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 October 19th, 2022 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
Amid all things prayer, two questions come up repeatedly: does God hear us when we pray? And how might we hear God, or recognize when God is speaking to us?
These questions assume an anthropomorphic stance, which is to say, they project human actions—speaking and listening—onto the Divine. Indeed, if we are looking and waiting for an actual human voice to speak to us in response to our prayer, then we will find little guidance. Most pray-ers do not hear voices.
However, when we are open to a sacramental posture, one in which every ordinary thing has the capacity to “speak to” or “speak of” the Divine, then we begin to find a flood of guidance in our prayer lives.
I recall feeling overwhelmed in my first year of college while walking through campus, when a chickadee sung out from a small tree near me. As I looked and listened, I heard in its sweet, two-part song, “Yoo-hoo!” as if God was calling out to me, pulling me out of my stupor.
Now, this doesn’t mean every bird that I see has a Divine message for me, but it does reflect the capacity of all of creation to cry out in connectedness. When we have ears to hear and hearts open to listen, then we can participate more fully in prayer as guidance.
Similarly, I suspect that others, especially our loved ones, both living still and those who are now across the veil of life, are also able to refract glimpses of the Light, Love, & Guidance of the Holy One, all as one. When we really need help, a bit of support, or an insight, let us not hesitate to connect with the Holy One, in prayer as guidance, through the voices and sacred presence of the many “ones” living within the whole of Oneness.
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