My Approach to Prayer –

Dennis Maher – November 4, 2024

How can we "pray" when we do not believe in a literal God "above." God is a symbol for our very being, for life itself, for all the cosmic mysteries (that which we do not yet understand). Earlier writings of Jack Caputo beginning in 2004 changed the ways in which I have led prayer in worship. I draw on my interest in Carl Jung and his “depth psychology” during the 1980's. And Pope Francis said a few years back that he welcomed the “desires” of atheists as prayers. So – 

In prayer I think of myself as looking inward to my deepest and most fundamental self (which I understand as “soul”), and I speak from there, which is where words are found that are most filled with meaning. This is the place from which poetry arises. It is the place to which we retreat in times of tragic loss and before tremendous and sudden change in our lives.

It is from this deep place that we may speak our deepest thoughts, and it is also the deep self to whom we will address those thoughts. We are speaking from and to ourselves. In prayer we are speaking from our depths to our depths. We can surprise ourselves with our expression of thought; we think new thoughts by finding words to express them. Our new thoughts are built on previous thoughts and the input of others on our lives. I think of “spirit” as what transpires between us, an exchange of souls, so to speak.

We need to hear what comes from our own profundity. It is what we do with all of our conscious thought all day long, every day. We talk to ourselves and we answer ourselves. We challenge ourselves, direct ourselves, correct ourselves. There is no one else inside ourselves; there are only real, other persons outside of ourselves. Even at night in our dreams, as we process the day’s activities, we are speaking from depth to depth, from the profound to the profound.

We compose poetry to ourselves. Composing poetry is a high level of human thought because it is from the depths of our souls, our selves. Such is prayer. So when we pray whom do we address? I speak to myself and to the cosmos, to the source of highest, human values. From some Sunday prayers of the past two years, I have introduced others to this mode of prayer:

1. God, we call you, who in your greatness is utterly and thoroughly awesome, 

who is in love and mercy gracious beyond our deserving and expectation, 

and who in being and truth is beyond our words to tell.

You are for us the Great and Gracious Lover of the world, 

who has made yourself a friend to us in Jesus as the Christ,

and given us your Spirit to stir us up.

Or I might begin with acknowledging what brings us together:

        2. Our prayers begin with our joys and concerns in our lives in this world.

            Our prayers dive deep into our inmost selves and from there

        our deepest thoughts speak to our deepest selves.

            This is the place where we receive love and from where love rises within us.

            Here we agonize for our loved ones, our friends, the sick and dying, 

        the hungry and the homeless, those who grieve, and those who struggle

    with addictions and mental and emotional distress, 

and those who face injustice, and those who live in war.

Or I might address our values directly and ask questions:

        3. We address the source of all love and justice with questions:

            Why can’t we see these values 

        and make them real in our behaviors and laws?

            Why did violence enter our lives when we did not seek it?

            Why weren’t we taught about the non-violence at the heart of the gospel?

            How can the churches be more the source of good news?

            Why is the world and its troubles and conflicts too much with us?

            We know that we are the enemy that always opposes us, 

        and we are the solution to the problems ever before us.

            We are the good news for the world, 

        if we choose to take up the cause of love and justice, and kindness and mercy.

And I fall back on the salad form of prayer (“Let us”) and the “May we” locution. Both are passive and seem cowardly to me, but they are hard to escape:

        4. Let us concentrate on our deepest selves.

            Let us think on our relationships with others.

            Are we in a good place as a self? As a human?

            Are we in a good place with those around us? 

    With those we encounter each day?

            Is there love and happiness in my heart?

            Or does my heart ache with loneliness, fear, anxiety, grief and sadness?

            Those closest to us also struggle with their hearts

        and when their troubles come into the light they become ours; 

    so we must find good ways to respond to them.

            Our deep desires are for those who present us with their trials and needs.

            We want a better life for all who come into our thoughts from the larger world,

            in Gaza and Israel, in Ukraine and Russia, in Africa and many other places.

            We age in body and mind. Let us not age in spirit and love,

            but let us pray for our healing and the healing of the world

          with the spirit and words of Jesus, who taught us to pray, saying....

        5. We know that there are family and friends who were traumatized by some great harm and hurt.

            May we be gentle with them and kind to them.

            May we find places in our thoughts and hearts and actions

            for people we encounter in the world. 

            May we be empowered to work for the justice and peace 

            behind and under which is everything holy to all peoples.

            May we listen to Jesus, and follow his teachings, and so we pray as he taught....