Dear Reader,

One of the best-known writings of Thomas Merton, the mid-twentieth-century American writer and Trappist monk, is variously known as “The Merton Prayer” and “The Prayer that Anyone Can Pray.” It begins, “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.”  Yet, rather than asking God to show or illuminate the way forward, the prayer goes on to simply beg mercy on the blunderings of a man who does not know himself or trust in his own perceived motives. “But,” Merton continues, “I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.”

The desire to please God, whether in blind faith, as Merton suggests, or through gaining a better knowledge of God’s will for us, is the foundation of Christian devotional practice. Called to be like Jesus Christ—that is, to be perfect—Christians throughout the centuries have used a wide variety of means (ranging from daily prayer to sitting on the top of a pole for years on end) to cultivate a change of heart, of orientation, of will, that will allow us to break through our self-centered and earthly compulsions in pursuit of that calling. In this issue of Fare Forward, we asked our writers to consider what devotion looks like here and now, in our age of distraction and disconnection. We hope that their experiences will offer you a glimpse of a few of the varied ways modern Christians think about and practice their devotions—their pursuit of a life that is, somehow, pleasing to God.

Fare Forward,
Sarah Clark
Editor-in-Chief