Brazzeal - Pray Like a Gourmet: Creative Ways to Feed Your Soul (Active Prayer)

Praise for

PRAY LIKE
A GOURMET

Simply beautiful! David Brazzeal takes the hospitality traditions of the French and the Brazilians and stirs in spiritual disciplines and alternative worship practices for a book on prayer unlike anything youve read before. He reminds us that time with God is a rich and delicious banquet that we share together, and not a drive-thru fast food meal we eat alone.

Michael Frost, Morling College, Sydney, Australia

From the moment you read the table of contents, Pray Like A Gourmet becomes a banquet for the soul and spirit. Since when has prayer been such a mouth-watering, taste bud-awakening experience? Theres no room for deprivation here. Come and most heartily feast!

Pierre LeBel, teacher and author of Imago Dei; YWAM Leader in Canada

David Brazzeal takes the simplicity of gospel and makes it come alive in a most imaginative way. Using metaphors of food, he leads the reader through practices of prayer and time with God that enrich our relationship with the Father.

Chris Julian, university campus minister in Rio Grande du Sul, Brazil

I learned about new tools and tantalizing ingredients to add to the shelves of my prayer closet, ones I have never sampled before. For each prayer form, he provides creative, embodied ways to practice them. He is both a playful host and a serious chef at this delicious banquet. This is a book to use over and over again.

Sybil MacBeth, author of Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God

We all get stuck in prayereating from the same old menu over and over. If your prayer life has grown bland and tasteless, you definitely need to read this menu. It will take you to a new level of praying, whetting your appetite to pray more deeply, enriching your life to live more freely and fully in Christ.

Randy Rains, Associate Vice President for Spiritual Life & Formation,
International Mission Board, SBC, Richmond, Virginia

Ive learned to devour books quickly but this one made me slow down.

Paul H. de Neui, PhD, Professor of Intercultural Studies and Missiology,
North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois

In delightfully lyrical yet simple language he describes food and prayer in ways that make me hungry for both.

Mark Scandrette, author of Practicing the Way of Jesus

As a pastor, people often ask me, How can I know God? A hunger in their souls whispers that they know about God but that there must be more. David Brazzeals Pray Like a Gourmet is for anyone who longs to feast with God.

Rev. Lynn Smilie Nesbitt, United Methodist Pastor, Dothan, Alabama

Prayer is too often a prisoner of tradition. Not that the saints of old and biblical examples should be trivialized, but there is more to explore of our conversation with our creator and king. Thank you, David Brazzeal, for painting a new canvas of conversation.

Joan Tankersley, producer and writer, Houston, Texas

Pray Like a Gourmet is filled with great stories that help us expand our definitions of prayer, but more importantly, David gives us creative ways to pray!

Lilly Lewin, Founder of Thinplace and author of Sacred Space

Spiritual formation takes many forms as we move deeper into the life of the Creator. This book is a fun and imaginative way to pursue practices that allow us to receive the grace thats so essential to that journey.

Glenn Smith, professor, author and executive director of Christian Direction,
Montral, Qubec

CREATIVE WAYS TO FEED YOUR SOUL

ACTIVE

PRAYER

SERIES

Illustrations by Willemijn de Groot

2015 First Printing

Pray Like a Gourmet: Creative Ways to Feed Your Soul

Copyright 2015 by David Brazzeal

ISBN 978-1-61261-627-8

Illustrations by Willemijn de Groot

www.willemijndegroot.nl

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, Todays New International Version. Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations designated (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations designated (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations designated (KJ21) are taken from The Holy Bible, 21st Century King James Version (KJ21), Copyright 1994, Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237, and used by permission.

Scripture quotations designated (KJV) are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version).

The Paraclete Press name and logo (dove on cross) is a trademark of Paraclete Press, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brazzeal, David.

Pray like a gourmet : creative ways to feed your soul / David Brazzeal.

pages cm. (Active prayer series)

ISBN 978-1-61261-627-8

1. PrayerChristianity. 2. Dinners and diningReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV210.3.B736 2015

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Paraclete Press

Brewster, Massachusetts

www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

To my kind and gentle wife Sanan,
my friend and companion all along this journey.

Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us.
Life is so endlessly delicious.

RUTH REICHL

Teach Your Children Well (Gourmet Magazine, 2007)

I had my first French meal and I never got over it.
It was just marvelous. We had oysters and a lovely dry white wine.
And then we had one of those lovely scalloped dishes and the lovely,
creamery buttery sauce. Then we had a roast duck
and I dont know what else.

JULIA CHILD, Larry King Live, CNN, aired 8.21.2004, transcript.

Come with me to the heart of Paris. A dear friend has invited us over for dinner tonight. It promises to be a particularly scrumptious affair. Im following my usual checklist for such an evening: