Trinity Episcopal Church of Arlington VA

In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him.

“You awaken us to delight in your praise; for you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you . . .” St. Augustine of Hippo

Some descriptions fall short: prayer as work; as supernatural activity; as self-help or your personal lift; as God’s psychotherapy; as wishing and hoping; as listening by shutting your mind and/or mouth in the presence of God; as a ritual aimed at bringing one close to the “ultimate.” A more comprehensive and helpful metaphor defines prayer as conversation with God.

Father Samuel M. Shoemaker writes "one begins a mature religion at the point where he stops trying to get God to do what he wants, and begins asking God to show him what He [God] wants."

Shoemaker also applies principles of maturity to prayer when he says "prayer is not telling God what we want; it is putting ourselves at His disposal so that He can tell us what He wants. Prayer is not meant to try to change the will of God; it is meant to find the will of God, to align or realign ourselves with His purposes for His world and for us."

Prayer is for everyone. It is not a matter of quantity, quality or knowledge. It is not a matter of show or pretense. Prayer is not a speech at God as much as it is a means of speaking with God.

Effective prayer requires faith (Hebrews 11:6—God exists and will reward seekers;

Effective prayer requires honesty (John 4:23; the Psalms provide abundant examples of the breadth and diversity of prayer encounters with God)

Effective prayer requires humility (accurate view of yourself in relation to God)

Awareness provides us with the seeds for conversation. Without awareness, we end up with a one-sided dialogue.

Illustration of courting relationship: If we do not like to be in conversations with individuals who can do nothing but talk about themselves, why would we expect God to enjoy a conversation that’s all about us. Awareness gives you something more than self about which to converse.

One day, a man went to see a monk with a reputation for spiritual wisdom. He asked the monk to teach him about the spiritual journey, and proceeded to talk non-stop about himself and all his ideas.

Eventually the monk got up and made a cup of tea, while the ma kept on talking. The monk started pouring the tea into his visitor’s cup but when it was full he still carried on pouring. The tea went over into the saucer and still the monk went on pouring. It spilled over the saucer and on to the table – and still he went on pouring.

At last the visitor could restrain himself no longer. “Don’t you see,’ he said, ‘the cup is already full!’ Exactly, said the monk. And so are you. You’re so full of yourself and your own ideas there’s no room for me to teach you anything.”

Whatever we give him, God’s always saying, “now, what shall we make of this?”

God is not limited to human speech. God seeks and wants to communicate his love to us in so many more ways than with words.

God communicates his presence to us through the whole fabric of life. Watch for deep thoughts, ideas and convictions that arise from nowhere. God may communicate through others, through creation, through the Bible, through a deep emotional response to music or poetry or a book or film or someone relating an incident in their lives, through a profound set of unexpected emotions with the divine signature discreetly upon them.

Avoid Mark’s tendency for immediacy and its correlating mantra, “I’ve tried prayer and it didn’t do any good, it didn’t work.”

How to Pray: A Practical Handbook by John Pritchard, Chapters 1-4, pages 1-13, SPCK, London, 2002

Article by the Reverend Samuel M. Shoemaker entitled "The Spiritual Angle" published in the October 1955 Grapevine.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Prayer by Mark Galli and James S. Bell Jr.; Chapters 1-3, pages 3-31; Alpha Books, 201 W. 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290; 1999.