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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