I have a fairly modest library on the subject of prayer, and it is a source of much wisdom and advice. It is difficult for a fellow disciple to provide a full and satisfactory answer to the the request "Teach us to pray". I have had many experiences of prayer, and one central discipline of prayer, which I can consciously recall over the past two decades.
I've prayed with charismatics praying in "tongues". I myself have never experienced that particular thing, though the charismatic Christians with whom I've prayed have also offered what Paul would call "an interpretation", and that was both good and beneficial. I've also prayed with some folks whose "language of prayer" is rather like the speaking in tongues business, but at an altogether different level. Praying among a community of persons with intellectual disabilities is an experience in and of itself, and it is something which I find continues to shape my views on prayer and communion with God.
My own discipline of prayer consists mainly of the daily offices taken from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Morning and evening. Set forms of prayer. A way of reading Scripture. Daily confession. Daily absolution. Reminders to pray for those whom I would naturally forget. And "common" prayer - praying with the communion of saints. After praying the daily offices for over 20 years (yeah, I started doing it as an undergrad), I find that such a thing continues to shape and form my faith and, indeed, my life.
With all of that as foundation, there is also that occasional expression in and of prayer when my soul is moved in a different way, and, recognizing my own limitations (tower of babel), I have on more than one occasion addressed my prayer to "You who know yourself to be God".
Yes, yes, I know, I know. It will be almost impossible to convey how this form of prayer is really a conclusion to Christian piety. Yet this is the place where, through the repeated formative practice of daily common prayer, I am sometimes led. It is a place of (to steal a phrase) 'penitential adoration' - which doesn't mean what you might think it means. It is a place of joyful penance (which probably sounds like a happy trip to the dentist). In the same way, there is a place for a deeper knowledge of God which cannot be expressed using the formative prayer, although it is based upon it, and would not happen without it.
Be still, and know that I am God.
BTW, I'll be on a silent retreat for the next couple of days, which is probably just as well. If you see a post or two it will most likely be the fancy-shmancy typepad feature which lets you publish a post at a time of your choosing.
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