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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, the writer hopes persons of other faiths find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps you trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches you. Please share this ministry with others, and I hope you return soon. There is a new offering daily.
Blessings,
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox, MDiv, MFT, PhD
Ecumenical Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader,
Spiritual Counselor, Chaplain
LISTENING TO THE SCRIPTURES
41Stay awake and pray that you won't be tested. You want to do what is right, but you are weak.
*Matthew 26.41 (CEV)
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Gabriel Bunge, a Benedictine monk, in Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer, writes on the essentials for what theologians in the early Church termed true prayer, and from specifically the eminent spiritual theologian Origen (c. 185-254 CE), of Alexandria, Egypt.
So, with prayer, as with much - the basics are essential. What are these basics practiced from Early Christianity?
1) Place
2) Inner Disposition
3) Orientation
4) Time
I will share on one of the above each day, in this series "Essentials of Christian Prayer." I will observe its meaning for a consistent, daily prayer practice. Today, I will examine the first essential of Christian Prayer: Place.
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There are three key assumptions I move upon. I will share these three.
1) The main calling of a pastor or priest is to instruct his or her people in prayer. If he or she does all else but this, all else is diminished and the shepherd of the flock has failed in the most vital part of the life of the Christian and Church.
It is much the duty of the clergy to instruct their church members' in prayer, as in the basic principles of Christianity. It is true they tell them God's intended purpose for their lives - [that they should be saved through Jesus Christ]. But they do not give them sufficient instructions on how they may obtain [the fullness of their salvation].
*Madame Jeanne Guyon. Experiencing Union with God through Inner Prayer. Revised in English by Harold J. Chadwick. Pure Gold Classic.
Guyon, much opposed by many in the Church of her time for her teachings on Silent Prayer, did put priority on teaching prayer as of first importance. To her, as to us, this focus on prayer is a must to enjoy the "fullness of ... salvation."
2) Prayer is to be a work of the Spirit of God within the human person and, thus, within the community when in prayer.
That we need a great zeal for prayer, and that the Spirit who dwells in our spirits brings it about, is clearly shown by the words of the Apostle, who exhorts us: "In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion. Never get tired of staying awake to pray for all God's holy people" (Eph 6:18).
*Pseudo-Macarius. George A. Maloney, Trans. and Ed. "The Great Letter." In The Classics of Western Spirituality.
3) The early Christians esteemed prayer as a priority. They saw prayer as a continuation of what Jesus had modeled and taught them.
Prayer, indeed, was a continuation of the Work of Christ on earth. The Church prayed as as one Body of Jesus Christ - mystically one and continuous with the Jesus they had known among them.
We need to affirm, then, prayer in the earliest Church was a matter of personal and private. If a person does not have a vital prayer life in spiritual community, he or she will likely not have a vital prayer life alone - and vice versa.
14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.
*Acts 1.14 (NLT)
"United in prayer" can mean different things. The uniting may allude to place. Or, the being united can refer to spiritual disposition: "met with a single purpose in mind" (CEV). Seeing the passage already mentions the place, the likely meaning is of inner agreement; so, in one place, with one heart.
Whatever we say of prayer, such means nothing without a desire to be a person of prayer. Desire is the root in the human that leads the person to a prayer-filled heart, mind, and life.
A Christian is to be a living prayer, so much does he or she devote to prayer in the whole of life, undeterred by ease or difficulty from focusing the mind and heart on the Triune God. This same applies to a church. And it applies to the pastor or priest. And if the pastor or priest is not this, then, likely the church will not begin to be. Indeed, the lack of leaders of the church being living prayer is the imminent and sad norm today.
Yet, are we rightly amazed at the resistances Christians have to ardent devotion to prayer? Are we rightly surprised how many churches treat prayer lightly, though they speak of it glowingly? Is it possible for a pastor or priest to be an efficient manager of the church, and fail in what is most important to live and teach: prayer? How many sermons have we heard of articulate speech - or not - and, yet, there is no sense that the man or woman claiming to stand in for Christ has been inundated in the sweet, challenging waters of spiritual Prayer? How many times have we heard the sophistication of theology but left arid, for the one who claimed the truth had not immersed in the Font of Living Waters, in solitude with the Water of Life?
Possibly, many churches could rightfully and biblically say to its pastoral leader: "Start giving us Christ when you speak, or for God's sake and our sake, too, remain silent."
Could the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa (330-95 CE) be spoken to many of our churches in the 21st Century? If so, are we the clergy, and the clerical leaders of denominations, the main culprit in this lack of education and practice of true Prayer?
For the present congregation needs instruction not so much on how to pray, as on the necessity of praying at all, a necessity that has perhaps not been grasped by most people.
*Carl Arico. A Taste of Silence. Source The Lord's Prayer.
PLACE OF PRAYER
About the place [for prayer] one should know that, provided one prays correctly, every place is appropriate for prayer. For "in every place, says the LORD, incense is offered to my name" [Malachi 1.11] and: "I desire that in every place the men should pray" [I Timothy 2.8)."
Still, in order that each person may say his prayers in peace and without distraction, there is also a command to select in one's own house if possible the so-called holiest place and ... to pray [there]."
*Bunge. Original source Origen. De Oratione.
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Jesus set an example for this privacy in personal prayer. We note some passages referring to the Christ in prayer alone:
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place ["isolated place" (NLT); "secluded spot" (MSB)]. And He was praying there.
*Mark 1.35 (HCSB)
To do this praying alone, Jesus retreated from the good work of meeting the needs of many persons seeking his help. So, do you think you are too busy to be alone in prayer?
36Simon and his companions went searching for Him. 37 They found Him and said, "Everyone's looking for You!"
*Mark 1.36-37 (HCSB)
In another Scripture, we see Jesus again in a solitary place praying alone. Here, however, the crowds go and find him:
42 Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them.
*Luke 4.42 (NLT)
Jesus' commitment to prayerful solitude is seen in his retreat after he hears of John the Baptist's being executed - again, the crowds seek him:
13 As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns.
*Matthew 14.13 (NLT)
And in Matthew we see Jesus sending the crowds away, and he retreats into the hills, or mountain, to pray alone:
23 After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.
*Matthew 14.23 (NLT)
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If a person longs to be alone with God, he or she will find a place for it. This is the same as if a couple desires much to share physical and emotional intimacy, they will find a place for such.
So, this being alone with God is a matter of Loving. As with human love, Bunge reminds us: "During this [solitude], things occur between Creator and creature that by their very nature are not meant for the eyes or ears of others."
So, just as human loves need privacy, though they have a public life together, there is an intimacy they share apart that is of a different nature than among others. Likewise, our time alone with the Mystery of God is of a nature of privacy.
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What if two persons who claim to be in Love include one or the other person avoiding time alone for love-making - even if the two could not engage in physical loving for some reason? Would you not think something wrong?
Then, so natural is the desire for one who loves Grace to want to have time alone with Grace. Indeed, since the person loves God ardently, he or she will ardently seek time alone with God.
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A final note, then, as to place. Just as things happen between two lovers alone, things not to be shared with others, so with your alone time with God. Things happen in alone time with God you might share to benefit others. Other matters, however, may not be for you to share. Remain discerning in what you do and do not share.
QUIETLY RESPONDING
1) Does your dedication to prayer alone reflect a great desire to share intimately with God? Explain.
2) Are you finding a place, free of distractions, to pray often? If not, do you want to make the commitment? If so, choose one place and commit to go there at least once daily - preferably more.
Blessings!
Rev Dr Brian K Wilcox
May 5, 2009
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian K. Wilcox, of SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. Brian is an ecumenical spiritual leader, open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Contact the above email to book Brian for Spiritual Direction, retreats, or workshops. You can order his book An Ache for Union at major book dealers
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