Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

I first encountered Walter Brueggemann as a scholar of the Hebrew scriptures/Old Testament through his monumental 'Theology of the Old Testament'. When I started seminary a few years after purchasing that volume, there was a class taught based on that book, so I got to know more about Brueggemann's scholarship in some detail. However, that was not all I and the other students learned in that class - we were fortunate enough to have a professor who knows Walter Brueggemann through both his scholarship and personally - some of the spirit that came across in that class is not readily accessible in scholarly tomes, but is very present in books such as this one, 'Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth.' Brueggemann spent over 40 years as a teacher, first at Eden Seminary and then at Columbia Seminary, and it was his standard practice to begin each class with prayer (those untutored to the ways of seminary might be surprised to learn that this is not always a standard practice - my personal experience is that it occurs about 50% of the time). Brueggemann's prayers are both timely and timeless - they tap into the eternal elements of divine-human communication, but also express care and concern for current situation in which students, faculty, staff and the world find themselves. According to the editors, his prayers are 'subtle, surprising and daring, gentle and dread-filled [and] echo the poetic speech of the psalms and of the prophets.' As for Brueggemann himself, he states that to put such a collection together in print needs some justification, and he gives two - that much of prayer is 'careless and slovenly, and that what passes for spontaneity is in fact lack of preparation.' He also sees this collection as 'an act of gratitude', toward students, colleagues, and toward God. These prayers read like poems - indeed, like the psalms, they can be multi-tasking as poems and prayers, and often could stand as hymn texts. They have rhythm and grace that is palpable. They have theological soundness and internal consistency with biblical themes even when such themes hold us in tension between divergent ideas. These prayers call upon themselves to 'move off the page', just as Brueggemann calls upon God (and our actions based upon God) to move off the page of scripture and into action in the world. Nothing subtle here! But indeed surprising and daring. When I first discovered this book, I was in awe. It has quickly become a favourite, and just as quickly established itself as a book to which I return again and again, for inspiration and for a sense of what language I can use with integrity before God. Few books have made such an immediate impact on me as this one has. Prayer is often seen as something safe, something soothing, something secure - Brueggemann calls upon us as pray-ers to recognise that prayer can be a dangerous act. 'It is an awesome matter to voice one's life before God, and our lives should therefore be awesomely uttered.' Am

Once again, Dr. Brueggemann demonstrates with stunning beauty, the power of imagination, the power of entering the stories of life and of scripture, of suffering and joy and making it our own. If you struggle with words, if you wish your prayer life was more poetic, more reflective of the larger issues that lay at the doorstep and inside the church, then this is the book to read, I constantly turn to it when worship leading and teaching adult bible study because it focuses my thoughts, expands my spirit and teaches me how to pray.

If you want to know what Walter Brueggemann is about, read his prayers. Yes, his commentaries are profound, but his heart and soul are found in his prayers.You will find, as I did, that he is a man who believes that God spoke and continues to speak. He is a man of the Word. His prayers challenge, confront and comfort. They challenge us to listen for God's word to us - today, in our world. His prayers confront our hardness of heart and our complacency. Ultimately, Brueggemann's words comfort us by illuminating the steadfast faithfulness of God love for struggling people."Our lives are occupied territory... occupied by a cacophony of voices, and the din undoes us. In the daytime we have no time to listen, beset as we are by anxiety and goals and assignments and work, and in the night the voices are so confusing we can hardly sort out what could possibly be your voice from the voice of our mothers and fathers and our best friends and our pet projects, because they all sound so much like You. So give us ears. Amen."Highly recommended.

As a Pentecostal believer, I am fairly new to the art of crafting prayers in Scriptural reflection. Spontaneous prayer is emphasized in my tradition to the point that joining others in the praying of faithful speech has been thrilling new ground. These prayers, birthed in the heart of a tremendous scholar and righteous man, are transforming utterances which have challenged my heart and the hearts of many with which I have prayed them. The beloved professor has been surprised in the past to see where his work has gone and how it has been applied. Surely Dr. Brueggemann allows their publication not so that they can be read, but so that they can be joined. A wonderful collection indeed!

To one of his more recent students in classes and lectures at Columbia Seminary, Prof Bruegge is already a Living Legend! In the beginning of every class there is his personal, inspired prayer to the "One Who Listens; Yahweh; Holy God; Giver of all our years; You, the God of Truth; You, You, You..." Lately, in his OT Survey, I wrote a few snatches of his opening addresses to: "You, You, You giver of Life; You who are the One Sovereign Judge, King, Lawyer, Counselor...O God as we watch powers rise and fall, We watch ourselves, we watch and see the World. You who comes late and sometimes soon... Come quickly Lord Jesus!" My thoughts often return to his opening prayers in every class. My wish for all of last year: "Why does not someone publish them?" So now we have many of them. From 1976: "You are the voice we can scarely hear..." From 1992, "Healing sovereign God, overmatch our resistant ears..." How many sparkling ways that he creatively addresses the Living Personal God! In these few weeks I have used this Jewel of Prayers, I have been particularly struck by the first group: "And then you; You...and therefore us; For how you hope; The other side of the street; Our true home." The second section that I have re-read is "A people with many secrets," and the 11th one, "The God we would rather have."Dedicated to "a long stream of treasured colleagues of 25 years at Eden Theological Seminary and 17 years at Columbia...with thanks and appreciation." When I purchased this treasure in the School's Book Store, I first saw it in the hands of one of his friends from the Seminary Offices. Now the one who prays to the "Liberator, Redeemer, Emancipator..." will continue to be the one I know who includes his students in his caring compassion! Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood