Tuesday, May 27, 2008

That's not a half-bad prayer

I recently came across a prayer of sorts, an open letter addressed to God in which the author complains and criticizes and questions and doubts the nature and existence of a Higher Power. My immediate reaction? That's not a half-bad prayer.

Honestly.

If you read Psalms and Lamentations you will see people questioning God, getting angry at God, etc. If you read Job, in his prayers he comes fairly close to actually cursing God in his accusations. Some people think prayer is supposed to always be rigid and formulaic and is supposed to present the right and proper "image", even if it is a silent prayer, and even if it isn't what the person is really feeling. Prayer is an activity of the heart, and in many traditions, Christian and otherwise, it is in the heart that one truly gets to know and understand God/the Spirit/the Source/the Way, etc. Bringing an "offering" of insincere niceties and polite falsehoods may work for our ideas of the Divine, the idols that we create in our heads to either accept or reject, but it cannot ever bring us to that, whatever we call it, that we find when we sincerely open ourselves to the depths of our Being.

1 comment:

  1. Great post - it is amazing to look at how many prayers start out in frustration or depression, but end focusing on the greatness of God.

    When we break the molds, great things happen!

    ReplyDelete

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