he draws deeply from his own circle of friends and, of course, he draws deeply from his own experience. One senses that, for all his honest confessions of doubts and confusion, this is a man who talks and listens to God, not just a man who speaks and writes books on how others should do so.

Honest and deep. These qualities would be wonderful enough, but this book is also skillfully written. Petes style reminds me of some of our best contemporary writers, like Don Miller and Annie Lamott. To have important things told with spark and flash, with a laugh and a tear and a wink, with irony and understatement and also great, naked, simple, open-eyed sincerity reading doesnt get much better than that.

My conviction is that simply praying is one of the most important things we do, however inept or bumbling or insane we feel when we do it. One of my wisest friends, systematic theologian John Franke, has told me many things that have deeply helped me. Among them, he distinguishes between first- and second-order disciplines. Praying, giving to the poor and reconciling with an offended sister or brother in the church are first-order disciplines. Having a theology of prayer, or a theology of economics and development, or a theology about reconciliation are second-order disciplines. John taught me how important it is to stick with the first-order disciplines even when our second-order disciplines are shaky or even crumbling.