The past several years, I’ve turned more and more in my publishing life to the central theme of love. I had no lofty plan to do this. This passion emerged from my ongoing attempt to live my Christian faith with integrity for a time such as this. Polarization in our world. Division in the life of the church. Political tension and the rise of authoritarianism in the United States. The death of untold innocents, particularly in Gaza. How do you pray? How do you live? How do you seek, not only to follow Jesus, but to be Jesus for others in a world like this?
I have become increasingly convinced that you cannot engage any of this today without a life of prayer. To live faithfully today means staying close to God and to the world. It requires an active immersion in prayer and your neighborhood. In the life of prayer, there is always a centripetal pull that draws you in to God and God’s presence. But God always has a way of spinning you out into the world where you live. I find that centrifugal force—that outward movement—more challenging. I enjoy the comforting presence of God. Spending time with God in the quiet spaces of my life feels natural. But that outward movement compels me to resist evil and to give my life away.
When I began work on Transformed by Grace: 52 More Prayers in the Wesleyan Spirit, I was moved by many of John Wesley’s later sermons that I had not read in some time. In my effort to translate their essence into the forms of prayer, I was struck by the mature Wesley’s understanding of faith. So many of these sermons addressed the issue of love, but the dimensions of this love were more textured, more challenging, more engaging. I found myself drawn out of myself into a world of resistance on behalf of others. I prayed more intently to resist those forces of evil, injustice, and oppression in the world that drew me and others away from God’s peaceable reign. I prayed more intentionally for the vision to see the world as God sees it and to embrace every effort to cultivate goodness, beauty, and love in the world.
Wesley helped me understand that prayer as an act of resistance includes compassion and hospitality—the twin antidotes to the heartlessness and hostility that characterize our world today. Every act of empathy is an embodied prayer of resistance against hard-heartedness. Every act of welcome is an enacted prayer of resistance against malice. Whenever our prayer becomes an act of resistance in this way, we are inviting the power of love to make a way.
Paul W. Chilcote is a Lifetime Honorary Fellow at Wesley House, Cambridge, and the author of many books, including Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit and Transformed by Grace.
Join Paul and special guest, Bishop Tracy S. Malone, on November 18, at 7:00 p.m. CT, for an inspiring conversation on living our faith in the world, drawing from our Wesleyan tradition and the new vision statement of The United Methodist Church to "love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously."
What practices help you stay close to both God and your neighborhood?
How do you navigate the tension between prayer and action?
What forces draw you away from love—and how do you return?
Who has modeled prayerful resistance for you?
How might empathy reshape your response to conflict?
Share your responses with others in the comments below!
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