The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on April 27, 2022 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
The best prayer is whole prayer. By “whole prayer,” I refer to prayer that consumes, or at least touches, our whole being: mind, heart, spirit, and senses. Prayer is “best” when it taps into all of our human faculties and capacities, because then it is truly transformative. When our minds drop into our hearts, when our bodies buzz with aliveness, we realize the fullness of the vision of wholeness that the Holy One always and constantly holds for us.
It is important to recognize that the vision is of wholeness, but the work of wholeness is dynamic and ongoing. The work of wholeness is whole-ing: an active verb, not a static noun.
One of the most instructive paths toward prayer as whole-ing, is to work within the tensions of pairs of opposites. Often, in prayer, the bitterness of sorrow deeply informs the sweetness of joy. Often, in prayer, when I lament and confess my shadow, I come to know the Light more deeply. When I reach out to the Holy One in angsty despair and loneliness, I remember communion. When I give thanks to God for the gifts of others, I am inspired to use my own.
Once we begin to offer our attention to the powerful pairings of opposites, we realize that these packages of teaching prayers are abundantly scattered all throughout our daily lives, to both inspire and stretch us! Truly, the Holy One works with us and on our behalf to accomplish the reality of Wholeness!
