New words arise constantly to meet the needs of communication. For 2023, the Word of the Year was either “authentic” (Merriam-Webster), “hallucinate” (Dictionary.com), “Rizz” (Oxford Press), or “AI” (Collins Publishing). I’m sure you used at least one of these to get a message across in the modern lingo of our day.
Prayer has it’s own lingo. Stock phrases abound in various traditions. One can hear, “In Jesus’ name,” at the end of many prayers, or “Hail Mary,” in others. There are many types of prayer, including praise, lament, confession, and meditation. The old practice of petitionary prayer, in which we talk with God about a need we feel, is common for most of us. Over the past several years I learned some truths about God that have led me to embrace new words that enrich this spiritual dialogue.
All prayer carries a presupposition, of course, that we can give and receive messages with God. That’s an amazing assertion, really. For one thing, God must encompass all the universe, all 200 billion trillion stars and all the creatures that may inhabit their worlds. God can best be conceived as Being itself, the source and sustainer of all life, love, and energy in this vast universe. My conscious presence is as small as the Nanoarchaeum microbe, the smallest earthly organism, compared to the Condor Galaxy, more than 500 million light years across. Yet, to pray is to believe that God is aware and cares about all creatures in this incomprehensibly immense place, including me.
Some say it is just fantasy to believe God could be aware of my life and needs. And it may be. But I take comfort in the assertions of many faith traditions across the millennia—and my own experiences—that God exists and relates to every entity in the universe in a tangible way. The theological view that makes most sense to me is called Relational Theism, asserting that God is in a dynamic relationship of give-and-take universally. This belief is foundational on every page of the Bible. Further, Relational Theism believes God responds, changes, and grows with every such episode. We are in a dance with God, with both partners moving the other. Tom Oord says it this way, “God and creatures influence others and others influence them. Creatures affect God’s experience, and the divine experience changes in response. God’s nature is eternally unchanging, but as an experiential agent, God gives and receives in relations with creatures and creation.”[1] Prayer is central to this synergetic harmony.
This truth may move us to a new excitement about prayer. Through prayer we are creating the future with God. The future is open. Each moment builds on the reality of the past, the influences of the present, and the aims for what is yet to be. God has not predetermined with unilateral power and finality what will happen. The day of your death is not written in a secret book, nor is the winner of the 2050 Superbowl. You, God, and many other factors are linked in a matrix of interaction. This makes prayer vital. Every prayer is a thrilling collaboration with God to actualize a better world.
A foundational teaching from Jesus is the Lord’s Prayer. We are instructed to pray for daily bread, forgiveness, and even the advancing of God’s full purpose in the world. Obviously, Jesus is telling us that each prayer is influencing God and affecting what happens in our world. The future is not settled and that is why we are instructed to pray. We link our energy with God and God links with us toward the Kingdom of Love.
Decades ago, in my doctoral dissertation I wrote, “Prayer, like the plow of the farmer or the centrifuge of the researcher, works in God’s world to change it for good.” Back then, I had a classic but inadequate view of God as far a far-away ruler of the universe who might grant a prayer I made. Today I set the awe-inspiring reality of prayer within the teachings of theology which embraces the basic truth that the universe is dynamic, evolving, changing, and interconnected. God is within this dynamic universe, influencing all things, even as all things in turn affect God and others. The words of theologian Bruce Epperly help us. “When we pray, we align ourselves with God’s vision for us and experience greater divine energy. Our prayers, in an interdependent universe, create a field of force that enables God to be more active in our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray. Our prayers create new possibilities for divine and human activities and may influence the nonhuman world in amazing ways.” [2]
These beliefs are changing my vocabulary of prayer. I acknowledge that God is present without pleading for God to “be near.” I don’t need to ask God to “have mercy,” for that is part of the essential love of God. God is pushing toward love, justice, peace, hope, wisdom, acceptance, and mercy every moment with every entity. Knowing this, I join my tiny energy in God’s work. I use verbs like “collaborate, synchronize, integrate, cooperate, link, commit,” and others to describe ways I engage with God in the life of the universe.
Paul’s insight about the work of God in Romans 8:26 hints at this dynamic. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness… intercedes with groanings too deep for words.” Together with God we love, suffer, grow, learn, and repent to work with God. Each of us are connected to God in a wonderous process that aims for the “good” which we are building with God.
You might want to think over your own prayer experience. What possibilities are there? Or, what have you been missing in this exciting journey of faith? Prayer doesn’t require a theology degree or holy living. All prayer requires is a tiny seed of faith that opens our heart to dialogue with God in whatever we want to share. With new words of prayer, we join God in the dynamic, interrelated process of working toward a world of shalom. I hope you’ll develop this exciting practice on your journey to well-being.
Thanks for listening. I invite you to subscribe to the TRACKS EXPRESS newsletter for more insight and inspiration. You can find the link at www.tracksforthejourney.com. Keep working with God on your journey to well-being!
[1] Thomas Jay Oord, Pluriform Love: An open and relational theology of well-being. Sacrasage, 2022. P. 143.
[2] Bruce Epperly, Praying with Process Theology. RiverLake Press, 2017. P. 7.
