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Saint Paul wrote a curious thing about prayer. He said we ought to pray without ceasing.
I’ve heard different thoughts about what such a peculiar phrase might mean. Was the Apostle exaggerating? Was he talking about keeping a constant awareness of God’s presence in such a way that even our thoughts can be considered like prayers?
Each of our traditions approach prayer differently. The Episcopal tradition uses written prayers and I know quite a few people who think such a thing absurd. “It doesn’t have any spontaneity!” they say.
“How can you pray the words that someone else has written? Don’t you want to pray from your heart?”
Fair enough. I admit that it is easy to read through a prayer without considering its meaning. But I also have heard many spontaneous prayers that were essentially a series of memorized phrases, every single one of them true, but spoken without much thought.
And there have been times I’ve sat and listened to someone pray and wondered silently to myself, “Is this person praying to God, or preaching to me?” I suspect in those instances it may be a little bit of both.
Again, to be fair, praying out loud is a terrifying proposition. Consider that pubic speaking typically registers as most folk’s greatest fear. Add to that the weight of talking to the Creator of the Universe, and you’ve got yourself a real conundrum.If this is easy for you, then maybe you’re not doing it in the right frame of mind.
Taking God seriously ought to make us a little apprehensive.
The scriptures say that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
So when praying in public for everyone, you might give some thought to what you’re going to say.
As I’ve grown older I’ve found that my private prayer life opens up when I get outside and go for a walk.
Speaking out loud to God helps as well, I try to take my dog with me so people will think I’m talking to him and not muttering to myself, right?
But it helps to be out in God’s creation, to feel the breeze that so often describes the Spirit of God, to look upon the heavens, to understand that I am not the center of the Universe.
The real question isn’t whose way of praying is more correct than the other, it is rather, “Will you open yourself to God?” Share yourself with him — your worries, your hurts, your failures — and His Spirit will make a home in your mind, and you might just find yourself praying without ceasing.
Saint Paul wrote a curious thing about prayer. He said we ought to pray without ceasing.
I’ve heard different thoughts about what such a peculiar phrase might mean. Was the Apostle exaggerating? Was he talking about keeping a constant awareness of God’s presence in such a way that even our thoughts can be considered like prayers?
Each of our traditions approach prayer differently. The Episcopal tradition uses written prayers and I know quite a few people who think such a thing absurd. “It doesn’t have any spontaneity!” they say.
“How can you pray the words that someone else has written? Don’t you want to pray from your heart?”
Fair enough. I admit that it is easy to read through a prayer without considering its meaning. But I also have heard many spontaneous prayers that were essentially a series of memorized phrases, every single one of them true, but spoken without much thought.
And there have been times I’ve sat and listened to someone pray and wondered silently to myself, “Is this person praying to God, or preaching to me?” I suspect in those instances it may be a little bit of both.
Again, to be fair, praying out loud is a terrifying proposition. Consider that pubic speaking typically registers as most folk’s greatest fear. Add to that the weight of talking to the Creator of the Universe, and you’ve got yourself a real conundrum.If this is easy for you, then maybe you’re not doing it in the right frame of mind.
Taking God seriously ought to make us a little apprehensive.
The scriptures say that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
So when praying in public for everyone, you might give some thought to what you’re going to say.
As I’ve grown older I’ve found that my private prayer life opens up when I get outside and go for a walk.
Speaking out loud to God helps as well, I try to take my dog with me so people will think I’m talking to him and not muttering to myself, right?
But it helps to be out in God’s creation, to feel the breeze that so often describes the Spirit of God, to look upon the heavens, to understand that I am not the center of the Universe.
The real question isn’t whose way of praying is more correct than the other, it is rather, “Will you open yourself to God?” Share yourself with him — your worries, your hurts, your failures — and His Spirit will make a home in your mind, and you might just find yourself praying without ceasing.
