Learning To Pray With Intention, For Ourselves And For The World (November 9, 2025 Sunday School)

Presenter: Dylan Lewellyn

What if prayer wasn’t a task on a checklist, but a way of coming to the table where God already waits? We dive into the living rhythm of prayer—how presence is formed in ordinary habits, why intention matters more than perfect words, and how simple practices can reshape the day from the edges inward.

We start with the big question of “when” and find the surprising answer: there’s no bad time to pray, only different ways to adapt for the moment. From the Book of Common Prayer’s daily office to humble bookends at bedtime and waking, we share tangible routines that make prayer doable. We unpack the ACTS framework—adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication—and show how the Lord’s Prayer naturally holds each movement, becoming a durable template for honest, balanced prayers. When it comes to enemies, we shift from “make them like me” to “lead them toward peace and the good of all,” reframing intercession as love in action rather than control.

We also face the modern attention crisis. With phones, feeds, and nonstop alerts, stillness feels rare. That’s why we offer gentle, practical tools: breath prayers that link body and spirit, prayer beads for tactile focus, walks that turn nature into a sanctuary, and Lectio Divina to pray with Scripture like a meal savored and digested. We explore imaginative prayer, finding theology in media, and the power of candles and icons as visual anchors that cue the heart to quiet. Community ties it all together through prayer partnerships and circles that keep us faithful, especially when words fail and the world’s pain—war, poverty, cold nights—feels heavy.

If you’re longing to pray with less pressure and more presence, this conversation maps a kinder way. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to tell us which practice you’ll try first. Your voice helps others find this space—and might be the nudge someone needs to return to the table today.

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Transcript

Opening Prayer

When Is It Time To Pray

Daily Office And Set Times

SPEAKER_05 0:12

So before we actually get started today, I did receive a comment from someone after my last session, and I wanted to address it. First of all, these are my opinions, and I'm not talking about this is also not important to be theological seminary opinions. And then the comment that I received was yes, God is always present, God is always with us, but we're not always present. And we're not always with us. And then it is prayer that brings us to the table. And I actually really like that. So that is something that I wanted to touch and to correct. Yes, prayer does not physically bring us closer to God, but prayer is kind of how we come to the table. So just wanted to touch on that. So again, we're going to begin with prayer. It's only fitting for prayer one at one. So please join me. Almighty God, and when we live and move and have our being, thank you for bringing us together again. May we be granted your wisdom from on high that we may learn how to pray more, how to pray better, and how to pray to your glory. In your name we pray. Amen. Alright, so last time we touched on the first four questions. Who, what, where, and then I skip down to why? You'll understand why, because we'll get to that in just a second. So next is when. When is a bad time to pray? That is exactly what I wrote down. I have spent three weeks thinking about it. I cannot think of one single time when it would be bad to pray. There are times when it's not necessarily good to pray out loud, especially if you're in another place of worship. For example, I went to a mosque a couple of weeks ago, not a mosque, a seminar a couple of weeks ago. Weird, I couldn't understand anything that was entirely new word. But uh that probably wouldn't be a good time for me to start praising Jesus. However, mentally I can use that at any time. Uh when you're in a quiet place of contemplation, maybe not the best prayer loud, but you can always pray internally. So all the time, any of the time, always a good time to pray. There's a couple of different uh ideas about actual timing of prayer.

unknown 2:36

And I'm going to talk about two, and actually brought things this time to show off.

SPEAKER_05 2:42

So, uh, this is a copy of the Book of Common Prayer, specifically the daily office or daily prayer sections of the Book of Common Prayer. It has four services throughout the day. Um actually starts in the evening, as in our traditional system that we inherited from Judaism of beginning the day at sunset. So there's an evening prayer, commonly, your night prayer, the morning prayer, and the midday prayer. There's different prayers for every day, and it's a full service. It begins with opening, goes through there's psalms, there's hymns that you can sing, um, talks about uh reading in the daily lectionary, um, prayers of intercession, prayers of Thanksgiving, and then closing. Every prayer or every uh every daily portion of the daily office has all of these things. Um I assume you could purchase these through uh the seminary. I have not through the seminary. Yes, I got mine through my seminary.

SPEAKER_04 3:46

Um but you can purchase them through the presbytery, um, the bookcoming prayer daily office. Yeah, Westminster John Knox is the publishing house. If you go to their website, you'll find all West. Oh, this is the Daily Prayer.

Bookending Sleep With Prayer

Liturgy Of The Ordinary Practices

Praying For Enemies With Right Intent

ACTS Framework And The Lord’s Prayer

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Yeah. Yeah, and so like it actually, I know you can't see it from very far away because it's very small text. I struggle to see it sometimes. Um, but it actually has your whole uh daily office in here. It walks you through each individual service. So uh that's one thing I wanted to point out. Uh the daily office was inherited from monasticism, as far as I'm aware. Correct me anytime I say anything wrong. Umherited uh from the monastics that actually their whole day is prayer. They do a lot more than four a day. They actually have a midnight prayer that they had to wake up at midnight to go and make this prayer. Um, a much easier way for most of us, I'm borrowing from our friends, the Orthodox, um, in this study Bible, they have listed their morning and evening prayer service. And as I understand, most Orthodox that perform these morning and evening prayers, they take this Bible, or a similar one, and they lay it on their pillow after they are done with the morning. So as they come to bed, you have to pick this up before you can ever lay down. Goes to the evening service all the way to this is when you lie down in bed, and you continue the prayer here. And you pray this repeatedly until you drift off to sleep. Then in the morning you wake up, uh, you place this Bible on your slippers, uh, so that way you cannot put on your slippers in the morning until you picked up your Bible. And then you resume with a morning prayer. The idea behind that is that it creates this bookend on sleep. You begin sleep with prayer, you end sleep with prayer, so that you have prayed throughout the entire evening. It's the idea that eventually you will get into this unconscious habit that your dreams will be prayers. You will be praying the entire day long because you have prayed in your sleep. So, it's a really cool idea. Um I will very fully admit, I've tried, it doesn't work out too well for me, because I don't wake up early enough in the morning. I'm always rushing to get to work. Um there's also uh something that I wanted to mention on that, and our second book that I've added to uh the list here, actually, third, the two from last time, plus this new one, Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Warren. Uh, this book she really talks about uh finding God in every aspect of life. It is a fantastic book. I highly recommend it. It's one of the few in seminary that I've actually read every single word of uh because it's just that new. Um but she's talking about in uh, I believe it's the second chapter of this book, about the morning. And she really focuses on the ritual of making your bed. Not going to start making my bed, however, I really did find this impactful. Um talked about it really changes her entire day by waking up, making her bed, and then sitting in silence and in prayer and in contemplation rather than, like most of us, picking up the phone. So, um do that. She specifically says this close to the uh end of that section. I'd lay out my worries, my hopes, and my questions before God, spreading them out in his presence like stretched out cheeks. I pray for my work and family, for decisions, for a meeting scheduled later in the day. But mostly I'd invite God into the day and just sit silent, sort of listening, sort of just sitting. But I sat expectantly. God made this day, he wrote it and named it and has a purpose in it. Today he is the maker and giver of all good things. You begin your day with prayer, and that's your first thought in the day, you're gonna have a better day. Um a note that I made from last time, and I can't remember who brought this up, so if you brought this up, please uh be recognized. Um, was how to pray for our enemies. So before I get into the actual howls of prayer and I touch on that, I wanted to address this really quickly. Uh, sometimes we have to pray for people that we don't agree with. Very simple. I'm not going to talk about politics, but I have to pray for the politicians that I did not vote for. Um we need to understand why we're praying before we really get into the house, which is why I addressed why first. The intention of the prayer matters so much more than just about anything else. So we need to make sure that when we're praying for our enemies, whoever they might be, whether it's politicians or whether it's countries that have ideologies we don't agree with, whether it's people that we have to deal with on a daily basis, like some of my co-orders, that we don't necessarily get along with. We still have to pray for them. We want to make sure that we're praying for them specifically to become better for the betterment of the world, not for them to be better like us. You remember Pastor Stephen's sermon a few weeks ago when we talked about the Pharisee and the tax collector. We're not the Pharisees. We don't want to be the Pharisee. We don't want our enemies to become the Pharisees. We want our enemies to find God, to find peace, and to find guidance for the betterment of the entire world, for all of creation, not just so that they were. Alright. On to the actual structure of prayer. And the fun part, the activity that I had planned. So you might notice, written in red on the board here, is uh an abbreviated version of the Lord's Prayer. Um because it was too much for me to write out and have space on the board to still continue to write. Um I've also listed out uh the Acts framework that was brought up last time. I can't remember who brought that up either. Um adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. So that isn't just a framework. It's to kind of get us an idea of when we're praying to make sure that we're hitting all of these highlights. And incidentally, the Lord's prayer gets all of them by intention. It's one of the few prayers in the Bible that this is how we are taught to pray. So I wanted to open up to the floor to see exactly where Acts falls into this. Let me grab my notebook so I remember what I've written down. Um, so the beginning, our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thank you. Hallelujah. We just said, hallowed be thy name, thank you, so on and so forth. So this first part, where does that fall in Acts?

unknown 10:51

Adoration.

SPEAKER_05 10:52

Absolutely. Adoration. Um, something that I think is also really important in this is the address. We need to understand when we're praying, exactly who we're praying to. Um, something I believe you brought up during the Nicene Creed is that a lot of times when we're praying, we'll kind of zero in on one of the Trinity, our Father, Father, Creator. Um sometimes a lot of people really rely on Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Things like that. So it's important to know who we're addressing in our prayer. And mine, I try to, try, important thing, intent, um, is to hit all of them. Um, Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That was how I began our prayer last time. Um, this time I just left it at God. I did not specify any of the Trinity. But we want to make sure that that address is important. Uh, also, if you're ever leading a group prayer, especially in any level of service, I have been told from a couple people is to make sure that you're beginning prayers with let us pray. Because there's been plenty of times that I start praying and other people don't quite understand what I'm doing. I've had to give a couple Masonic funerals. It's not written in the Masonic funeral to say, alright, now, let us pray. You just begin the prayer and people start looking around. Anyhow, continue on. Try not to get too far off track. Give us this day our daily bread and is that supplication. Yeah. Exactly what I put. Now, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Absolutely. Um, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And then, this one is the slightly tricky one. I'll accept two answers for this one. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

unknown 12:50

Adoration. Adoration, yeah. And thanksgiving. Exactly. Thank you, Fench.

Contemplative Prayer And Lectio Divina

Discernment And Listening To Your Body

Breath, Beads, Walks, And Imagination

SPEAKER_05 12:58

Um, so yeah, so we see Acts broken down into this: two sets of adoration, two sets of supplication, confession, and thanksgiving. All four are represented, all four are present in this. Um, and this is the way that when the disciples wanted to be taught how to pray, this is what Jesus taught them. So, when we are writing our own prayers, when we're coming up with, if we're preparing prayers, or if we're just praying from the heart, um, it's important you don't have to follow the structure. You don't have to make sure that every one of these is hit, but it's something to think about. It's something that, you know, if uh, and I'm going to use an example that we used in seminary that some people really didn't like, which I'm kind of surprised by. Y'all know who the rapper jelly roll is? You know, it's a very famous song, I only talk to God when I need a favorable. So, we had a whole discussion on that, and a lot of people were like, well, you know, he should. He does need help. Man, alright. Some judgmental people that I have to learn with. So, um, but this structure kind of helps us recognize all of my prayers are supplication. Maybe I need to start looking at the other three. So, just something to think about when you're writing prayers, when you're um praying for yourself, for others. Are you only ever praying in supplication? Are you only ever praying in adoration or thanksgiving? Are you only ever confessing? Something to think about and to look for balance. Um I was handed this book this morning, thank you. Um I have not read it yet, however, uh, Stephen took one glance and was like, oh, you can't get wrong with that. So I think this is a good book. It's a classic book. Um, Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne LeBon. Three Essential Prayers. Um, I've been told if you haven't read it, you shouldn't. Uh so I will be reading it as soon as the semester is over. Um, but this basically hits the same things: help, supplication, thanks, thanksgiving, wow, adoration. Uh, and also confession into help. Forgiveness. So um I'm very looking forward to that. Um, so that is a spiritual fourth book that is up on the board. I just did not write it down because I have it right there. Um so the rest of this I'm gonna be mostly touching on the 50 ways to pray from Teresa Blythe. Um, however, if you have any comments, please feel free to pop in. Um so I'm gonna be more or less working through the chapters in her book that she uh kind of breaks these different 50 prayers down into. And she begins with contemplative, kind of can't say this word, contemplative practices. Um effectively, prayer is a conversation with God. It's something we touched about last time. So you want to, when you're having this prayer, having this conversation, have it in silence to make sure that your mind is listening. Um so she begins talking about things that we were taught as children. Close your eyes, put your hands together, be silent and be still, find God within yourself, and begin to have these conversations. She goes on to talk about something that's a very cool practice. Uh let she let the vina. Thank you. I can never say it right. I've heard my professors say it tons and tons of time, letio divina. Effectively praying with your Bible. Um, it's broken down into four sections. Read, take your Bible, read a section, meditate on it, pray on it, and contemplate on it. Last three all kind of sound repetitive, but it's an important distinction that the monks made when they followed this process. And there was one whose name I did not write it down, um, actually drew a parallel to eating. The first thing you gotta do is take the food, put it in your mouth, read it. And you meditate on it, you chew it. You pray, you swallow it, and contemplate and digest it. So it's a very interesting um analogy when you think about it. Um, but it's a very interesting practice. I've done it a couple of times, through this book, we had to do these practices, um, and it really changes the way you research it. It really starts to put you in the mindset of I'm not just reading text on a page, I'm inheriting all of this history in this passage. Uh reflecting. Uh, reflecting is a very important part of rescindience, something that a lot of creatures don't have. You don't see dogs and cats being kept up something they said back in seventh grade. I know I do. I spend multiple nights worrying over things that are decades old. But to reflect on it in the idea of prayer, to sit and meditate and reflect back on the day, the week, the month, uh, anything that you heard that day. You can do all of this in prayer. You can do all this in conversation with God. You might realize that things are a little different than what you originally perceived. Uh, discernment we talked about last time, um, basically decision making. Um, discernment is a prayer process. When you're making decisions, you're making it based off of how you feel the future is gonna go. And all that's done in prayer. You know, you're trying to figure out, okay, uh, for me, for example, if I'm looking for a new job, you know, alright, well, how is this new job going to impact me? Am I gonna have to work on Sundays? Can I not go to church anymore? You know, am I gonna lose time that I have to work on schoolwork? Everything about that process is a prayerful and contemplative process. So make it a full, prayerful process. Invite God into the conversation, invite God into your decision making, and recognize how God is speaking into that decision. Uh, one of the things that we talked about during that certain uh activity that I had to do was recognizing physiological changes within ourselves. Um, as you're kind of thinking about it or you're thinking about this decision, you put yourself in the mindset of the decision and recognize how your body reacts. You feel yourself tensing up that you don't realize it. Well, maybe that's not a good decision. Maybe that's not the answer that you're looking for. You start feeling emotions that you can't really identify. Maybe that's not the right decision. Maybe you need to go back and consider something else. Um body repairs is one we spent a lot of time on, and actually why I uh brought my prayer over here. Um she suggested a couple of different things, and one of the easiest and one of the first ways to that most people begin meditation and contemplative practices is silencing the mind by focusing on your breath. The breath is the spirit. It's the same word I believe in Hebrew. Breath and spirit. It's all the same word. Um we read in the creation story that God breathed life into the dirt and created men. So focus on breathing. Breathe in for a certain section of the prayer and breathe out for a certain section in and out. Um talks about using prayer reads. This is an orthodox prayer robe that I carry around that I usually wear on my wrist as a reminder that I should be praying every day, every moment of every day, really. Um but um I used to actually wear uh Buddhist jackamal, not because a Buddhist at all, obviously, but it was a practice that I adopted from the Buddhists. They would have a uh string of, I believe it's 108 beads, and they would repeat their prayers 108 times, and they would not count them, they would use the beads to make sure they were on track, and once they reached the end, uh signified initially by a larger bead at the end, they would know they have done it 108 times. Um so that was something that uh she recommends in this book as well is obtaining a set of prayer beads and using them for prayers. Um prayer walks. Obviously, God created nature. How better to feel God's presence than to be out with God in nature. Um so now I cannot go on a walk without making this mental conversation, this drawn out prayer with God as I'm taking walks through nature. Um I know it looks like I don't walk a lot. Prayers of the imagination. This was a very interesting one. And this one, um, some of us are a lot more visual in our imagination, some of us simply aren't, and that's quite okay. Uh, but one of the prayer practices that she talks about in this book is to meditate on scripture, especially if you're going through the round of Leftia Divina. Um when you are reading a story in the Bible that is an actual story, you have characters, you have actions that are happening. Play it in your head. You know? Um I think the chosen helped me out a lot by giving me faces with names and watching the scripture story play out. Um, but this is something that you can do with any section of the Bible. It doesn't just have to be what's covered in the chosen. You can imagine everything that's happened. You can imagine Moses coming to the burning bush and the voice of God speaking to him. Take off your sandals as you walk on holy ground. You can imagine all of that. Uh she also talks in this section about um utilizing other ways of creativity while you're praying. Turning, making artwork into prayer. As you're sitting and you're praying, have a piece of paper and pour out your feelings on this paper, whether you're writing, because I know I can't draw, um, whether you're drawing, whether you're painting. Um I actually have a friend who she uh paints with prayer.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

She does beautiful artwork with it. There's a there's a great version of um, it's a it's a version of the message, which is a paraphrase of the Bible. Um it's called the Canvas Bible. Um I'll I'll try to bring it at some point, but it's uh it's uh it's a by it's a full full translation of the Bible, the message, but it has strong pages on most of the pages of like word art with the scripture and things like that. So um another way to kind of if you like to do that, that's another way to the good news for modern man had little sketches that you're in that one. Sort of like that, too. Yeah, absolutely. Um yeah, that's called the Canvas Bible. Good.

Finding Theology In Media

SPEAKER_05 23:51

Um the next chapter she talks about uh other forms of media and actually finding God in this media. Um she uh specifically had us talking about movies, kind of finding theology within movies, which you'd be surprised at what you can interpret from movies from books. Um Chronicles of Narnia is the structure of Christianity. I mean, it really is, and uh it's uh it was very interesting. And I had read the first book, I had seen the movie, and you know, I understood the rest of the books, and then I guess it was about a year ago someone's like, well, you know, that's just the sum of Christianity.

unknown 24:31

No?

Intercession, Partnerships, And Circles

SPEAKER_05 24:32

I had no idea. It was a book about you know kids going into a foreign fantasy land, and you know, there's things that can be hidden that we don't quite pick up on the surface. And I am very bad about picking them up on the surface. Um, but I mean that's stuff that's everywhere. You can watch television, you can watch movies, and you will see theology embedded throughout all of it. Especially some of them aren't quite so subtle, and uh, she actually references in this book one of my favorite movies, Bruce Almighty. So uh one of the practices is to go out and see how God is represented in media, you know. Morgan Freeman, I think, is a more or less a good representation at times. Um I have to admit I don't know much too much about him outside of his movies, um, but finding the ways that God's representing, finding the ways that people understand God to be. Um and then uh she uh talks about um praying for others, which is something we talk about a lot. Intercessory prayers. There uh in this book, uh, there's multiple in this section that talk about how to pray for others, how to go about the process of finding things that you need to pray for. Um talks about prayers for healing, how to go about praying for someone's well-being. Um, prayer partnerships and prayer circles. We actually established a prayer partnership in one of my classes this week. Um, our whole activity was to reach out to one of our classmates, find out what they need to pray, what they need to pray for, give them what you need to pray for, and to pray for each other, and to check in throughout the week. Um prayer circles is doing just that as well. I have no idea if we have any prayer circles. I assume we do.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Like a group of people that come together and oh, oh, oh. Yeah, I mean Bob Bob Ewalt has uh has an intercessory prayer that for more private prayers that you don't want.

SPEAKER_05 26:31

Yeah. Um and then uh she ends with talking about praying for the world. Um it really is it's a fantastic book. Um, she breaks it down in very simple ways, um, goes through the entire steps of the process for each of these activities to go through and really practice them. Um I am not done all 50, I can assure you that. Um, assignment is to do one from each of these categories uh as we're going through the weeks. Um but these are just things that some of them I hadn't ever even considered. Before I went to seminary, I'd never even heard the word Lexiodina before. Um I never knew what an intercessory prayer was. Um we're opening up. Anyone has any any comments, any any prayer practices they have, yes, George?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

And looking at the Lord's prayer in the ways I line up there, it looks sort of selfish. It's all about us and we or me or something, but I I'd like to write the word others up there. I know that's for some occasion, but our prayer a lot of times ends up being more for other people than if you get if you do the basic and then you got a long list of other people that you were concerned about and like, yeah. How yeah, give us, yeah. There's there are ties for sure all throughout, but the fact that others uh should be a list of things that we remember each time in our prayer.

Technology, Distraction, And Silence

SPEAKER_05 28:13

Yeah, absolutely. And that's why she has a whole chapter on praying for others. It's it's close to the end of the book. Um it's actually the second to last chapter of her book, uh Teresa Blythe's uh 50 Ways of Praying. Um but something too that I always take away from this specifically, the us, is everything? It's not just Christians, it's not just Presbyterians, it's not just anyone who has heard the Word of God, it's for the whole of creation. Our Father, the Father of everything, the creator of everything. So, um, but yeah, absolutely. Um it is important to know how to pray for others, when to pray for others. Um Stephen always talks about in affairs people don't share, and he joins or concerns that you don't have others' permission to share. So there are times that people don't want you to pray for them. Um I have a friend who probably gets irritated. He is a staunch atheist, and I pray for him almost every day. I don't tell them that, um, because it'll probably just piss them off. But I do pray for him every day. Not necessarily, and this might sound a little weird for me to say to the person in positions that hopefully will eventually become a pastor, I don't pray for him to find God. I don't pray for him to see the light. Because there's nothing I can do. And really, there's not a whole lot God can do to make him come to the table. That was uh what I addressed at the very beginning. We have to make that own effort to come to the table at times. The forgiveness is there. God's there at the table waiting for us, like we say during uh the Eucharist, during communion. This is not a Presbyterian table, this is not a gift of parts table, this is God's table. And everyone is welcome to it. Even though Stephen walks around with the elements. Most of us have to get up and walk at that table. And prayer, spiritual practice is a great way for us to do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

So yeah. There was back in the Methodist Church that we have a hymn in the hymn called Others, and every time I think about that hymn, I you know I think about our responsibility to each other, you know. God wants us to care for other people as well. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 30:31

I mean that's that's the second most important commandment, right? Yeah, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. So we're we're we're called to love everybody. Um that's what I really appreciated about this practice, uh rather this uh this activity, this prayer partnership activity that we had to establish was, you know, I I know Scott decent enough from where we were in uh in seminary together. We uh were together in August. That was the first time I'd ever met him. And he reached out, said, Man, what you got going on? What do you need prayed for this week? And I said, Well, I always need prayers. There's no such thing as having too many prayers. So um and it was just it was nice to to have that conversation for somebody that, you know, I think he's an acquaintance of best. Um just to recognize that someone out there is thinking about it. And that's that's I think is one of the most powerful things of praying with others is recognizing that someone's keeping it. Anything else?

SPEAKER_02 31:38

I I think I hope people don't say anything wrong, but I think it's hard to pray today because you're so distracted. Yeah. All the devices around you, um, the noise. Yeah, when you think about Moses, those were spaces where there was nothing but nature. And so it was it's more it was more conducive to praying and to listening.

SPEAKER_08 32:12

Yeah.

Candles, Icons, And Visual Reminders

SPEAKER_02 32:13

I think you don't hear today because there's so much coming at you. Yeah, people carry their cell phones in the bathroom. I've never heard of it. You know, this is how bad it's become. Yeah. And when you say, well, I'm gonna put the cell phone away, but you're still you your concentration is still not that long because you're wondering what did I miss, or you know, yeah. So I think it's it's just much harder today.

SPEAKER_05 32:47

It is. Um, and there there's actually been studies done psychologically about what technology is doing to our brains. It's taking us away from God. It is, you know.

SPEAKER_09 32:58

From people in general. Yeah.

Community Shares And Practical Tips

SPEAKER_05 33:00

Yeah. It's it's forming this this barrier between us that we don't recognize. Um, but that was why one of the first things she talks about is contemplative practices, is to start establishing the mental rigor and fortitude of taking your phone and putting it there and coming over here to pray, to be alone with your silence and with your thoughts and with God. Um and it's it's practice. I mean, it's uh there's another book that I read that I I can't remember the name of offhand, um, but it's it's they talk a lot about uh deformative practices, that church tends to be a formative practice. We are being formed in our discipleship, and everything outside of church tends to be a little bit more deformative to that. We start losing ourselves, losing our minds into technology and the society, and the things that we have to do as Americans. We have to go to the mall and do things like that. And so that's what that book talks a lot about. I wish I could remember the name. If you hang out after class, I'll find it on the tablet and tell you. I recognize the humor of bashing technology, and I'm reading off the tablet. However, I don't have a printer, so this is what I have to deal with. Um but uh, and then additionally, um, in the section about media, she introduces that yeah, you know, in theory we could cut ourselves off of media. We can throw out the television, we can sit alone in our thoughts and our prayers all day long. As soon as we walk out, we're gonna start talking to people that have not done that. So even if we cut ourselves off from media, we're still being influenced by our neighbors that are influenced by it. So but yeah, it's it's hard. And you almost have to establish a space for it. You have to make the effort to establish that. Um we uh while I was in Dubuque, we went to a monastery, and it was a silent monastery. We left our phones outside. We spoke three times morning prayer, noon prayer, evening prayer. The only times we spoke that entire time in that monastery. Um and it was life-changing. Yeah like I hadn't done that since I got a cell phone in like sixth grade, you know. So um it was something that it's a conscious effort that we have to make, um, especially in our society, is to make time for God, for our spirituality, um, and to establish this space for prayer.

SPEAKER_07 35:36

Well that's one thing I'm kind of jealous of uh Islamic faith is that they have a set time for prayers and they're called to prayer, and everything else stops, yeah, yeah, and they pray. And um we don't have that tradition, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:02

Something that uh it was originally kind of a challenge because I I felt that my instructor was singling me out as the only person there, number one not wearing a cross, and number two wearing a set of Buddhist chapamala. Um she talked about briefly, um I can't think of the exact word, but uh effectively um taking spiritual practices from other faiths and doing so unfaithfully. Um so I had a long conversation with her afterwards, and I realized, no, I I'm not saying I've done it correctly, but I'm doing it out of respect. I'm using Japamala for the intended purpose of prayer, just not in Buddhist faith, in my own Christian faith. So uh that's something that you can incorporate.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

Tradition starts with evil. There's a great book by Barbara Brown Taylor called Holy Envy, in which she she she's uh she all, in addition to being a prolific author and writer, she also teaches world religions at a small liberal arts college in North Georgia. And um she wrote that book, that memoir on her reflections of teaching world world religions, um, that kind of talks about that that where's the line between appropriation and respect and what stuff I put that would be all it's a really good book. That was work, appropriation.

SPEAKER_05 37:24

Thank you. Um but uh but yeah, I mean there's there's nothing wrong. I mean, technically, we do have it, we just don't do it. I had never heard of daily office until I went to seminary, but it's in our book of common prayer. This is the Presbyterian Church's Book of Common Prayer. This isn't some something I found online. This this is the PC USA Book of Common Prayer, um, and it's it's in there, you know. It doesn't say specific times, um, but we do have that practice. We just haven't done it in a very long time. So um, if you want, you were more than welcome to check it out. Um, I have to hold on to it. Unfortunately, I cannot get away into my materials except for the study bible if you'd like to see it. Um but we uh the the class that I'm in for discipleship formation, uh I wanted to get it negative, so I selected that I would do one day a week, all four morning, noon, evening, and conflict and stuff. It is very hard for me to remember. Um so I had to set up alarms on my phone. So technology has its, but there are some things that it can kind of keep us straight on. Um I use my calendar uh religiously because I can't remember the things that I agree to do.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

So I'd like to say, you know, I've been in counseling, doing counseling for the past 40 years. And sometimes prayers, well, a lot of times, uh, if you're working for someone else, uh prayers are frowned upon. Doing prayers for people are frowned upon, you know, and but but I've been asked so many times, uh they would say, Well, pray for me. And I say, Okay, I will pray for you. And I start to walk out and say, No, I want you to pray for me now. I want to hear your prayer, you know. And I say, Well, um, yeah, I said, Do you pray for yourself? Uh and they says, No. Because God's not gonna hear my prayer. I don't feel that, I don't feel as though God's gonna hear my prayer because the way I've lived. And uh, and so, but I want, I think, you know, sometimes they'll say, but I think God will hear your prayers, you know. And so they invite me to pray for them uh out loud. So I want to hear it, you know. I know you probably will pray for me, you know, like you said you would, but uh I actually want to hear your prayer. But sometimes, you know, and uh, and that's one of the things that I love about the church. You know, I feel that I have that freedom to pray and hear other people's prayers, but that's not always the case, you know, when we're working uh as as counselors and praying for folks. It's it's kind of found frowned upon, you know. Um so I just wanted to kind of point that out that it's not not sometimes as easy as you know we might think to pray for others, you know, in certain settings. No.

SPEAKER_10 40:46

I I think he was you were nurturing them in a way. He wanted to hear the prayer, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Yeah. Yeah. He did, but it was against our policy. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

Sometimes there's a time to break policies.

SPEAKER_08 41:06

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 41:09

I think that's somewhere in uh I want to address uh Joyce's concern for quiet, and this is something that works for me, is that if I'm sleeping and I wake up in the middle of the night and I can't go back to sleep after counting blessings or things like that, I get up and go to another room. And it's quiet. It's just so wonderful. And those are some of the times that that really work for me in the prayer.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

I find early, early morning. Everything is still. It could be two or three o'clock in the morning. Right. And that to me is the best time. It's quiet. You know that's how I feel too. And then you really feel different.

unknown 41:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:56

We have oh, this two. Two things that I find. One, I'm trying to balance when I'm praying, all these four errors, and the other is feeling when I'm finished that I haven't prayed for everything. That I'm, oh, I've miss this person, or I miss that person, or I miss this blessing. And then it's like the only thing that I found is a little useful is God, you know what I need to be praying for, I just need you to know and listen. Yeah. Because it's you can really get bogged down in one area or the other, or in forgetting what to pray for that you know needs to be prayed for. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

Yeah, uh, right after um our last uh Sunday school class, uh someone mentioned something about the people in Jamaica. I was like, I can't believe I forgot to include Jamaica in the closing prayer. Like, that was such a devastation that I mean, of course, I don't think about every moment of the day, but it's still something I reflect on multiple times. And I can't believe I forgot that. So it's very easy to forget about what you feel later, is obvious, but in the moment it wasn't on your heart to pray for. Um but uh uh as was mentioned, I can't remember who mentioned this last time. Um God hears everything, God hears all prayers, even those unspoken. Ones that you don't realize that you're praying for and need to pray for, perhaps, are still being prayed for. So Linda, if you had something as well.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

We had a class that was offered here many, many years ago. I know the Setzers, Donna probably did it, maybe Lynn, Bob Heron taught a class or led a class in intentional prayer. And I remember one of the things he said, you know, staying quiet. And we talked about the early morning. But every class he would light a candle and he would say, Focus on the candle and let it take you to your prayer. And I find that really comforting, and that's something, you know, even if it's not one I light, if it's one I turn on, you know, just looking at the light, and that class meant a lot.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

Yeah. One of my professors, she is an episcopal priest, and she uh at the beginning of her classes, she had an icon of Christ and a candle that she would light at the beginning of the classes. And the way that she described it is in her own personal faith, the lit candle is the sign that God is here with us. Of course, God is always here with us, but sometimes we're visual people, we need a reminder. So that's that's always been something interesting when I, and actually uh uh Teresa talks about this a lot in her book, is that at the beginning of the practice, calm your mind, light a candle to remind you that God is here. So I have a candle next to my desk that uh I like when I'm doing extensive practices like this. So it's a it's a very good practice, and it's something that anyone can incorporate. I mean, I'm sure everyone has a candle in their house somewhere. If not, my mom has some for me.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

I think the light, I think the light represents God's love.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

And that's why you can, you know.

SPEAKER_05 45:26

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we we talk about um all through the scripture talking about um the light of God, God's light, bringing light to the world. You know, we're right here at the end, so I timed that very well. Thank you everyone for your book because I was out of here. Um anyone have any prayer requests before I close this in prayer.

Community Intercessions And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Um my daughter and her husband are going through some medical issues. So I'm like we could pray for the end. Again, I have to write this down because I'm terrible wolf for you.

SPEAKER_04 46:21

Prayers for people who are not sure about their SNAP benefits, and also prayers for the people who are on the front lines of trying to fill that gap. I'm thinking about folks at Greensboro Ministry, I'm thinking about Leslie and the folks at a simple gesture that are working overtime right now. Um so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

And it's gonna get very, very cold tomorrow and Tuesday, and there are so many unhoused.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

I I I'd like to pray for the Palestine They have suffering so much, especially the children. I just wish they would be peace.

SPEAKER_05 48:05

Thank you for your mysteries. Thank you for giving us the ability to speak to you, to pray to you, and have an intimate relationship with you. We confess that although we doubt ourselves and we constantly strive to remember that all prayers are beautiful and sweet to your ear, O Lord, our God. We pray for those in Jamaica and the surrounding countries recovering from the devastations of Hurricane Melissa, for the families trapped in war-torn areas of our world, especially those in Palestine and in Sudan. For the leaders of our countries that will hopefully work towards a beautiful and peaceful tomorrow. For Anthony's daughter and her husband, when they undergo their medical concerns. For SNAP recipients and those that are working tirelessly to relieve them, for Greensboro Urban Ministry and for a simple gesture. For those without shelter, as the days are turning colder and colder. Be with them and warm them. For the Afghani family that we sponsor, both their SNAP benefits and the uncertainty of a financial future. For all these things, we pray in your name, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 49:21

Next week is going to be the informational session on trust and will, which is the 16th, and George understanding on the 23rd, second we'll start back up. We are going to be on to the show. Oh, the archivity, okay. Uh so uh two options next week after worship, and then we'll we might do another um stay two for January. We'll do something else. So thank you, Donald. All right.