I have been invited by my friend over at Calacirian to participate in Lynn Hallewell’s “synchroblog” entitled “How I Pray.” So here it goes.

For me the following are the most regular prayer practices that inform and form my prayer life.

The Jesus Prayer - about 5 or so years ago this practice of praying became a very regular part of my life. It remains to be my “go to prayer.” I can pray this prayer 100’s of times in a day. It is so portable. Powerful. Meaning FILLED. I repeat it gratuitously. I repeat it fervently. It rolls in the back of my mind on some occasions like the surf on the beach. It has in some ways become a part of my pattern in living.

The Jesus Prayer is a simple prayer from the Eastern Church and the prayer while incredibly profound is merely a simple sentence (that most can remember upon hearing just once.). The scriptural intent behind this prayer is to help the Christian Pilgrim fulfill Paul’s admonishment to “pray without ceasing.” (I Thessalonians 5:17) The words themselves that make up the Jesus Prayer also come from the words of Scripture - Luke 17:13 and Luke 18:14.

The words I use for the Jesus prayer (there are shorter and longer versions) come from what I understand to be the Anglican Tradition. The version I say, regularly is:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

I find myself often praying it in the following manner - focusing my prayer on the bolded word each time.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
God, have mercy on me a sinner.
God, have mercy.
Have mercy.

Praying the Hours has been the other way in which I have learned to pray. Joining with the Church universal several times a day to pray and read the Psalms has been a life line in my life with God. I have not been as regular in my habits the past year in this endeavor. I have been real hit and miss, actually. But, that foundation has made my prayer life the richer. I long to be part of a community which has a habit of practicing the hours. Nonetheless I journey on in my attempt to keep the hours of Morning Prayer (Matins), Mid-day Prayer (None) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). The prayer books that have been most enriching for me are St. Benedict’s Prayer Book; Celtic Daily Prayer and For All The Saints.

I have blogged about this before - so for the roots of this practice and some reviews of the books I mentioned above and maybe a couple of others - check out this post - Using A Prayer Book

Besides some spontaneous prayer during idle times during the day - it is the Jesus Prayer and Praying the Hours that inform and form my prayer life.

Others who have participated in this synchroblog -

Calacirian
Lyn Hallewell
Cindy Bryan
Brother Maynard
Lew A
Jonathan Peres
Out Of The Cocoon
Alan Knox
Rick Meigs
Barry Taylor
decompressing faith

I have a dream for the churches that I have known - a dream that one day we will be known as a place not of words, great sermons, expert teaching and wonderful activities (not that this would be a bad reputation) but that we would be known for being a place of quiet, stillness and a place of tranquility.

I think one of the great spiritual needs of our world (anxiety, busyness and stress related sickness I think are symptomatic of this) is the need for quiet, silence, being, and stillness. I think this is true for teens, as well. Our students could wrongly walk away from our churches thinking that God is pleased by noise, busyness, and much activity. That God is found in the big, the event, the extravaganza and the emotional response. Of course (as well as being a bit overstated) we know this isn’t true.

So I have a dream that we would recover the muscle to reinstate periods of stillness, silence, and quiet into our church gatherings.

Why? (that is a fair question) - consider and think on these quotes extolling what others have found in the practice of silence:

Anonymous:
“Do not speak unless you can improve the silence.”

Catherine Doherty:
“True silence is sometimes the absence of speech–but it is always the act of listening.” (from Poustinia)

“Before you can find peace outside yourself, you must have silence and quiet in your heart and in your mind.” (from Welcome Pilgrim)

Henri Nouwen:
“It is a good discipline to wonder in each new situation if people wouldn’t be better served by our silence than by our words.”

John Michael Talbot:
“As long as the pond is agitated, it remains unclear. Only through stillness does the water begin to clarify so that you can actually see what is in the pond, and so that the waters of the pond are able to reflect an image. Our spiritual life is like a pond. Anxiousness about worldly things and possessions stirs the waters of our soul, making it impossible for us to see the reality of what we are actually made of on the spiritual level, or to really reflect the Divine Image as we were created to do…. We must still our environment, with its many possessions and cares, before we can really be reborn to a whole new way of life.” (from Come to the Quiet)

Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta:
“We cannot find God in noise or agitation. Nature, trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.”

From The Simple Way
UPDATE!

6/21/07
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There is a new way to donate to the cause of rebuilding The Simple Way…

Donate using this link.

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6/20/07 12:30PM
This morning(Wednesday June 20, 2007), a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this developing tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm’s way.

This fire will forever change the fabric of our community. Eight families are currently homeless, and in many cases have lost their vehicles as well as their homes. One of our neighbors, the Mahaias Family, lost their three cars as well as the equipment one family member uses for her massage therapy business. Teenager Brian Mahaias is devastated not because he has lost his belongings, but because he fears that this fire will force him to move away from this neighborhood that is his family as well as his home.

The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And… afterschool program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, Yes! And…’s after school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner’s Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed.

We are thankful that we are able to help each other during this time of need, and we will continue to keep your informed about today’s events.

We have established funds to support the families who have lost their homes, the Yes! And… afterschool program, and the Simple Way community.

A fund to support the families has been established through a partner organization, EAPE. Tax-deductible donations can be made at https://www.tonycampolo.org/online_donation.php . Please make sure to put “Kensington Families Fund ” in the memo section.

Donations to the Rebuilding Fund can be made via PayPal to contribute@awip.us.

-The Simple Way Community

Who are the individuals in your life that help to refresh, renew and revitalize your connection and union with God? This is a personal question I have been struggling with myself. I went through a geographical transition about two and a half years ago and I haven’t found people in close proximity to me who help me make sense of my journey with God and His people.

I have found that I need others in my life - folks who have access to my inner life and my real struggles or I can drift and become inauthentic. I long for people in my life that help me stretch my thinking and ways of looking at and considering life. I need that one special relationship with another person who can act as a spiritual counselor or director. I need some friends who I can be real around (and they will still accept me) and who also have permission to kick my butt (lovingly mind you) when I really need it (and I obviously can play the same role in their lives). I am at a point where this void in my life is one that I am noticing and it needs attention (it’s beginning to become a dull ache).

Who are the soul friends in your life? Who is the individual (or individuals) who act as Spiritual Guides in your life?

I have begun to really pray about this in my own life. I am taking to heart the following quotes I ran across from the desert fathers…

“Basil (d. 379), bishop of Caesarea, urged Christians to find a suitable person ‘who may serve you as a very sure guide in the work of leading a holy life,’ one who knows ‘the straight road to God.’ Basil warned, ‘To believe that one does not need counsel is great pride.’”

And this saying of the Celtic Christians, “Anyone without a soul friend is a body without a head.” (as quoted in Bruce Demarest, Spiritual Guide p. 46)

May we be diligent in praying for and seeking relationships that refresh.

Maybe one of these quotes from Thomas Merton may lodge in your mind today… hopefully something to mull over as you go about your day and night.

“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.”

“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”

Oh and one more, cause I can’t help myself!

“Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.”