A Review of Adam Dressler’s “This Is How We Pray”
Talk (with God) A Lot
Author Adam Dressler will be the first person to let you know that his book This Is How We Pray is not really a How-To Guide on how to pray. He offers the reminder many times throughout his long but absorbing book. No, This Is How We Pray is more of a meditation on prayer. It’s a book about why prayer is good when you’re hurting, why prayer is good when you seek forgiveness, why prayer is good in a myriad of other ways and for other reasons. It’s a book that takes its time to unspool its yarn. And, for that reason, it’s a book you can easily get lost in. Dressler has a very winsome and folksy way of writing, so you can simply get carried away by whatever he’s talking about — which may not be a bad thing because this is a book that if you have it on your Kindle, you’ll be making bookmarks and highlighting phrases within it, but then will promptly forget why you made that bookmark or highlighted that phrase to begin with.
Right off the bat, let’s just say that This Is How We Pray can be a confusing read. That’s not necessarily a criticism, but the book does have a tendency to prattle on and is overlong by a few chapters at least. You can tell that Dressler is a preacher because he sure loves to tell stories. Be sure that you know what you’re in for. This is a book, essentially, that is one person’s attempt to reconcile why he prays, and come up with reasons for why he doesn’t when he doesn’t. It’s a spiritual memoir, but it’s also a lengthy sermon. Or sermons. In fact, I kind of imagined that Dressler would speak each new chapter as a new sermon in his church on a given Sunday. There are, I believe, 14 or 15 chapters, so that’s about 14 or so sermons. But wait! I’m making it sound that Dressler is preachy, when that could be the furthest thing from the truth! You see, Dressler feels your pain. Having trouble having a satisfying prayer life because you’re raising four young kids? Dressler gets that! He really and truly does.
But the thing is, I’ve just finished reading this book and cannot tell you a thing about what it’s about — other than it’s about prayer. Very little of this volume really sticks or makes an impression. Sure, it’s a nice enough read when you’re reading it, and you may nod your head in agreement at some of the things its author writes about, but, at the end of the day, it’s hard to really tell you what I learned from this book. It’s more a book, it seems, about the need for prayer because God is this wonderful loving father-figure (who also has Kingly designs) who wants to have a dialogue with you — and why, despite your misgivings, you should pray as often and thoroughly as you can to this loving, powerful God.
Dressler does a lot of work to uncover just how loving God is, which is refreshing because he is an evangelical. However, there is very little about atonement theology in this book, just good God-loving vibes, which makes Dressler a breath of fresh air in the evangelical community. He talks of going on mission trips when he was younger, but, with this book, he’s not really out to convince people that his view of theology is right. He talks about it some, and in a way that is strongly personal. What you get is a guy who is just talking about his views, and his views work for him, so that’s the way it ought to be.
That also might be a mild condemnation about This Is How We Pray. It’s somewhat universal in its vision of God presented to you — none of this batter you over the head with so-called “correct theology” — but then Dressler slips in a C. S. Lewis reference to make you remember just what you’re reading. Oh well. We can’t all be perfect (that’s the sole domain of the guy upstairs — am I letting my lapsed Catholicism show?). Still, it’s a little disappointing because Dressler does this really convincing job of making himself seem like not a bad guy — even when he’s admitting his warts. He makes you feel comfortable reading about his life tales and, if I could, I’d certainly like to meet him to do a coffee with him and talk. So when the little drabs of the nasty atonement stuff leech into the book, it’s a bit of a shock because, up to a certain point, the progressive in me was heavily nodding while reading this tome.
Still, Dressler is doing something right. His Southern church is one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in the US of A. There may be a reason why people are driving from all around to come to his church, if this book is any indication. Dressler is an articulate man who knows a thing or two about nice, leisurely Sunday drives, just by the way he writes, and, despite any misgivings I may have, you have to admit that sometimes it’s kind of nice to be going somewhere without much in the way of a destination. If you like your books to amble along, This Is How We Pray is the book for you. If you need a book on how to introduce new techniques into your prayer life, look elsewhere. This Is How We Pray isn’t really sure of what it is, but it’s entertaining enough and worthy of digging into your pocketbook if you want to read someone come to grips with the fact that he has to pray more. That’s it, that’s all. Nothing less, nothing more.
Adam Dressler’s This Is How We Pray: Discovering a Life of Intimate Friendship with God was published by FaithWords on March 5, 2019. An electronic review copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Of course, if you like what you see, please recommend this piece (click on the clapping hands’ icon below) and share it with your followers.
Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
