Cathy H. George - You Are Already Praying: Stories of God at Work

Y OU A RE A LREADY PRAYING

Copyright 2013 by Cathy H. George

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Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations
contained herein are from the New Revised
Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the
Division of Christian Education of the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-2853-6 (pbk.)

ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-2854-3 (ebook)

You are the future,

The red sky before sunrise

Over the fields of time.

You are the cocks crow when night is done,

You are the dew and the bells of matins,

Maiden, stranger, mother, death.

You create yourself in ever-changing shapes

That rise from the stuff of our days

Unsung, unmourned, undescribed,

Like a forest we never knew.

You are the deep innerness of all things,

The last word that can never be spoken.

To each of us you reveal yourself differently:

To the ship as coastline, to the shore as a ship.

From The Book of Pilgrimage
Rainer Marie Rilke

Rilkes Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, Anita Barrows and Joanna Marie Macy, trans. (New York: Riverhead Trade, 2005), 177. Used by permission.

Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

T HIS BOOK IS about the prayer that already goes on in our lives. Maybe you commute by bus to three minimum wage jobs to pay the rent and cover your childs tuition. Or perhaps your professional prominence is accompanied by a grueling schedule. Maybe you cook and serve, and go home to do the same, or you run meetings, crunch numbers, draw blood, hire people, fire them, or teach school. Our lives are filled with civic and family commitments, neighborhood meetings, church leadership, social relationships: complete my list with your own responsibilites! Life is full. You are busy working several jobs to cover the cost of a parents medical care; or you own a restaurant and the hours are endless. Physicians and scientists, carpenters and realtors, you who work in the home caring for a household, children, or elder loved ones: you are already praying.

After high school, my dad worked in a hardware store before being drafted into the Navy. After his tour of duty, he worked as a carpenter, eventually owning a construction company, building and remodeling custom homes. When our pastor was on vacation, my dad was invited to preach. The congregation loved his sermons: he got right to the point and talked in his normal voice, not a churchy one, and often used memorable props. Noticing spiritual gifts in those not ordained began as I watched my dad.

In its ancient, monastic form, prayer was what a monk or nun did in chapeland when they set out from chapel, their prayer continued in the office, study, field, classroom, and kitchen. Working in a laboratory, managing a staff, performing surgery or caring for a child can be part of a life of prayer. Whether washing the dishes, weeding the garden, or chairing a decisive meeting, we can be at prayer.

I know a monk masterful at spiritual guidance who was invited to speak at a conference and asked to fill the spiritual block. He replied: Im really not interested in spirituality; I am interested in life. When a person came to see him filled with bitterness toward God, his life a series of disappointments, the wise monk advised him to take up Italian cooking, or plant a rose garden. Forget about God, let God find you in the kitchen or in the garden enjoying your life.

My tradition teaches prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words (Book of Common Prayer, Catechism, 856). Voices of many spiritual traditions echo this inclusive definition of prayer. A friend, now in her eighties, tells me prayer is a form of life. An intern in his early twenties says that his real work is to live in the presence of God, and express that presence in everything I do. Prayer is a mindset, an attitude, dedicating every act, no matter how seemingly trivial it may be to God. And yes, that goes for doing laundry!

My work brings me close to the lives of people. After working as a prison chaplain, my work shifted to parish life. In rural, city, suburban, and inner-city parishes, the people that I meet inspire my prayer. As a mother, wife, and priest, I know for myself what I hear from my people: the monastic ideal of a life set apart from the world for prayer is not our life. We need another way. We want our faith and our life to connect. People pray about their work as a doctor, teacher, banker, or limousine driver, but dont call it prayer. They pray for their kids, their friends, and their marriages, but dont think of it as prayer. Respect for the natural world and enjoyment of its beauty feels sacred, but we dont think of it as a prayer. When we create or witness art, it touches our spiritual lives, but we struggle for a language that acknowledges artistic expression as prayer. In sport or physical movement we sense Gods presence, but how do we pray in our physical body? Putting our faith into action, doing things for others, giving back may be our way of being spiritual, but can actions be prayers?

Your experience of prayer may not be peaceful or quiet or set apart from your daily life. It may be embedded in the actions you take, the compassion you show, or the art you create. Perhaps prayer moves through you in love and respect for the beauty of the natural world. Or gratitude wells up in you while walking a country road or watching a child at play. Maybe you close the office door and ask God for help, or you try praying on the treadmill at the health club before heading home, or while out on a run, but is that prayer? Maybe you talk to God about your day while commuting but you think you should find a better time for prayer. You feel that all these efforts and attempts somehow fall short of truly being prayer.

Our lives often are too noisy, too conflicted, too worldly, too complicated to have the quality of what we imagine as prayer. And yet, our lives are filled with prayer; prayer in actions, preaching by doing, patience in a moment of trial, stopping for a silent moment before speaking, closing the office door before a difficult decision or meeting. In busy, over-extended, challenging lives, prayer takes a variety of forms: an action, a kindness, an attitude, a hard decision, and a creative endeavor.