Liturgy 024: Rediscovering Prayer

☕️ Five Minutes to Be With God

🫁 Breath Prayer

Slow down. Breathe in and breathe out these words 3 times.

INHALE: Spirit of the Living God…
EXHALE: May I live this moment in your presence…

📖 Lectio Divina

Read these words of Jesus slowly, listening for what the Risen Christ may be saying to you through them.

Matthew 6v6

But when you pray,
go into your room,
close the door and
pray to your Father,
who is unseen.

Then your Father,
who sees
what is done in secret,
will reward you.

🖼️ Reflection

It wouldn’t be a bad thing to take Jesus’ words literally.

As a teenager I literally prayed in a poorly ventilated closet in my small apartment room.

But praying “in secret” has more to do with posture and intention of the heart.

In many honor-shame cultures, the kind of person we are “in secret” typically conjures up shame and a fear of being known.

Yet this is the place where we encounter God in prayer.

When life is oriented around performance and achievement, we give ourselves little permission for complexity, nuance, and imperfection.

God becomes another set of evaluative eyes, and not a loving Father.

You could say prayer begins when we embrace our complex, naked, unadorned, and still yet wholly beloved selves.

Praying in secret is removing the posture of performative piety, and allowing the unmerited unconditioned love of God to move from concept to experience.

Will you bring before God your true “secret” self? With all your noble, dark, and ordinary desires? Take a moment to let down your need to be seen in a particular light. Examine your raw honest vulnerable self. With whatever you find here, be still and know the unending streams of God’s grace — a true reward for seeking God in secret.

💡 Quotes

The function of prayer is not to influence God,
but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
Soren Kierkegaard

The original meaning of the word theology was union with God in prayer. Today theology has become one academic discipline among many others.
Henri Nouwen

🕊️ Blessing

May you know the joyful fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the secret and inmost place of your heart.
Amen.