During this past summer, in the course of the lectionary, we were given St. Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-13). In my time reflecting on that portion of scripture, I came to the conclusion that prayer is not just a thing. Prayer is an action, a place and a conversation.
From time to time, I have said that I do not say prayers. I do not think that we should be saying prayers. Now, before you think I am a heretic of the highest degree, it is not the fact that I do not say prayers but rather, it is the fact that I pray prayers. “Saying” prayers is one thing; we can say prayers just like we can say that the sun is shining and give no more thought to it. Yet, if we “pray” our prayers, the act of praying becomes part of our prayer just as much, if not more than prayer itself. If we do it right, we know that our actions speak louder than words, so too, then our praying is more than just the saying of words. Once we become accustomed to praying our prayers, then it will become second nature, just as natural as our breathing, which itself can be a form of prayer.
We often sing in the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus,” the line “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Prayer then becomes for us a place. As much as our church buildings are houses of prayer, prayer itself becomes the place where we find ourselves going when we want and, more especially, when we need to pray. It is in prayer that we can find shelter from the storms of life. It is in prayer that we can find comfort. It is in prayer that we can find the very things that we are looking for. Most of all, it is in prayer that we can find God. It is not that God leaves us but rather we leave God and it is in prayer that we find God right where we have left God.
We think in some ways that our prayers have to be polished and wrapped neatly with a pretty red bow placed on the top. Prayer is far from that. If anything, prayer is our conversation with God. Conversation, of course, involves at least two people in which one person speaks and another listens. There are times in which the one who speaks becomes the one who listens and the one who listens is the one who speaks. Thus, for prayer to be conversation, there are times in which we speak and God listens, but there are times in which we need to listen in order for God to speak to us. God speaks in various ways as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, but we need to listen because the Word of God is certainly “living and active” in our prayer.
So, if you are one who has trouble praying because you think it has to be a certain way, in certain posture, in certain words, be assured, treat prayer as action, as place and as conversation and prayer will become what you need it to be—time with God.
