This Lenten season, Carolyn Browender made “the commitment to pray every day,” a spiritual practice she admits can be a struggle. To guide her efforts, she’s turning to different faith traditions – spending a week with each one – beginning with Mormonism:
To say that Mormon prayer was a shift from my usual practice is an understatement. Instead of praying all curled up in my cozy flannel sheets, I prayed on my knees next to my bed both in the morning and at night. I was not raised in a church that had the congregation kneel for prayer. When I attend services where this happens, I opt to remain seated with my head bowed and hands folded. This past week was the first time I knelt in prayer consistently, and I was surprised at how much of a difference it made. The physical shift from my bed to the floor facilitated a mental and spiritual shift. It was easier to focus solely on prayer because I kneeled specifically for that purpose, though admittedly I did a much better job with this at night.
Another practice that focused my mind on prayer was saying the prayers out loud. This isn’t required for every time you pray, but the church guide says “we should make an extra effort at times to pray vocally.” The only times I pray out loud are when I’m participating in a congregational prayer or mentioning a concern in a bidding prayer, so this felt foreign to me. It also made me feel quite vulnerable, as I often pray about what is causing stress or pain in my life. That said, I also felt like my prayers for others were more heartfelt. There’s something about naming a person or group of people that seems to pack more of a spiritual punch than merely thinking of them.
The next week, she followed the Quaker way of prayer – and was again challenged by the transition:
The best prayer guidance I was able to find was something about some Friends telling people that they would “hold them in the light.” Basically, the Quaker version of “I’ll pray for you/be thinking of you.” I liked this phrase. It seemed like a respectable hybrid between offering thoughts or prayers, though I could see someone giving me a weird look if I uttered the phrase out loud. But when I actually tried to do this it felt like I was mentally setting the people I was praying for on fire. Yes, I visualized these folks amidst a sea of yellow-orange light. I blame the transition from the formality and specificity of Mormon prayer protocol for this error. I was used to following very clear, literal directions about the right way to communicate with God. Quaker prayer is quite different. …
I … discovered later in the week (thanks to some readings referred to me by @LondonQuakers via @RobertaWedge) that for many Friends, prayer isn’t something that you do once or twice a day, as I am used to, but a constant awareness and awe of the holiness around you. To be sure, I’d come across this idea in some of the research I did earlier, but I was too focused on finding a specific set of praying instructions to realize this.
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The Dish 