Hannah Transforms Prayer Samuel was a Nazarite, promised to God for his lifetime by his mother before he was born. The biblical book that bears his name tells not only his story as the last judge of Israel, but also that of Saul and David, Israel’s first kings. This is a book of transitions. Politically, it shows how Israel went from being ruled by the guidance of prophets or judges to being ruled by kings. It also marks a religious transformation, a new understanding of how to pray. Our story takes place before Samuel was born, when his mother spoke heart-felt, but silent words to God. It would be more…
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The Place of Prayer in Happiness
The Power of Prayer Why do we pray? As a chaplain, I’ve observed that people pray for many reasons. Some seem to think prayer will protect them, or get them right with God, or solve their problems. Others pray as if out of habit. Then there are those for whom prayer seems to be sacred, a moment of true connection with something bigger, larger, grander than our own essence. Still others appear to experience grace and affection when they pray. Most of us pray for all these reasons at one time or another. For most of my life, I didn’t pray. I never thought of it, really, not even when…
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Prayer Is Not Nothing
Nothing Left But Prayer This week at the recovery church meeting, we will talk about prayer. The timing seems right. As the United States reels from the effects of the pandemic, from forest fires and hurricanes, from a relentless cultural divide, and now, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg from cancer, it seems as if all we have left to do is pray. It’s not just world events that leave us seeking comfort in ritual and supplication. When turbulence gets so bad it threatens the plane in which we ride, for instance, or medical interventions fail and we find ourselves perched at the edge of the afterlife, we can feel…
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With Prayer, What Matters Is that We Start
Every once in a while, I meet with a patient who wants to know how to pray. The short answer is that there is no right way. You can find instructions, of course, but you can also find instructions that defy those instructions, so in the end, you just have to do what feels best to you. That isn't where I start with people, though. First, I have to figure out why they're asking the question.
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The Serenity to Accept What Is
The Serenity Prayer In the “Serenity Prayer,” theologian Reinhold Niebuhr asks for the serenity to accept what cannot be changed. [1] Many of us have a hard time with such acceptance. When we feel powerless, we often struggle to regain our footing, hoping to set things right, at least by our definition of “right.” In my work as a hospital chaplain, for instance, I often meet with people whose bodies are falling apart. All the interventions at the medical team’s disposal cannot stop the disintegration of their lives. Patients and family feel angry, sad, and afraid. Sometimes, they lash out at staff, blaming doctors for their illness or chastising nurses…