The Folly of Prayer: Practicing the Presence and Absence of God [Paperback]

Matt Woodley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2009

Prayer can feel mysteriously difficult, boringly perfunctory and frustratingly out of our control. Often prayer brings us comfort, but sometimes, especially when there aren’t easy resolutions or prayers go unanswered, it intensifies and focuses our sense of longing, pain and care. And often God uses our times of darkness and desperation to awaken our hearts to the ache within us--and the cries of those suffering around us. Prayer is all about coming before God to face life head-on, with all its jagged edges of mystery, joy, longing and agony. In fact, says pastor Matt Woodley, prayer is actually a real encounter with the untamable God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore our experience of it should reflect the power, mystery and even risk of entering into relationship with the Lord of the universe. In this book Woodley strips away all the religious-speak and presuppositions we have about prayer, distilling it to the essence of wholehearted engagement with the living God. Exploring an earthy, unadorned, jargon-free approach to prayer, Woodley unpacks a host of fresh synonyms for God-encounters, including prayer as desperation, invocation, mystery, astonishment, groaning and even absence. These marginal ways of praying compel us to engage marginal people--the desperate, the groaning, the victimized and the ignored. As we pray God will open our eyes to the pain of the world around us. With stories from his own experience and biblical and historical examples, Woodley gives fresh language to describe a life grounded in prayer that leads to compassion and service.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Matt Woodley's Folly of Prayer puts language, meaning and practical helps around vital modes of prayer. The truest folly would be to ignore this biblical guidance in those murky, shifting waters of the soul's authentic connection with God!" (Mindy Caliguire, president, Soul Care )

"Wherever one plunges into these eleven biblically landscaped pathways to prayer, the soul is set aloft and ablaze with the word Blaise Pascal sewed into his coat after his prayer encounter with God and wore until the day he died: FIRE." (Leonard Sweet )

Review

"Wherever one plunges into these eleven biblically landscaped pathways to prayer, the soul is set aloft and ablaze with the word Blaise Pascal sewed into his coat after his prayer encounter with God and wore until the day he died: FIRE."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830837124
• ISBN-13: 978-0830837120
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,103,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing book on prayer, August 25, 2009

By 

William Reichart "BigCreekBill" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Folly of Prayer: Practicing the Presence and Absence of God (Paperback)

Doesn't prayer often feel like that, folly? Let's be honest, if it didn't then why is prayer so difficult? We wonder, are our prayers heard? Do they really make a difference? Matt Woodley, author of Holy Fools, has just written one of the best books I've read on prayer - The Folly of Prayer.

Woodley takes, what can often be seen as the one-dimensional spiritual discipline of prayer - and showcases all of it's glorious facets. He shows all the different kinds of things that prayer looks like, from groans and wanderings to bread and wine to mystery and the most dangerous activity you can pursue.

Woodley demonstrates how these paths to prayer will open our hearts to God and to other people. What will be surprising to most readers is that the 11 paths that Woodley outlines, are deeply biblical. As you follow these paths to prayer - it will give you freedom and refreshment in how you pursue God and commune with Him.

Woodley has hit another home run with this book- as he did with Holy Fools. Get this book, read it, and let it guide you to a place that will turn this "seemingly foolish" practice of prayer into something very precious.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally - A book on prayer that I can relate to!, November 11, 2009

By 

H. Pleier (Bonn, Germany) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Folly of Prayer: Practicing the Presence and Absence of God (Paperback)

I picked up this book expecting it to be just another book to make me feel guilty about my prayer life, but I've been amazed at how much it resonates with me and my experience! Finally - someone saying that it's okay to complain at God, to groan, to be authentic because of the relationship, instead of always having to have the right words and attitudes of submission from the get-go. I'm finding tremendous freedom and also growing through this book - highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Meditation on the many paths of prayer, November 12, 2009

By 

T. T. Turner II "Everyday Liturgy" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Folly of Prayer: Practicing the Presence and Absence of God (Paperback)

I began reading The Folly of Prayer sitting in the Bozeman, MT airport. A middle aged lady sitting across from me made eye contact at one point and had a distraught look on her face.

After a bit more reading we all got up to board the plane and the lady had forgotten her drink on the ground. I got her attention and she politely said she didn't want any more of it and she'd just as much leave it on the floor to be picked up. She had a Minnesota accent.

Garrison Kiellor's stories about old Lutheran women began to swim in my mind. I thought I was going to get a theological pummeling. It began, "Is that book you are reading pro-prayer or against prayer?"

"It's definitely for it."

"What types of prayer, what is he saying about prayer? I love reading books like that."

"I don't really know what it's about yet, I've just read the introduction."

"What are you doing reading a book like that."

"I am reading it to review it on my blog."

"Is that your full time job? How much do you make doing that?"

"I don't make anything! I have an office job. I do this on the side..."

I eventually steered the conversation toward my recent graduation with a MA and a discussion about Barbara Kingsolver.

There is a certain folly to conversations like this that Matt Woodley wants us to hold onto concerning prayer. His book, The Folly of Prayer, is not a book on how to pray better (with five easy steps!) as much as a book that tries to demythologize prayer as a saintly, silent, and stoic spiritual discipline.

Woodley describes eleven different types of payer in the book: Groaning, Physical, Desperation, Mystery, Absence, Argument, Journey, Dangerous, Paying Attention, God's Heartbeat, and Love. In each type, Woodley presents not only the joys of praying this way but also the deep frustrations of prayer in certain modes. His strongest chapters are his more mystical one's, as he aptly describes how prayer in the midst of God's absence and prayer as God's Heartbeat are both harrowing and triumphant spiritual experiences.

Woodley defines prayer as practicing the presence and absence of God, and as such he is keenly aware of the spiritual disciplines not being about sustaining "God moments" but instead about long term spiritual renewal, the ebb and flow of awakening and absence that permeates all of our lives. And most importantly, prayer is not about production. As Woodley says,"prayer is notoriously unproductive" in the sense that it does not cause something to happen or change a circumstance all the time (152). Instead, the joyful folly of prayer, is that prayer is about an authentic relationship with God, a spiritual discipline that gives us the opportunity to be real with God as we are with our spouse or best friend---and an opportunity for us to be present in God's reality (or realize his presence in his absence).

This book was very helpful to me as a positive outlook on prayer in God's absence. How often are the prayers we pray similar to the Psalms? We always try to praise, praise, praise, but our days are no different than David's. Sometimes we should be angry, or in danger, or suffering, or lamenting, or confused, or bewildered, or dreadfully aware of God's absence. Yet, we should continue to pray, even when it seems unproductive, for that is the joyful, wonderful, and beautiful folly of the authentic prayer life.