Going dry is a common experience in the life of prayer, and it is a great grace calling for some sensible discipline. We all have times when we feel our prayer life is going nowhere and achieves nothing. This is the time we might stop praying. And this is exactly the time not to stop praying. This kind of dryness is, more than likely, an invitation to go deeper. God is inviting you to a new level of relationship, which is why your usual way of relating just isn't working anymore. The newer, deeper level of relationship might be entered through a variety of ways, which might not include a new way of praying, but it will include praying (even if it is your current way of praying). The new depth of relationship might be forged through service, Scripture study, a more serious engagement at the Sunday liturgy. Or some other way. Don't expect some extraordinary experience in prayer to be the sign that you have gone deeper. (God will most likely be kinder to you than that!)
The above can apply to congregations also. People can drift away because nothing seems to happen for them like it used to. They blame the congregation or someone else. But, in reality, all that is going on is that the way they participate in the church and their relationship with God is being invited to be deepened. Go deeper, don't leave!Explore, take a few risks! God won't disappoint, especially if you let God have a real relationship with you, one in which God's relationship with you doesn't have to look how you think it should.
