Thursday, October 4, 2018

The Path of Discipleship - The Attitude of Prayer


When I was a child, I was taught that prayer equaled words.  Specifically, I was taught official words of prayer: the Lord’s prayer, prayers at bedtime, prayers at mealtime.  As I grew older, I learned a couple of psalms, especially Psalm 23 and 121.  These were psalms of comfort and assurance, words that were and still are often helpful when other words fail.

                As helpful as these collections of words can be, they can also be limiting.  When prayer is taught as verbiage, there can be great discomfort in straying from the prescribed words.  Pity the council member who forgets that he or she has devotions and now feels obligated to make up a prayer on the spot.  Will the words be right?  Will they be holy and proper?  Am I worthy to do so without an advanced degree or letter of ordination?

                As a student of prayer I have come to find that, first and foremost, prayer is an attitude.  I often describe prayer as the simple act of paying attention to God.  The anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing used the image of prayer as an arrow seeking to pierce the mystery, if only briefly, that separates God from the one who is praying.  Others have described prayer as gazing back lovingly at the loving gaze of Jesus.   Prayer becomes much more about focus and intent than finding proper words. 

                Various schools of prayer have encouraged as few words as possible, using a repeated phrase as a means to focus.  The author of The Cloud suggested simply, “God” or “love,” ideally something with one syllable.  There is a long and ancient tradition of focusing on the name of Jesus or, in the Eastern Church, what has become known as the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”   A longer version reads, “Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

                This line of thinking also gets into some differing ideas about the purpose of prayer.  For some, prayer is primarily about making things happen.  You may hear people talking about the number of people who are praying for something or the intensity at which they are praying for something to stop or something to happen.  In this type of prayer, we are often praying for things that haven’t happened yet but we wish could.

                The more ancient tradition of prayer is about connecting to God as God already is, accepting the world and our situation as it already is.  We don’t need to pray for God’s love to come into our lives.  When we pay attention, we will discover that it is already there.  We don’t need to pray for God’s attention, but instead need to practice turning our attention toward God who is always lovingly aware of us.

                This understanding is not meant to discourage you from praying for other people or being moved to prayer in reaction to tragedy.  Such intercessory prayer has a long tradition in the Christian faith.  Instead, I would encourage you to consider how and why you are praying for other people.   Are you looking to make God change the world?  Are you looking to bring God’s love into a difficult situation?  Are you looking to be empowered to be God’s answer to your own prayer?

                For this article I would ask, are the many words we pray allowing God to encounter us in prayer?  When you pray, take the time to focus on the God to whom you praying.  Offer God the space to speak to you so that you might listen.  Allow a sacred moment where you dwell in the love of God that is already around you.  Pray the prayers you learned as a child.  Pray a psalm or two.  Pray for others.  But always take time to be still; always take time to listen.

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