Part 7 | Praying with structure and rhythm

Praying with structure and rhythm Chris&an prayer is our response to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3), with whom we have been brought (by faith in Jesus) into a rela&onship of in&macy and respect, trust and dependence, honour and obedience. - Trus&ng in our heavenly Father’s generous goodness, we can pray – for ourselves and others, including all the communi&es we are part of from the most local to the most global – simply, naturally and honestly, typically focusing on God’s will being done, our needs and shortcomings being addressed, and our growth in goodness through tes&ng and troubling circumstances. - Last &me we thought of developing the habit of simply, naturally and spontaneously speaking openly to God about anything and everything, as part of the con&nuous inner narra&ve and outward ac&vi&es of our daily lives – prac&sing the presence of God. Those who do this, however, soon discover that difficul&es arise. - If we only speak to God about what comes naturally and spontaneously to us, we may omit from prayer a whole host of maLers that are important to God even if they are not to us. - We may find ourselves focusing on what we need more than what others need, or on what we think we need rather than what God thinks we need. - We may also find ourselves praying when the mood takes us, and not if it doesn’t; and we may be inclined by temperament or circumstance to focus on one aspect of prayer to the neglect of others (eg always asking and never thanking; always praising and never confessing). - Since Jesus encouraged his followers to pray for God’s will to be done and for deliverance from evil, prayer that is simple, natural and spontaneous but which also becomes self-absorbed and self-limited has rather lost its way. Thankfully, there are some prac&cal ways to avoid this. - One is to use the bible to shape the way we pray, since it so amply sets out what God’s will is. To be sure, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and some&mes the wise advice of fellow Chris&ans, to discern how to relate God’s will revealed in the bible to the specific issues of our lives, but regularly ‘praying the scriptures’ forms in us a strong founda&onal understanding of what God’s will is in rela&on to how we pray. - For centuries, monks used to read (or chant) through the Old Testament Book of Psalms every month. The Psalms are par&cularly helpful because they are mostly prayers addressed to God which we can make our own (either as they are, or using 1 par&cular phrases in our own prayers). The New Testament leLers also contain many recorded prayers, which we can use in a similar way. - More generally, as we bring to God in prayer the maLers we read about in the bible, we are likely to develop a keener sense of what maLers to God. It’s interes&ng that Jesus taught his followers to pray, even on their own, to ‘our’ Father (MaLhew 6), with an awareness of others as well as ourselves. - In prac&cal ways, we can enlarge our ability to pray for others as we take &me to get to know them either personally or through informa&on we receive (from correspondence, news media, etc). Some people pray with open bible and open newspaper/web page at the same &me. - Others keep a note of par&cular people or issues to include regularly in prayer. - Of course, in an age of informa&on overload and global communica&ons, we have to be selec&ve about what and whom to include in our prayers; otherwise, it can become a long list of names prefaced with ‘Please God, bless…’ which soon loses a sense of meaningfulness. All this, of course, takes a bit more inten&on, effort and planning than simple, natural and spontaneous praying alone. - There’s always a danger of prayer becoming something formulaic, rigid or repe&&ve, or even a religious performance (if just to ourselves) or dry duty. Jesus was not very posi&ve about turning prayer into a performance or heaping up empty phrases (MaLhew 6:5-7). - But planning and structuring prayer doesn’t have to be like that. At its best, it becomes a rhythm as natural, normal and valued as rhythms of ea&ng and sleeping, even breathing. - And a structured approach to prayer can help keep it fresh and varied rather than boringly predictable. Even simple, natural, spontaneous prayer can fall into predictable paLerns, and on the other hand it can be exhaus&ng and unhealthy (and &me-consuming) to be constantly looking for novelty and excitement. - Both Old and New Testaments refer to regular &mes of morning, midday and evening prayer in Jewish prac&ce, and in the early Chris&an centuries people were encouraged to pray the Lord’s Prayer daily. 2 The Anglican Book of Common Prayer is a good example of planned structures and rhythms of prayer. - It offers a paLern for morning and evening prayers, including scripture readings, wriLen prayers of praise, thanksgiving, confession and pe&&on (for ourselves and others), and addi&onal prayers related to special occasions and the seasons of the year. - The seasons themselves are related to a longstanding ‘church calendar’, beginning with Advent leading up to Christmas, through Lent, Easter, Pentecost and ‘ordinary &me’. - Similar prayer books have been produced in other tradi&ons, from Catholic to Cel&c, some ancient and some contemporary. There really is no shortage of resources to help us each work out a rhythm and structure of daily or weekly prayer that keeps our simple, natural spontaneous praying to our heavenly Father from becoming unhelpfully limited and self-absorbed. - In addi&on to prayer books, some people find wriLen prayers and hymns a help in voicing their own praises, thanksgivings, confessions and pe&&ons. Others write their own. - We’ve been focusing so far on worded prayer, but there are other ways of praying that make much less use of words, and more of image, symbol and silence. Take some 6me now to review whatever pa:erns and prac6ces, rhythms and structures, you have found helpful in your own praying. - Sharing our experience with one another can be a kind of self-reminder to return to prac6ces and pa:erns that have for one reason or another fallen into disuse. - It can also be an opportunity to revise current rhythms and structures, or establish new ones. - And it can s6mulate us to try for ourselves approaches that others have found helpful. In the past, people put together what they called a ‘rule of life’ – actually not as legalis6c as it sounds but more a framework to ensure that the things that were important were included rather than leJ out of the schedule. - What is the pa:ern of praying that would be most appropriate for you at the moment? - Might you consider making use of one of the various prayer books for a while, or pray a Psalm each day? 3 Examen prayer There are many structured prayer prac&ces that Chris&ans in various tradi&ons have been using for a long &me, from which we might benefit. One of these, usually associated with Igna&us of Loyola, is called the prayer of examen. - There are various forms of this, some simpler than others, but essen&ally it is a prayerful review of the preceding day, week, or longer period, seeking to discern how God has been present and working in our lives – and how we have been responding to this – in order to make sure we are not sleepwalking through life inaLen&ve to God, to his leading, to his will. - It is really a development of the prayer of Psalm 139: O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways…. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlas&ng! Take no less than 20 minutes now to pray a simple form of the examen prayer, which is outlined below. Although it is done individually in silence, it can be helpful doing this in the company of others, whether in the room or on the Zoom. • Take a couple of minutes to become s&ll, moving in whatever way helps you most to a quiet place within yourself, and for a few moments simply rest there. • When you’re ready, begin the prayer with an aftude of thankfulness, recognising all you have and are as a gig from God, and wan&ng to thank him. • Ask for the gig of being alert to signs of the presence of God with you as you look back over the day (or whatever &me you wish to reflect upon). • Without trying too hard, range back over the day in your mind’s eye, and no&ce where your aLen&on is drawn. It may be by events that seemed very important at the &me, or it may be by things that went almost unno&ced. • Centre in on whatever brought you life, light, energy or peace. Where was there love, joy, peace, pa&ence, kindness, goodness, trusiulness, gentleness or self-control? Where were you conscious of the presence of God? • No&ce how you responded to these gigs of God. Where you responded well, give him thanks. Where you responded poorly, express your sorrow and receive God’s forgiveness. • In the light of what you have seen, look forward to the coming day (or period of &me). Ask God for the gigs you now need to con&nue on your journey of following Jesus. 4 • Rest quietly and peacefully for a couple of minutes as you end the prayer. 5