Prayer

I have been thinking a lot about prayer lately. The difference between individual and communal and also how important prayer is in human development, also how communal prayer is directed.

Personally, I find the connection that prayer is supposed to create most abundantly out in nature. Within the hallowed walls of a church I find it really depends on the aesthetics and the person leading the prayer. I love an old church that sings of history and years of spiritual connection lining the walls.

Ultimately it starts with me (or you). It starts with the person. As a regular church-goer I have times when I turn up and go through the motions – which renders me little spiritual insight.

But why is prayer important? It is the language of our souls. Tradition teaches us the language of communication with the divine and offers us a sense of understanding the connection that we feel, that perhaps we do not have words to render. Would my adult spirituality be as it is had I not learnt the traditional prayers and rituals as a child? I think it formed me and has enabled me to find that connection beyond set words and walls. There is something significant in learning to pray as a child and this plants a seed that has the potential to grow all the way through life. I no longer need words and am comfortable in the unknown and indescribable. I highly doubt this would be the case had I not previously developed my understanding of my faith Tradition and the first steps are learning the words of traditional prayers so that I found that I could communicate with the divine. Believing that God wants to communicate, is present in my life is a key factor in my ability to pray in many different manners today.

Whilst individual prayer is my preference, I value communal prayer. It connects me to something larger than myself and reminds me that I am not alone in my beliefs and this is incredibly reassuring but also allows me (almost) the freedom to seek self-expression in my individual prayer. The two are vastly different but in no way contradictory. In a way they sustain the other – although I don’t quite know how to explain that!