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 January 17, 2025 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
While it is true that prayer can be mystical, allowing us to tune into the mysteries and wonders of the unseen realms, prayer is also very practical. Prayer is ordinary, natural, and concrete.
While it is true that prayer can happen anywhere and at anytime, if we wish to forge a discipline of prayer, then we must also be intentional and set up practical structures to support our practice of prayer.
The form of our prayer is a practical consideration. Is it personal or communal? Is it vocal or silent? Does it involve movement or stillness? Are we able to combine multiple forms into one session? Perhaps the sessions of our ongoing practice include some reading, some chanting, some embodiment, and some stillness. Perhaps the ratios of the forms shift and adjust over time. Nevertheless, these are practical considerations for prayer regarding form.
Another practical consideration in prayer is place and space. Prayer can take place anywhere, yet when we tend particular spaces for prayer, the power of our intention to be in prayer can lure us toward the special place that we have set aside. Practical considerations for space and place include setting aside a place, or minimally some objects within a space, that are used “only” for prayer. Setting aside special space or objects points to a priority of place for prayer in our overall lives. Setting aside a special space or objects reminds us that “the most important thing” happens here.
Another practial component of tending space in prayer is setting aside regular time for prayer. Even if the time we set aside gets usurped, or we cannot set aside as much time as we would prefer, to set apart special times for prayer, much like the special place or objects, points to a priority of prayer in our daily life rhythms.
A further practial consideration, which perhaps bridges the veil between the concrete and tangible realms and the mysterious and invisible ones, is the spirit of our prayer. Practically, and all too often, prayer does not turn out as we had hoped, or go the way we wanted. When this practial reality confronts us, it is good to remember that our desire for prayer is already a prayer. The spirit of our intention for prayer, no matter how imperfect and incomplete, is already embedded in the stream of the prayer of the Holy Spirit, constant and abundant and overflowing, sufficient to enfold all of our partial, yet powerful, practical considerations for prayer!
