Suddenly, off the stern of the ship he saw a huge ball of light skimming across the ocean. It got closer and closer until, astonished, he realized that it was these three hermits running on top of the water. They climbed on board the ship and said, "Please honored bishop, we are so sorry, but we have forgotten some of your teaching. Would you please instruct us again?"

Wisely the bishop shook his head and answered simply, "Forget everything I have taught you and continue to pray in your old way."

This story reminds us, doesn't it, of the wondrous simplicity of prayer. Do you know why God answers prayer? It is because his children ask. It is as simple as that.

You see we often make prayer far too complicated. In the summer of 1990 I was working on a book about prayer. Of course, it wasn't a book then, only jumbled ideas in my head and a thousand notes scrawled on scraps of paper and napkins and anything else I could find. For that summer the university library where I was teaching at the time had given me an entire room just for my research materials. They also had given me a special key so I could go there any time, day or night.

Over the months I had been through about 300 books in the field of prayer -- classical books, contemporary books, books, books, books. My head was swimming with all the debates about prayer, all the definitions of prayer, all the divisions over prayer.

I had read everything I could lay my hands on about -- Formation Prayer, Covenant Prayer, Adoration Prayer, Sacramental Prayer, Centering Prayer, Meditative Prayer, Intercessory Prayer, Healing Prayer, Authoritative Prayer, and so much more. At one point I had identified fully 41 distinct kinds of prayer in the writings of the Devotional Masters.

I had learned absolutely every jot and tittle about lectio, oratio, silencio, contemplatio, meditatio.

I had studied every nook and cranny of the purgative, illuminative, unitive, stages of prayer. I had gotten lost in Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle so many times that I didn't know what room was what.

And I'll never forget that night in July, 1990. There I was in the library, all alone. Everyone had left hours ago. It was late. I had read too much -- studied too much -- I was experiencing overload. How in one book could anyone deal with all the difficulties of prayer and all the intricacies of prayer? There was no way! I threw up my hands, ready to abandon the project. "Forget it," I said. "The issues are too complicated, the task is too difficult. I just won't write the book!"

And then something happened that is difficult for me to explain to you, even today. The only way I know to say it is that I saw something, and what I saw was the heart of God and the heart of God was an open wound of love.

And then, as best I can discern it, I heard the voice of the true Shepherd -- not outwardly but inwardly -- saying, "I do not want you to abandon the project."

"Instead, I want you to tell my children that my heart is broken. Tell them that I am hurt at their distance and preoccupation. Tell them I mourn that they do not draw near to me. Tell them I grieve that they have forgotten me. Tell them I weep over their obsession with muchness and manyness. Tell them, tell my children that I long for their presence."

And so I am telling you. I am telling you that God is inviting you -- God is inviting me -- to come home; to come home to where we belong; to come home to that for which we were created. His arms are stretched out wide to receive us. His heart is enlarged to take us in. For too long we have been in a far country -- a country of noise and hurry and crowds; a country of climb and push and shove; a country of frustration and fear and intimidation.

And he welcomes us home -- home to serenity and peace and joy; home to friendship and fellowship and openness; home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation.

And we don't need to be shy. He invites us into the living room of his heart where we can put on old slippers and share freely. He invites us into the kitchen of his friendship where chatter and batter mix in good fun. He invites us into the dining room of his strength where we can feast to our heart's delight. He invites us into the study of his wisdom where we can learn and grow and stretch and ask all the questions we want. He invites us into the workshop of his creativity where we can be co-laborers with him, working together to determine the outcome of events. And he invites us into the bedroom of his rest where new peace is found, and where we can be naked and vulnerable and free. It is also the place of deepest intimacy where we know and are known to the fullest.

The key into this home, which is the heart of God, is prayer. Perhaps you have never prayed before except in anguish or terror. It may be that the only time the divine name has been on your lips is in angry expletives. Never mind. I am here to tell you that the Father's heart is open wide to you --you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you do not believe in prayer. You tried to pray before and were profoundly disappointed ... and disillusioned. You have little faith, or none. It does not matter. The Father's heart is open wide to you -- you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you are bruised and broken by the pressures of life. Others have sinned against you and you feel scarred for life. You have old painful memories that have never been healed. You avoid prayer because you feel too distant, too unworthy, too defiled. Don't despair. The Father's heart is open wide to you -- you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you have prayed for many years but the words have grown brittle and cold. Little ever seems to happen anymore. God seems remote and inaccessible. Listen to me. The Father's heart is open wide to you -- you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps prayer is the delight of your life. You have lived in God's love for a long time and can attest to his goodness. But you long for more. More power, more love, more reality in your life. Believe me. The Father's heart is open wide to you -- you too are welcome to come higher up and deeper in.

If the key is prayer, the door is Jesus Christ. Isn't it good of God to provide us a way into the Father's house? God knows that we are stiff-necked, hard-hearted, far-off. And so he has provided a means of entrance -- Jesus, the Christ, lived, died, and rose from the grave that we might live through him. This is wonderfully good news. No longer do we have to stand outside barred from nearness to God by our sin and rebellion. We may now enter through the door of God's grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.

Listen to me, Jesus receives you just as you are, and he receives your prayers just as they are. Just like a small child cannot draw a bad picture, a child of God cannot utter a bad prayer.

As I close let me tell you about my friend Lyman James. Lyman is a radio disk jockey. One of the best. He's known on the radio as "Rymin' Lyman." He's also the father of three lovely children, and one day he was spending the afternoon in a shopping mall with his three-year-old son Zackery. But it was just one of those days and Zackery was in a particularly cantankerous mood, fussing and fuming. Lyman tried everything to quiet his son. Nothing seemed to help. Zackery simply would not obey.

Then, I guess under some special inspiration, Lyman scooped up his son, and, holding him close to his chest, he began singing an impromptu love song to him. He just made it up. None of the words rhymed. He sang off-key. And yet, as best he could this father began sharing his heart with his son. "I love you, Zackery" he sang. "I'm so glad you're my boy. You make me happy. I like the way you laugh." Things like that. Zackery began to calm down. On they went from one store to the next. Quietly Lyman kept singing, making up words that didn't rhyme and were sung off-key. And Zackery laid his head on his father's shoulder, listening to this strange and wonderful song.

Finally they finished shopping and went to the car. As Lyman opened the door and prepared to buckle his son into the car seat, Zackery lifted up his head and said simply, "Sing it to me again Daddy! Sing it to me again!"

You see, prayer is a little like that. With simplicity of heart we allow ourselves to be gathered up into the arms of the Abba of Jesus and let him sing his love song over us.

         Pray with me, will you?
         Today, O Lord, we accept your acceptance of us.
         We confess that you are always with us and always for us.
         We receive into our hearts your grace, your mercy, your care.
         We rest in your love, dear God, we rest in your love.
         Amen.

Orley Herron: Richard, as you were speaking and then as you prayed, I was reminded of when I was in a car with one of my friends years ago. We were discussing spiritual issues and he said, "Orley, let's pray about that." I thought we were going to pray about that down the road, or pull over to the curb, but he proceeded to pray while we were driving, and I was a little nervous about that. His eyes were open -- I wanted his eyes to be open! I noticed as you concluded that prayer, you prayed with your eyes open. Jesus was asked, "Teach us to pray." Richard, for all of us who want to pray in a more effective way, teach us today the steps of praying.

Richard Foster: You know, your story is so wonderful because the first thing we learn about prayer is that we must begin right where we are, in the jobs that we have, in the families that we are in, with our neighbors or friends or work associates. We make such a mystery out of this business of the will of God. The surest sign that it is God's will to be where we are is that we are there. We want to throw that away and we want to say, "Oh, God can't bless me where I am. I can't pray where I am. I have to graduate. I have to be the President of this company." But you see, the only place God can bless us is right where we are because that is the only place we are.

We start with our children or our spouses or roommates or friends or neighbors and begin to simply visit with God and interact with God in a kind of interactive communication about the things that concern us. People will sometimes ask me, "What do I pray about?" And I say, "What are you worried about?" "Oh, we can't get a baby sitter." We learn to pray for daily baby sitters or whatever it is in our lives. We begin by what is often called simple prayer. We just share with God and listen to God about the kinds of things that we are concerned about. We try not to worry about whether we have our motives straight or not. God will clear that up as we move along. We just let God know what is on our hearts. You know the old play and movie, "Fiddler on the Roof?"

Herron: Yes.

Foster: Tevye would just talk with God. That is simple prayer. That is the simplest way to begin, just right where we are, with the concerns that we have, share what is on our heart, and then be open to listen to God's speech in his wondrous, terrible, loving, all-embracing silence.

Herron: That is wonderful, Richard. Let me ask another question. What about people who say if you pray, God will answer your prayer. How do we know when God answers?

Foster: That is such a good question because it is this feeling that somehow I have got to have everything right, or I have got to ask in a certain way, or cock my head a certain way. We just share who we are and what we are. Then we listen in an interactive way, because many times God answers in ways completely different than we could have imagined. Sometimes, you see, God says, "Why yes, I would love to give you that. I thought you would never ask." Sometimes God says, "Oh, I love you too much to give you that." Sometimes God's refusals are the truest answer to our deepest prayers.

Herron: Can we feel the prayers of people praying for us?

Foster: You know, I think that we can. There are times when a kind of sense of perhaps the shalom of God, the peace of God, comes in a particular context or situation. We realize we are being surrounded by other people who have held us up into the arms of God, not always, but there is a sense in which prayer is almost a tangible kind of thing, invisible but intangible, in that it can be almost like a gentle pressure, a sort of baptism of love that we experience.

Herron: What do you want people to pray about for you?

Foster: That I might learn to live in an environment of the Holy Spirit, that I might learn to live and walk with God. As they said of Moses, "He was the friend of God." There is a wonderful writer called Jean-Pierre de Caussade and he said, "The soul light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responds to every movement of grace like a floating balloon." I would like to learn to live that way.