Prayer. What is it? How do we pray? Are there right
words to use when praying? Today, is today a day for
adoration, confession, thanksgiving, or
supplication? Who do I pray for? Does it matter how
long I pray?
Prayer. Actually, in scripture and in the lives of
the faithful, we see that prayer isn’t just one
style. Prayer of the heart may use few words or
none. All that is required needed is an attentive
heart. A heart that is attentive to the world, yes
the world, around you: locally, globally,
nationally, and/or personally. Don’t think too so
much and pray.
Where do we begin? How do I begin? How about this
piece of advice: One of my favorite writers and
theologians, Thomas Merton, taught that simply
walking with God is one of the surest ways of
developing a life of prayer. Prayer such as this
unveils the presence of God everywhere; God in the
everydayness of life, in the body, in nature, and in
the people we encounter. Pray.
All occasions are opportunities for prayer:
preparing a meal, working in the garden, reading a
book, taking a walk in the woods, playing with
children or with your pets. Prayer is not about
words or postures, though these aspects are
important. Prayer is about living with a sense of
God’s presence in all our lives.
Here comes a bold statement. The real purpose of
prayer…is the deepening of personal realization in
love, the awareness of God (even if sometimes this
awareness may among to a negative factor, a seeming
‘absence’).
Prayer then not just a formula of words, or a series
of desires springing up in the heart—it is the
orientation of our whole body, mind, and spirit to
God in silence, attention, and adoration. So pray.
However you need to or want to. But you need to. We
all do.
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Need help? Think about this poem by Mary Oliver
titled, “Praying.”
“Praying
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”
Prayer. By reading this, you’ve already done it.
Be well.
[Adam Quine, pastor of First Presbyterian Church
in Lincoln] |
