“True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.”
“Our praying, however, needs to be pressed and pursued with an energy that never tires, a persistency which will not be denied, and a courage which never fails.”
Sacred Text
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:18
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
Jeremiah 29:12Jeremiah 29:12
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
Romans 8:26
STORY x 2
All us wedding guests stood as the bride made her entrance. I looked over at a woman across the aisle from where I sat on the groom’s side. I’d noticed her at the bridal shower as well, but never got around to introducing myself—or was it reintroducing myself? She looked so familiar I could have sworn I’d met her before. Something about her—
Of course! She’d hardly changed in the 25 years since our brief encounter. I was walking in the park with my infant nephews when a stranger peeped into the carriage. “Twins!” she said. “Are they yours?”
“They’re my nephews,” I said. Then I surprised myself by adding, “I can’t have children.”|
Children were all I thought about in those days. I’d been married nearly eight years and trying to have a baby almost that long. After many tests, doctors told me it wasn’t going to happen. The adoption agency said we were in for a long wait. But none of this was something a stranger needed to know!
“God can handle your doubt, anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions. You can bring everything to him in prayer.”
The woman didn’t seem at all uncomfortable by my confession. Only kind. “I’ll pray for you,” she said.
Her words were a comfort. But I was shocked when—only two weeks later—I found out I was pregnant. That was some prayer! My son, now 25, grew up hearing the story of the woman who prayed for him to be born.
At the reception I found my chance to approach her. “Excuse me...” I said.
She didn’t hesitate: “We have a connection, don’t we?”
The best connection of all: prayer.
How to pray in short
A prayer that contains all our needs and conveys our situation.
It’s just five words: “I’m in Your hands.”
The one-syllable is the essential matter of this prayer.
The Cloud of Unknowing who suggested that a one-syllable word can often be the best word for prayer. What could be more all-encompassing than “God?”
The Cloud author, however, does not suggest a multi word mantra or poly-syllabic word like Maranatha. He repeatedly insists on praying with one single, mono-syllabic word. He suggests ‘God’ or ‘Love’ and using that repeatedly to batter the cloud that separates us from God. He suggests that the word be a ‘dart of longing love’, an arrow piercing the cloud. The most important thing is that the word must be only one syllable.
God/Love
“A place of peace in the midst of chaos. A stillpoint. A quiet center within the heart of the storms. Prayer is not always a recitation. … Prayer means to spend time with, to abide with, the presence of the holy in your life. Take that time, with no agenda, to sit in stillness with the Spirit. Let the sound of your heartbeat convey all you need to say. Open your mind to the infinite. Feel the presence of profound love. ”
The monosyllabic word as the shortest possible unit of time and therefore as closest to eternity
Amen
Let it be true. Let it happen. Let it be as God would will it to be. “Amen.”
Maranatha - Come Lord and Invocation to God
“Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.”
Poem PRAY FOR PEACE BY Ellen Bass
Pray to whomever you kneel down to:
Jesus nailed to his wooden or plastic cross,
his suffering face bent to kiss you,
Buddha still under the bodhi tree in scorching heat,
Adonai, Allah. Raise your arms to Mary
that she may lay her palm on our brows,
to Shekhina, Queen of Heaven and Earth,
to Inanna in her stripped descent.
Then pray to the bus driver who takes you to work.
On the bus, pray for everyone riding that bus,
for everyone riding buses all over the world.
Drop some silver and pray.
Waiting in line for the movies, for the ATM,
for your latte and croissant, offer your plea.
Make your eating and drinking a supplication.
Make your slicing of carrots a holy act,
each translucent layer of the onion, a deeper prayer.
To Hawk or Wolf, or the Great Whale, pray.
Bow down to terriers and shepherds and Siamese cats.
Fields of artichokes and elegant strawberries.
Make the brushing of your hair
a prayer, every strand its own voice,
singing in the choir on your head.
As you wash your face, the water slipping
through your fingers, a prayer: Water,
softest thing on earth, gentleness
that wears away rock.
Making love, of course, is already prayer.
Skin, and open mouths worshipping that skin,
the fragile cases we are poured into.
If you’re hungry, pray. If you’re tired.
Pray to Gandhi and Dorothy Day.
Shakespeare. Sappho. Sojourner Truth.
When you walk to your car, to the mailbox,
to the video store, let each step
be a prayer that we all keep our legs,
that we do not blow off anyone else’s legs.
Or crush their skulls.
And if you are riding on a bicycle
or a skateboard, in a wheelchair, each revolution
of the wheels a prayer as the earth revolves:
less harm, less harm, less harm.
And as you work, typing with a new manicure,
a tiny palm tree painted on one pearlescent nail,
or delivering soda or drawing good blood
into rubber-capped vials, twirling pizzas–
With each breath in, take in the faith of those
who have believed when belief seemed foolish,
who persevered. With each breath out, cherish.
Pull weeds for peace, turn over in your sleep for peace,
feed the birds, each shiny seed
that spills onto the earth, another second of peace.
Wash your dishes, call your mother, drink wine.
Shovel leaves or snow or trash from your sidewalk.
Make a path. Fold a photo of a dead child
around your Visa card. Scoop your holy water
from the gutter. Gnaw your crust.
Mumble along like a crazy person, stumbling
your prayer through the streets.
“In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church, where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist. ”
Rumination
When I am with you, everything is prayer.
Rumi
Benediction
Bodhisattva Prayer for All Humanity — Shantideva, Indian Buddhist sage 700 A.D.
Science of Mind Reading
“May I be a guard for those who need protection,
a guide for those on the path,
a boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood.
May I be a lamp in the darkness,
a resting place for the weary,
a healing medicine for all who are sick,
a vase of plenty, a tree of miracles.
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings,
may I bring sustenance and awakening,
enduring like the earth and sky
until all beings are freed from sorrow
and all are awakened.”
Song: PRAY BY Sanctus Real