Assemble, add, stir, simmer/bake, serve. These sound like cooking terms...phases of a recipe. They are....
At many gatherings, hosts or hostesses place recipe cards next to the items on a buffet table. It is an act of hospitality and invites people to experience the "goody" later on.
I often am asked by my directees: "Tell me more about praying".... so here is a recipe that describes my prayer pattern.
First, I "assemble" whatever ingredients I have at hand. I gather a variety of thoughts and feelings...my physical condition...what I "know" about what the day might hold. The primary ingredient, always, is my consent to be open, flexible and responsive to God's rhythmic movement.
Then I "add" a binding agent.... scripture...or something written by one of the spiritual masters of the past. This addition helps to align my ingredients with words that resonate with lasting truth. It draws me from the narrow confines of self to the expansive depth of God's presence.
"Stirring" I move to a time of prayer...it's not predetermined how long that time will be. Sometimes my thoughts and the words of scripture are blended together almost instantly. At other times shifting...weaving...pondering take longer -- like kneading..working...massaging the ingredients and binding agents together into some "form".
Then I "rest". Like bread baking or soup simmering, I linger in the warmth of God's presence and let all that has been blended together "become" a new substance. The wonderful mystery unfolds...I have no control over what the end result will be, but I trust that it will be something that is "good", because God, the source of all that is blessed, is in operation.
A recipe is useless if its result is not served. This time of prayer is not meant to produce something that will merely sit on some shelf in my mind or heart. The purpose is connected to serving the "other". It may be a familiar person or situation--some close friend or family member. Or, it may be service on behalf of a person or a situation that is beyond the scope of my limited vision. At any given moment a word, a glance or a gesture be used by God for God's purpose -- I don't need to "know" the specific nature of my service.
Give it a try!
Assemble: What ingredients do you bring?
Add: Scripture or other Sacred Reading
Stir/blend: Prayerful Reflection
Simmer/Bake: "Rest" in God's Warm Presence. Allow God's mysterious power to transform and mold all that has been combined.
Serve! Amen.
2 comments:
The 'recipe' is wonderfully helpful. The prayers in the LBW are achingly beautiful so it's a high standard to measure up to. The same holds for the Psalms and the many other prayers throughout the Old and New Testament.
I love prayers in my head. They're spontaneous and exactly what's on my mind and heart--God gets the raw truth in those prayers. They're conversational, so the 'recipe' can be loose.
But spoken prayers fall on the ears of all those present, so I find help and comfort with a 'recipe' is especially helpful to me, if I'm speaking the prayer, so that I don't wander too much. There's no time constraint, for example, on a silent prayer, when I'm alone, but in the presence of others, a more organized prayer would seem to be desirable so that everyone can follow and participate and be in the flow.
I hope this makes sense!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts...I know that your prayers are a blessing. The Holy Spirit prays first within you...and then the thoughts and words bubble up into expression. Even a glance or a gesture is a prayer of some sort....
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