Wait! Come back! I promise it’s not that scary.
All this month in worship we have been inviting you to consider prayer as a spiritual practice and what kind of prayer we Unitarian Universalists might find accessible and helpful. Often, we think of prayer as petitionary– asking God to give us what we want or think we need. “Please God, let our team win the big game tonight,” is the classic example. Most of us don’t adhere to the idea of a God who would take requests and fulfill them according to some mystical calculation. Absolutely no shade to those who do find this idea of God, or some version of it, useful.
But prayer that helps us to tap into the wisdom and goodness we are already holding might be more powerful and useful. Prayer can be a way of calling on the source of strength, courage, and love we are all able to access and be a channel for in our own ways. Prayer can be a way of reminding ourselves to ask for help, to cultivate a sense of wonder, and to nurture gratitude for the abundance we inevitably find when we start paying careful attention.
Prayer can take the form of singing, dancing, acts of service and kindness, or simply being still. I have shared prayer beads as a spiritual practice before. This comes from Erik Walker Wikstrom in “Everyday Spiritual Practice: Simple Pathways for Enriching Your Life,” edited by Scott W. Alexander. This is my version of it:
You can pray, with or without beads, using this formula or another formula that works for you:
Centering – becoming aware of your body, breathing, singing or humming.
Naming – giving a name to that which is beyond yourself – The holy, mystery, source of Love, Spirit of Life, God.
Knowing – expressing gratitude for what you have – there is always something – and also acknowledging what is hard, lamenting, confessing to what you are struggling with, calling on what is within you and what you need, whether it be courage, strength, wisdom, compassion, or…
Listening – being quiet to hear whatever guidance you’re able to receive, to be called to the next right action or perhaps inaction.
Loving – directing loving thoughts to those who are in pain, illness, loss, or who are causing others pain, if you can manage that, and then
Circling back to breath and gratitude – closing with Amen, or blessed be, or Oneness.
In these times, so dis-regulating, confounding, and traumatizing, a practice of prayer, in whatever form works for you, can help. There is no perfect way. You don’t have to do it “right”. Just try something, some way of building your capacity to ground yourself, soothe and comfort yourself, so that you can be more present to others and part of what we will build together out of the rubble.
This is what a faith community is for: to encourage each other, build our capacity together, and to practice fortify ourselves and each other for the struggles and beauty to come.
I’m so grateful to be on this journey with you.
In love and service,
Rev. Eileen
Practicing Beloved Community at UCE 