Edna Lister on Prayer

  What makes a sermon great? Why were Edna Lister’s sermons and Bible interpretations so wonderful? How did they manage to leave such an indelible mark on the memory of her auditors? She ascended to heights of such joy that her message was undiluted, straight from the Source. Often shocking in their richness and simplicity, you may best savor her sermons and outlines by reading them slowly and aloud.
  In addition to Edna Lister’s written sermon and Bible interpretation outlines, we have included transcripts of her students’ notes wherever possible. We have placed her outlines before the transcripts on any given date, and in many cases they are very different. While the outlines may seem sparse, a transcript of a sermon or lecture is much longer; her sermons were typically thirty minutes and lectures an hour in length. Ponder in the silence, and you may tune into the living record in Divine Mind.
  Edna Lister approached God as her intimate, personal Father as well as the universal One, and often quoted Tenneyson to express her belief:

Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet—
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.

  “Pray without ceasing.”–1 Thessalonians 5:17. Prayer, which Edna Lister called “talking to God,” is a daily, if not hourly, component of life on the Via Christa. She lectured about prayer and used prayer as the topic in many of her sermons. We have drawn the following papers from her outlines and from transcripts of her students’ notes wherever possible. We have arranged them in chronological order, from earliest to latest.
  A word of advice: You cannot successfully undertake a full study of effective prayer unless you include such topics as desire, faith, healing and miracles.

Sermons and Lectures on Prayer










































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Edna Miriam Lister
1884–1971
The original Pioneering Mystic,
Christian Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The majesty on high.

Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry: “Behold, he prays!”

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
Our watchword at the gate of death;
We enter heaven with prayer.

O thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way!
The path of prayer thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray!
  – James Montgomery


References

Lowell, James Russell. The Works of James Russell Lowell, Vol. 11. Houghton, Mifflin, p. 181, 1892.

The Oxford English Dictionary. Weiner, E.S.C., ed, Compact Edition, 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 1971.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV), This work is in the Public Domain.

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, “Aspiration.” 5th ed. G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1938.

Will Oursler (1913-1985) was an author, lecturer and radio commentator who wrote frequently on religious and inspirational subjects.