There are so many things that I could share about the book, Catching Fire, Becoming Flame, by Fr. Albert Haase. Please know that Chris Piebiak is planning to offer an evening study, using that book, in the fall. It will be a great study. Our morning group has enjoyed it immensely. In the study, Fr. Albert offers seven principles for prayer. What I’d like to focus on, here, is just one of them: the idea of “praying from where you are.”
Praying from where you are refers to the principle of praying in your own voice. When I was young, and new in ministry, I longed to pray like many of the priests, or devout laymen that I knew. I wanted to have the ability to wax poetic while praying, especially while leading prayer in a large group. What I found, from a conversation with a priest-friend of mine, was that God wants a relationship with each of us, and that relationship is based, in large part, on the conversations that God has with us. God wants to hear OUR voices, not the voices of others. Matthew 6:7-8 says, “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Just like any intimate relationship, the time in honest dialogue is a gift that builds a deeper connection, even if our partner/friend already knows our need. The same it true in our relationship with God.
Praying from where you are also involves the idea of being honest in your prayer. Many of us put on a bit of a façade as we enter into prayer. We take a break from our everyday lives and sort of sterilize what we say to God. It can seem as though we shouldn’t say what we are really thinking, but take my word for it, God can handle what we are thinking, and what we bring to prayer. Just take a look at the Psalms! Psalm 6:3 says, “My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?” Psalm 38:9-11 says, “All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.” Here the psalmist is talking about his life. He is bringing his everyday experience before God. That principle is a very good one for us!
These two ideas, or principles, can help us to glean more meaning from our time in prayer for a number of reasons, but the biggest one is the simple fact that they involve “being real.” Any artificiality or lack of dealing with what is really going on in our lives can help to keep us feeling safe, but it will also keep us from dealing with what is really going on in our lives. No relationship can thrive or even survive if it is based on lies. Even if those lies are simply lies of omission. My prayer, this week, will be that we all bring honesty and our own voices into prayer; that we can be brutally honest, if need be; and that this greater honesty will deepen our relationship with our Triune God.