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 September 18, 2024 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
Many say, “you are what you eat.” We could also say, “you are what you pray”—or perhaps, “how you pray.” In the same way in which athletes develop muscle strength and memory through regular exercise, pray-ers form what and how they are through the regular exercise of prayer. Both the content of the prayer (like food) and the disciplines of the prayer (like exercise) contribute to the formation of the person of prayer.
The content of our prayer shapes us as we grow and mature over a lifetime, whether they are memorized rote prayers or spontaneous prayers. As a child, the words of my prayers often sought safety, protection, and assurance. These prayers helped shape me into a person who could trust in the basic goodness of the world. As an adolescent girl, the words of my prayers looked out toward connection and belonging. Such prayers taught me to be helpful and loving. As a young adult, my prayers begged for guidance and a sense of purpose and meaning. Such prayers taught me to become responsible and dependable as a person. Thus the journey of being formed by the content of our prayer unfolds.
Meanwhile, the structures and rhythms of our prayer disciplines also form us. Regular rhythms of prayer build on trust and point to faithfulness. Communal forms of prayer build on a sense of belonging and point to selflessness and the well being of the common good. New and unknown methods of prayer build upon innate giftedness and point to potential and transformation.
Very truly and wholly, the structures and rhythms of our prayer form us into living, breathing beings of Wisdom. Therefore, may both the content and structure of our prayer be sumptuous, so that, if we are what we pray, we may become a yummy delight in the palette of the world!
