Spiritual Practices: Prayer

This Fall the whole church will be walking together through a number of weeks introducing and describing Christian “spirituality,” or “Spiritual Practices.” We’re aiming to address questions like: “How do I grow?” and “How do I get close to God?” 

We’re continuing with prayer. What is prayer? Why should we do it, and how? 

These days prayer happens to be one of those relatively benign “spiritual” categories that many people are in favor of (and, indeed, practice!), whether or not they would call themselves "Christian."

That’s not exactly a criticism, it simply is to say that what we mean when we say “prayer” is not all that clear.

For some it is something akin to mindfulness; for some, meditation. Even within the Christian tradition prayer can mean a whole lot of different things. Is a prayer something written that you repeat? Or is it something you speak or think extemporaneously?  

When Christians talk about prayer, we mean, at minimum, two things: 

1. Prayer is a form of communion with God: it’s a way we “turn” to face God with more specificity and intention than at other times.

2. Prayer is, at some point, petitionary: “pray” in English really just means “ask.” It’s not all about asking for stuff, but it is about offering your self—your hopes, needs, desires, questions—to God and expecting a response of some kind.

When the Jesus’ disciples asked him how they should pray, Jesus gave them what we call the “Lord’s Prayer.” It can and should be prayed verbatim. But it is also a kind of template for all prayer.

Note too how aggressive the prayer Jesus gives us actually is: to pray the Lord’s Prayer is to pray for the Kingdom of God to come in its fullness. If that’s the case, every time we pray it, we are praying for Jesus to return now.

So not only is it a way to turn to face God, and to offer our desires and petitions to him in vulnerability, to pray as a Christian is an exercise in hope. Come, Lord Jesus!

Scripture to consider:

• Matthew 6:5-13

• Matthew 7:7-12

  
  

Questions for your kids

• I wonder: How is prayer like a conversation you might have with a friend? How is it different? 

• I wonder: Why do you think God wants us to ask him for things? Do you think God answers every prayer? (Hint: yes! It’s sometimes yes, sometimes no, always for our good. Cf. Matthew 7). 

  
  

Peace,

Danny+