{"id":1104,"date":"2021-09-06T09:48:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T16:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevegillard.com\/erleichda\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2021-09-06T09:51:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T16:51:56","slug":"a-proper-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegillard.com\/erleichda\/2021\/09\/06\/a-proper-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"A Proper Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

A Proper Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you pray?
\nTo a god
\nyou have
\ntouched or
\nimagined?<\/p>\n

To a higher power
\nwith a name or
\nto a Mystery
\nnot to be
\ncontained by
\na name?<\/p>\n

Look, it\u2019s none
\nof my business
\nwhether you pray
\nto Jesus or
\nto Chuck,<\/p>\n

but I\u2019ve
\nbeen thinking:<\/p>\n

When I\u2019ve prayed,
\nit\u2019s been as
\na beggar,<\/p>\n

trapped or
\ntormented by
\nwhat I imagine
\nto be my
\nneedy
\nbeggarhood.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m
\nbecoming
\npersuaded
\nthat when
\nwe pray,<\/p>\n

The Mystery,
\nor Jesus,
\nor Chuck,
\nis waiting
\nfor us to
\nintroduce
\nour Selves
\nproperly:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re no
\nbeggars,
\nyou and I,<\/p>\n

we\u2019re here as
\nApprentices
\nWith Gifts.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Vitolda Klein; UnSplash)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A Proper Introduction Do you pray? To a god you have touched or imagined? To a higher power with a name or to a Mystery not to be contained by a name? Look, it\u2019s none of my business whether you pray to Jesus or to Chuck, but I\u2019ve been thinking: When I\u2019ve prayed, it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t