Prayer is a very powerful tool, as it both changes
our attitudes, but also has an impact on the world as we work together with God
to bring about the Kingdom on earth as it in heaven. As Paul writes in his
first letter to Thessalonica, “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Prayer is not something we “do” at certain times, as all of our life is about
being in relationship with God and others; so then everything we do is prayer.
So as you go through your day, considering how to prayerfully live in each
moment and respond accordingly, we ask your prayers for us, along with the many
whom you hold in your hearts.
And I very much mean that- prayer is indeed powerful. One of the benefits to spiritual direction, is that my spiritual directors have always been able to help me to see prayer in new and powerful ways. I once said that I grew up thinking that prayer was done on your knees, hands folded, and Book of Common Prayer open. She pointed out that, while that is prayer, prayer is everything we do. If we believe that God is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-loving, then all we do is in relationship to God- we can't escape God. And if prayer is relationship with God, then the math is pretty simple- everything is prayer.
My spiritual director recommend an article about prayer as a "second breath." It was a helpful read, because it articulated this theology of prayer and recommends living a life of praying blessings instead of curses. I commend it you, dear readers.
But what does prayer do? Well, as I've suggested, I think it has something to do with relationship. Now some people have trouble with prayer with an invisible deity who does not directly say anything back to us (at least, not in the form of sound waves that we think of as being normative in other relationships). It's similar though to all kinds of relationships we have. Some people are estranged from certain family remembers, but they are still in relationship with them, even if they don't speak for years. Others are in relationship with loved ones who have died many years ago. You see things that remind you of that person, you can even hear their words of wisdom echoing in certain situations, you hear a song that reminds you of them, or you feel their presence when you go to place you used to visit together. Relationship with God is somewhat like this. For me, I think of our child in the womb. I haven't met this person, I don't even know their name, or if it's a him or a her- but I'm in relationship with it, I care for it, I can't wait to know it more deeply one day. And I could likely say similar things about God.
I had a professor in seminary who spoke of prayer as action- and I very much liked and agreeing with his assessment. He spoke about quantum physics and the notion that we cannot understand the relationship between matter and energy. The famous example is that a butterfly flapping its wings in San Francisco causing a tsunami in Tokyo. Is this a literal example? Probably not, but it is to say that there are effects to causes that we cannot predict or understand. He then described prayer as working with God, creating space for God to act. Prayer is not just wishful thinking, it is actually effective. Now God can act with or without our help. But if you subscribe to a theology of creatio continua, as I do, then you believe that creation is not finished, and we are indeed working alongside to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer then, is a way to work with God to continue that Kingdom building.
I could say much more about prayer, exploring different avenues, talking about where prayer leads us, how liturgical prayer fits into this, but I'll save that for another day. For now, I'll leave it at this- prayer is about relationship and prayer is effectual.
And as a resource- I've been using http://www.missionstclare.com/english/ to help me in my prayer life recently. Great resource, and they even have apps available for phones/tablets.
Thoughts? Opinions? Conversation starters?
