Unlike mere action, prayer is not subject to immediate evaluation or verification. If we are addicted to "results" we will quickly lose interest in prayer.

Prayer is a way of language practiced in the presence of God in which we become more than ourselves while remaining ourselves.

Preaching reveals God in action here and now -- for ME.

As we grow into maturity in Christ our distinctiveness is accentuated, not blunted. General directions, useful as they are, don't take into account the details that face us as holiness takes root in the particular social and personal place we are planted.

Prayer is a refusal to live as an outsider to my God and my own soul.