Prayer

Shannon McCarthy, Prayer, 2007

I'm sorry I'm late! I've been in Utah this week romancing various job opportunities. (And as anyone knows, that kind of courtship takes significant time and energy). So without further ado, I'll introduce the theme this month: Prayer.

Prayer presents herself in countless forms. She is head bowed and knees bent. Breath in and breath out. She is two happy arms swimming through the air and grasping at the trees. She is a call out to the universe and a whisper into the heart. Prayer is the foundational element of our spiritual lives no matter where we fall on the religious spectrum, and she is certainly no respecter of persons.

I dress up in many of prayer's forms. I press my hands and face to the ground and imagine that my supplications reverberate through each layer of earth--crust, mantle, core--to reach the fiery center of God. As I wait with hands and face to the ground, God speaks from that smoldering, spherical heart. The message travels back up through crust, mantle, core, and into skin, muscle, and bone to reach the fiery center of me. This is the journey of my revelation.

If you have thoughts on prayer, please share! For the remaining Sundays this month I will be exploring prayer in the contexts of Judaism, Catholicism, and Mormonism.

Next Sunday: Prayer with Grandma Shorr