The Process of Prayer

I spent most of last week thinking about, talking about, and experiencing prayer.  It was a beautiful week.   We knelt before God and echoed the words of Ephesians 3:14-15.  "For this reason (we had lots of reasons) I kneel before the Father from his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name."

We prayed about family, places of ministry, and vision for the future.  We invited God into our space and made commitments of grace to one another.  We offered words of Scripture as acts of praise.  And we were silent so we could hear clearly from God.

I have always been intrigued with the reality that our natural form of prayer is not something that was common in the early church.  In fact, our current worship experiences often separate prayer into a particular liturgical category that is separate from the reading of Scripture.  Is is as though we read the Word to receive instruction but we pray to share our lives and receive blessing.

The early church was different.  When Benedict wrote his 'little rule for beginners' there was no thought that prayer and Scripture would ever be separate liturgical elements.  In fact, prayer was the act of reading the Word.  So the Psalms would be sung and the people automatically knew that prayer had been offered.  And the connection with God had been made.

Maybe we should shift back to that pattern.  What do you think?  Could we simply read the Word in a way that allowed everyone to know that God had just spoken into their lives?  Could we digest the pages of Scripture so we would be nourished in our spirits?

For this reason (so our spirits can be nourished) I kneel before the Father...

BTW: To my BPNR partners in prayer...keep up the good work!  And thanks for your prayers!