Pathways to Prayer
David Moffett-Moore
Topical Line Drives Series
Volume 20
Energion Publications
Gonzalez, Florida
2015
Copyright © 2015, David Moffett-Moore
All Scripture quotations are translated by the author.
Cover Design: Henry Neufeld
Electronic Edition
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-186-8
Print ISBNs:
ISBN10: 1-63199-185-X
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-185-1
Energion Publications
P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
energion.com
850-525-3916
To all who have prayed with me and for me:
family, friends and parishioners;
and fellow members of the
Academy for Spiritual Formation
and the Seeds of the Spirit program.
“Every day, every step, every breath, a prayer!”
Beginning
This little volume is not a great theological treatise on the meaning and purpose of prayer, nor is it a scientific investigation on the function of prayer nor a psychological examination of prayer’s impact or influence in our lives. It is a simple little devotional intended to offer encouragement for those wanting to grow in their prayer lives, with some suggestions on how to do so. It can be read for an hour or studied for a life-time, according to the reader’s discretion. I pray that it may be helpful.
To be human is to seek for the holy, to look for meaning in one’s life. To be faithful is to live “as if”; as if our lives indeed have meaning, purpose, value. These must be taken on faith, for there is no way to prove them. The Divine is so far above and beyond anything that we can comprehend, yet it is precisely what we seek. It is what the scriptures call “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor human imagination conceived.” It is what Rudolph Otto in The Idea of the Holy called the “mysterium tremendum,” the mystery that attracts and compels us. This is what we seek in our prayer.
I encourage you to read the words slowly, reflectively, meditatively. Not because the words or thoughts are so great, but because that which we seek is great beyond knowing or naming. Let them speak to heart as well as head. Share your reflections with another, and share your own prayer experiences. I encourage you in your quest; may it transcend these notes and transform your life!
What is Prayer?
Prayer is being wholly present to the sacred dimension that pervades and envelopes all of life. It is being fully and joyously attentive to the divine presence and divine process, so that the divine may be fully present to us, within us, and through us. Prayer is what connects us to the cosmos and to the great and gracious creative force that permeates and enlivens all creation. Prayer makes us part of the holy whole.
We are born praying. It is as natural to pray as it is to breathe, and as necessary. In prayer, we give as much as we know of ourselves to as much as we know of God. Understanding this, our first cry from the womb is an infant’s heartfelt prayer, even though we do not know it, for in this cry we give ourselves fully to life itself. Our every thought, every feeling, every action, is a form of prayer. In a course of study on prayer, we do not so much learn to pray as remember how to pray, as we grow in our awareness of that great cosmic prayer that prays always from deep within us. To breathe is to pray; to live is to pray. To do is to pray; to be is to pray.
“Pray” is a verb, an action. It is something we do and something that is done within us. Prayer is relational, for prayer relates us to our Maker, to one another, to ourselves and to the cosmos. Prayer is what connects us.
We are conceived within the womb of another. Hidden within our mother, we grow and take shape. Through the umbilical cord we are connected not just physically but also emotionally, psychically, even spiritually. We taste what she tastes, eat what she eats, and feel what she feels. The mother and child connection is soul to soul. When we are born, we begin seeking that connection that has conceived us, longing for that intimate relationship that has embodied us. We seek community that is truly unity with another.
We are relational creatures, social creatures, and we belong in community. Prayer is what connects us with cosmos and Creator; it is our umbilical cord to the divine. Prayer begins and ends with God, for we cannot begin to pray unless the divine spark is quickened within us. Prayer is embodied in and inclusive of all that we are. Anything that draws us closer to God is prayer, anything that heightens our awareness or deepens our experience of life. Prayer calls us more fully into the world, not out of it, for it is in and through creation that God first chooses to be known. God always hears, always is with us. In all of life, we are as much in God as once we were in our mother’s womb.
Prayer is our heart’s deepest yearning, our soul’s sincere desire. Prayer is the longing that is within us. The Biblical word for spirit, “ruach” in the Hebrew of the Old Testament and “pneuma” in the Greek of the New Testament, is a full and all-encompassing word. It means spirit and air and breath. It is the wind that blows and in the lungs that breathe, in the nose that smells the odors and aromas in the air, it is the air itself. What can be breath and air and spirit? What but God!
The air around us pushes to get in, to enter our lungs; its force is gentle and subtle yet as precisely measurable as air pressure. Even so, the spirit pushes and pressures to enter us, enter our lives and enter our souls. Indeed, even as it is harder not to breathe than it is to breathe, so it is harder not to pray than it is to pray. As it is natural, effortless and subconscious to breathe, so it is to pray. As there is no wrong way to breathe, though our breathing may be improved, so there is no wrong way to pray, though we can grow in our praying.
We begin praying prayers of babes and infants, for that is what we are. We pray as children when we are children. We learn our bedtime prayers and table graces, offering simple verses that can be easily memorized, learned in our hearts. We know them by heart, which is a good lesson for us to remember as adults. We know by heart and are known by heart. We live our lives in the heart of God. Later we learn more formal prayers, longer prayers, and more eloquent prayers. These are certainly appropriate as we mature, but they are not better prayers, however much they may reflect our growing maturity. We may even learn to pray extemporaneously: with our own words, our own thoughts, our own feelings, we learn to express ourselves.
At some point we pray our first prayer that is truly heartfelt. This prayer may be a prayer of confession, when we are truly, earnestly sorry for something we have done or not done. It may be a prayer of petition, begging to the heavens for what we feel we cannot live without yet cannot attain on our own. We pray passionately and powerfully, pleading for our cause. We pray with tears, perhaps with quaking, putting all of who we are in that moment into that prayer, a prayer that truly consumes our whole being. It may be a prayer of thanksgiving, complete and humble adoration of the handiwork of God, gratitude for God’s gracious and abundant blessing of our lives. Whether confession, petition or thanksgiving, it is a prayer that envelopes us, that offers our true and whole selves to the fullness of the divine presence, a prayer that is truly our prayer.
We pray the Our Father, the prayer that Jesus taught us. But do we really pray it or merely repeat it? Many scholars say it is an outline to prayer, an invitation to prayer, a map for prayer, that each petition may become a paragraph in actual use. The earliest Christians prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day: morning, noon and night. Imagine how our lives would change if we incorporated not just the words but the spirit of this prayer into our lives as regularly as we take food to eat. Imagine tasting the food of eternity as frequently as we feed on temporary nourishment!
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