Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton
Week 4: Chapter 3 — Prayer: Intimate Conversation with God
Read Chapter 3 of Sacred Rhythms. Key Scripture: Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 6:5-13.
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This chapter moves prayer out of the realm of religious performance and into the honest, often wordless territory of genuine relationship. Bring your real prayer life — not an idealized version — to these questions.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Barton opens by acknowledging that many Christians feel a persistent gap between how they think they should pray and how prayer actually goes. How would you describe your own prayer life honestly — not how you wish it were, but how it actually is most of the time?
2.She explores different 'types' of prayer that correspond to different seasons and temperaments — including prayers of examen, intercessory prayer, contemplative prayer, and prayers of lament. Which of these feels most natural to you, and which feels most foreign? What might that reveal about which parts of relationship with God you have underdeveloped?
3.Barton draws on Romans 8:26-27 — 'the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express' — to argue that the Spirit himself is praying in and through us even when we don't know what to say. How does this reframe what happens in prayer when we feel stuck, dry, or wordless? Does this comfort you or unsettle you?
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