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Today is the National Day of Prayer in the United States. It’s not a day I often mark as some of my interactions with it have felt more manipulative and divisive than prayerful, but I believe that God can be at work in the midst of our machinations, and that a call to prayer can be a beautiful and holy thing… and I’m not one to miss out on beautiful and holy things. Some time ago in worship I shared my own struggle with prayer, that I’ve never felt comfortable or competent with the classic practice of clasped hands, heads bowed, eyes shut. My emerging understanding of prayer doesn’t preclude that practice, to be sure, but opens up others. I’ve come to believe prayer to be broader, less limited, that it can include any experience that makes us feel heard, seen, loved, and known by God. So, when I read 1 Timothy 2, which begins: “The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how,” I see not just the call to pray as a foundational practice of faith, but an invitation to imagine doing so differently, to practice prayer “every way you know how”. To lean into every practice that is prayer for you, practices that become, as John Wesley called them, “the grand means of drawing near to God.” I don’t know what those might be for you, but I believe God invites us not just to pray, but to diverse practices of prayer. It may be a vulnerable conversation with a friend, a quiet walk or meditation, pausing to celebrate the colors of the sunset or the animal that crossed your path. Prayer is drawing near to God, it is holy conversation… so what makes you feel heard, seen, loved, and known by God? My little tweak on the National Day of Prayer, then, is the invitation to practice a new type of prayer for yourself today, or one you haven’t for some time. Make space for holy conversation, make time to draw near to God. Make prayer a priority, and pray every way you know how. Why? Because God desires it, because we are called to it, and because you deserve to be heard, seen, loved, and known. Rev. Ben Richards
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