Awakening to Wholeness is a series of prompts, reflections, and teachings about how holding the tension of opposites can help us to heal division and experience wholeness. If you feel moved to share your own reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
Prayer and service are two-way streets.
There are times when our prayer is centered on ourselves: “God, help me…” and “Lord, I need…” At other times, our prayer is other-centered: “we pray for those who are suffering…” and “Please be with those who need…”
As our prayer develops and matures, we delight to recognize when the fruits of our prayer overflow onto the common good, towards the needs of others in daily life. Indeed, when prayer flows in this direction, it is good! We might be surprised, then, to consider the opposite direction of our prayer: when our service to others in the world flows back into our prayer.
In this sense, both prayer and service are two-way streets. On the one hand, prayer breaks into daily life and disrupts conventional ways of seeing and being that are less than life-giving. On the other hand, our encounters with others in service to the common good might also break into our prayer and disrupt the rhythms of our practice.
A heartbreak in the world might disturb our peace in prayer. Problems with our loved ones might shake up the image we have for God. Chronic social issues might break down the walls of our carefully constructed faith. The arrival of a child or a guest might interrupt our treasured timing in prayer.
When the directions of prayer and service both flow two ways, the back-and-forth movements create a life-giving dynamism. May we be spacious, supple, and surrendered enough to give way over to the dynamics of these two-way streets!
Contemplative Questions
We offer the following questions as prompts to help you reflect on the presence of opposites in your spiritual practice and your life.
- When has prayer broken into your daily life? What did the disruption teach you? How did it change the rhythms of your life?
- When have encounters with others in the world broken into your prayer life? What did the disruption teach you? How did it change your practice?
- Disruptions (of any kind!) aren’t always welcome. When have you struggled to surrender to the dynamics of these two-way streets? How has your understanding of them changed over time?
Join the conversation! If you feel moved to share your reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
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Christine Luna Munger
Christine Luna Munger, PhD currently serves as the director of the Episcopal House of Prayer. She previously served as Coordinator of the Spiritual Direction Certificate and Professor of Theology at St. Catherine University. She regularly writes, teaches, and leads group prayer sits at EHoP.
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