How We Pray

Matthew 6:9-13
As a teenager, our church used to send the youth group to conferences, one of them was called “CIY,” Christ in Youth. It was a polished worship experience, with the lights/band/fog etc.. Now, my church at home didn’t worship like that. We sang hymns like “I’ll Fly Away,” “I Come to the Garden Alone,” or “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.”

So CIY was definitely a different experience. Exciting, driving rhythms, soaring melodic lines, music that sounded like what we were all encouraged to listen to on the radio instead of all of the “bad” music that was out there, and I would look around and see everyone with their hands up in the air in an act of praise.

And that was the moment when the crushing reality crashed through my until then uplifted soul: I must be a terrible christian. Look at all these people who are clearly having an experience, a communication with God. Watch them raise their hands ecstatically and rush to the altar at the end of the worship event to rededicate their lives. Why don’t I feel that? What is wrong with me? What do I believe? Am I even Christian?

I had a huge culture shock when I went to college. I studied for my undergraduate degrees at High Point University, a private Methodist University. It has a chapel and so I was of course in the Chapel Choir. When I first got there, I remember being disgusted at the fact that people’s prayers in these Chapel Services were scripted. There is no way that could be called “prayer!” How could that be real if it was scripted?!

I remember feeling frustrated because it seemed so fake. And I look back at myself now and know that those thoughts were the beginning of the end of the faith that formed me. To be sure, I find it ironic that I now write prayers and responsive readings almost every week, and I love a structure to worship that I can hang my hat on.

I eventually became agnostic in college. It didn’t let me hang on to a small worldview. Because the larger the world gets, the more you are required to choose whether or not your will keep your eyes open to the reality that surrounds you.

This is why John Wesley in his sermons gave room for our experience to be one of the ways in which God reveals themself to us. And we as United Methodists believe that today. While the experience of college broke the fragile clay jar of my faith, it was also the place where I met people who showed me how christians could be in this larger world.

How do we pray? Is there a right or wrong way?

I think prayer involves our entire self, it might be words we say. It might be feelings we feel. It might be a time of meditation or marching in protest. It might be kneeling down at your seat.

However you pray, our intention of prayer brings us closer to God. Our intention of prayer also works transformation within us. So no matter how you might pray, my hope is that it is always accompanied by love, and that your intention is always directed to God.