2004-104 from a poor monk:
The following might have been better at the beginning of this series, however...

For several years, now, faith seems to be a difficult thing to come by...it is not something we find "in abundance" and the religious life of christians, most notably their prayer-life, has therefore suffered a great deal. This is especially true in the west. And by 'west" we mean basically America, Europe, and South America, though obviously this is not speaking about some universal 'territorial' matter so much as it is a description of the personal reality. After the prolonged shock of two world wars and their aftermath, as well as everything else we have experienced these last fifty years or so, it seems that many christians have turned away from any sort of religious faith or belief system. A general cynicism seems to pervade our world. And one of the aspects of this general malaise is that many christians have forgotten all about prayer or have turned to non-christians for answers to their spiritual problems, if indeed, they are aware of having such problems.

Still, in the light of this picture, where we would have expected the demise of any and all religious practice, we have instead a great deal of searching and seeking for some sort of religion for one's life. However, mixed in with this are many crazy notions of what and how to "relate" to the Almighty, many 'off-the-wall' ideas of who and or what God is, so much so that many rather non-christian notions about God and life in general have crept into the thinking of untold numbers of christians, however unconsciously. If we are to be christian, then we ought to be and behave like christians...our mindset (phronema, in Greek) should be formed by christianity and its aims, goals, and purposes for us. This has to be seen from the outset, with all due respect to other religions and those who follow them.

It is not our desire here to discuss, wrangle, and/or struggle with non-christian ideas and those who hold them, for that would be somewhat un-christian and really not to our point of prayer anyhow. Good christian living might, in a non-offensive way, say much more to these ideas and those who hold them than all the discussion and argumentation in the world. But we think it is crucial that christians return to the traditions that were characteristic of orthodox christianity from the beginning. Life can find meaning only in being what the maker intended it to be. Other religions teach their followers as they think best, and may God bless them, for we wish them well in their pilgrimage. In a similar way, however, we christians should follow the teachings handed down to us, reasonably, and without 'piosity' or sentimentality. This does not mean that there is no room for variations on themes or the approach to them, for differing ways of looking at certain realities, etc.; that would be patently ridiculous, though we must point out that there are some who think this way.

Thus, it is against this background that we set out these considerations of prayer and what it means in any attempt to live an authentic christian lifestyle. We remind our readers that a great deal of reflection and meditation on these will be required for us to grasp the substance of christian ideas about prayer. We will be able, in the light of this enhanced understanding, to "check out" our prayer-life and make any changes that might be necessary. With God's help, we will investigate the various aspects of prayer and our relationship with God. There may be some repetition, but we ask that the reader bear with us...a great deal of this will not be "new".

We'll come back to this background material in our next epistle... In the meantime, be good, be happy, be healthy...the grace of God be with us always.