Widening Our Prayer Practices

I wrote a piece for my church's electronic newsletter that seems worth capturing here:

This Lent, Pastor Keith is exploring the Lord's Prayer for a sermon series. Perhaps this exploration has awakened in you a need to pray more. You can't go wrong with the Lord's Prayer. But if you want to widen your prayer practices, here are some ideas:

--You can't go wrong with saying, "Thank you." Once a day, make a list of 10 things for which you are grateful. They might be the same 10 things every day. That's fine.

--Pray for everyone who needs your prayers. It may be a long list. You could light a candle or do some other action to signal that you're entering into a prayer space. Notice the first five people that float through your mind. Pray for those people, even if you don't know why you're praying for them. It might be particularly important to pray for those who aren't in obvious need of prayer.

--Pray immediately when you wake up and when you go to bed.

--Set your watch to remind you to pray throughout the day. Explore the numerous apps for phones and computers that remind us to pray and give us prayers. Or set up your Outlook calendar to remind you.

--You might use other elements to remind you to pray. Every time you're stuck in traffic, pray. Every time you feel that flush of irritation from hearing other people's electronics, pray. When you see children waiting for a bus or riding bikes, pray.

--If the thought of praying throughout the day intimidates you, resolve to explore fixed hour prayer or the Liturgy of the Hours. Every morning at 5:30 a.m., Kristin offers a version of part of the Liturgy of the Hours, and it's recorded for those of you who can sleep later. You can find her daily recordings at the Trinity Facebook page.

--Experiment with prayer as movement. You might already do this if you take a yoga class. Choose your meditative movement and as you hold each pose or complete each kata, offer a prayer.

--Find a labyrinth and walk it. Many churches and retreat centers have installed labyrinths. What do you do once you’re there? Simply walk. Follow the path. As you get comfortable walking, try praying and walking.

--Explore prayer beads or a rosary (but any set of beads will do): If you’re not sure of how to do this, just offer up a different prayer as you touch each bead. Perhaps for each bead, you’d like to remember a specific person. Perhaps for each bead you’d like to offer up thanks for one thing for which you’re grateful. If you’re not good at creating prayers, simply pray the Lord’s prayer.