What Is Prayer?
Do not think that the words of prayer
as you say them
go up to God.
It is not the words themselves that ascend;
it iss rather the burning desire of your heart
that rises like smoke toward heaven.
If your prayer consists only of words and letters,
and does not contain your heart's desire -
how can it rise up to God?
-Nachman of Breslov (Translated by Arthur Green and Barry Holtz)
Which of these three texts (if any) resonate the most with you?
"Some Laws of Liturgical Development" - Studies of Modern Theology and Prayer
by Jakob Petuchowski
"One generation's spontaneity becomes another generation's routine."
The ideal of Jewish prayer is the free outpouring of the human heart before God. The exigencies of communal worship demand fixed times of prayer and the crystallization of common prayer formulae. The history of Jewish Liturgy attempts to satisfy those two - apparently contradictory - claims.
As that history unfolds, we notice that, with a high degree of inevitability, the fixed prayer routine always gains the upper hand, at least in the sense that prayers which were meant to supplement the official prayer routine with the free outpouring of an individual human heart end up as components of a later generation's fixed prayer routine.
"On Prayer"
by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
... it tends in our days to become a spectacle, in which the congregation remains passive, inert spectators. But prayer is action; it requires complete mobilization of heart, mind, and soul. What is the worth of attending public worship when mind and soul are not involved? Renewal of liturgy involves renewal of prayer.
How do you define prayer? How do you define liturgy? Are they different?
Anne Lamott, Help. Thanks. Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
My three prayers are all variations on Help, Thanks, Wow. That's all I ever need, beside the silence, the pain, and the pause sufficient for me to stop, close my eyes, and turn inward...
We can pray for things ("Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz). We can pray for people ("Please heal Martin's cancer. Please help me not be such a jerk." We pray for a shot at having a life in which we are present and awake and paying attention and being kind to ourselves. We can pray, "Hello? Is anyone out there?" We can pray, "Am I too far gone, or can you help me get out of my isolated self-obsession?" We can say anything to God. It's all prayer.
Prayer can be motion and stillness and energy - all at the same time. It begins with stopping in our tracks, or with our backs against the wall, or when we are going under the waves, or when we are just so sick and tired of being physically sick and tired that we surrender, or at least we finally stop running away and at long last walk or lurch or crawl toward something. Or maybe, miraculously, we just release our grip slightly."
1. בקשה - Petition (Help)
(יג) וַיִּצְעַ֣ק מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־ה' לֵאמֹ֑ר אֵ֕ל נָ֛א רְפָ֥א נָ֖א לָֽהּ׃ (פ)
Moses cried out to Adonai, saying, “O God, pray heal her!”
וְהִ֖יא מָ֣רַת נָ֑פֶשׁ וַתִּתְפַּלֵּ֥ל עַל־יְהֹוָ֖ה וּבָכֹ֥ה תִבְכֶּֽה׃ וַתִּדֹּ֨ר נֶ֜דֶר וַתֹּאמַ֗ר יְהֹוָ֨ה צְבָא֜וֹת אִם־רָאֹ֥ה תִרְאֶ֣ה ׀ בׇּעֳנִ֣י אֲמָתֶ֗ךָ וּזְכַרְתַּ֙נִי֙ וְלֹֽא־תִשְׁכַּ֣ח אֶת־אֲמָתֶ֔ךָ וְנָתַתָּ֥ה לַאֲמָתְךָ֖ זֶ֣רַע אֲנָשִׁ֑ים וּנְתַתִּ֤יו לַֽיהֹוָה֙ כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו וּמוֹרָ֖ה לֹא־יַעֲלֶ֥ה עַל־רֹאשֽׁוֹ׃ וְהָיָה֙ כִּ֣י הִרְבְּתָ֔ה לְהִתְפַּלֵּ֖ל לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וְעֵלִ֖י שֹׁמֵ֥ר אֶת־פִּֽיהָ׃ וְחַנָּ֗ה הִ֚יא מְדַבֶּ֣רֶת עַל־לִבָּ֔הּ רַ֚ק שְׂפָתֶ֣יהָ נָּע֔וֹת וְקוֹלָ֖הּ לֹ֣א יִשָּׁמֵ֑עַ וַיַּחְשְׁבֶ֥הָ עֵלִ֖י לְשִׁכֹּרָֽה׃
In her wretchedness, she prayed to the LORD, weeping all the while. And she made this vow: “O LORD of Hosts, if You will look upon the suffering of Your maidservant and will remember me and not forget Your maidservant, and if You will grant Your maidservant a male child, I will dedicate him to the LORD for all the days of his life; and no razor shall ever touch his head.” As she kept on praying before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah was praying in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk.
2. הודיה - Thanksgiving (Thanks)
Meister Eckhart (13th century mystic)
“If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘Thank You,’ that would suffice
מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ שָׁאַתָּה הוּא ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד צוּר חַיֵּינוּ מָגֵן יִשְׁעֵנוּ אַתָּה הוּא לְדוֹר וָדוֹר
We give thanks to You that you are the Lord our God, and God of our ancestors forever and ever, Rock of our lives and Shield of our salvation from generation to generation
e.e. cummings
i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any — lifted from the no of all nothing — human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
3. שבח Praise (Wow)
"To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings- the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer for the mystery in which we live.
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
—Abraham Joshua Heschel