Praying From the Center

Last Saturday our Evangelization Team had our second neighborhood walk. It was, just as the first, a phenomenal experience. Why? -because standing on someone’s front porch and asking them if there’s anything going on in their life that we might pray for is startling to them. It opens up to an entirely new place in someone’s soul; somehow this person is immediately brought to a place of reverence and speaks to you as if you had known each other intimately. They might tell you about a sick spouse, a friend with Alzheimer’s, a neighbor’s surgery, an alcoholic relative - In other words, they know that this is the time to disclose the darknesses of their lives and to admit their own powerlessness in the face of them. But here’s another revelation: one lady whom I visited last week, a bouncy 40ish blonde, said that no, everything was going just fine in her life and she really didn’t have any prayer requests at this time. I thought about it later and wondered if most people think of prayer in just that way – as ‘assisted living,’ a place to turn when burdens become overwhelming. It certainly is that – but can it be more? I was fortunate enough in my expedience to have learned about prayer as intimacy with God, prayer as learning to see life from God’s perspective, prayer as finding Truth in silence (Richard Rohr): in other words, prayer as union. Praying scripture and centering prayer both lead one in this direction. There are a lot of good resources available for entering into the silent world, among them, Open Mind, Open Heart by Trappist monk Thomas Keating, and Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird. It’s another beautiful way to pray, one that might be explored.