Prayer is perhaps the most foundational of Christian practices. It’s the way we connect, communicate and commune with the living God. Praying can really change a person! A mentor of mine once whispered to me as an older woman at my church walked past “She’s amazing. Can’t you just smell the amount of prayer she does?” His comment inspired me to get to work on my own spiritual body odour!
One of the great things about prayer is the way it can take so many different forms. There’s not just one way to pray, but multitudes! And as we move through the different stages of life, our prayer life tends to take on different shapes too. But how do you everyday Anglicans in our diocese pray? What does prayer look like out in the wild, beyond the bells and smells of Sunday worship?
I caught up with two everyday women who are in different seasons of life – Lynda Lowery from St Barnabas Stoke (retired, passionate, active) and Petra Oomen from All Saints Nelson (young mum, a bit tired from her toddler, busy) to find out what they love about prayer, and how they do it.
Lynda: Prayer is my lifeline to God. As I wake, it’s “Morning Jesus…” I take coffee back to bed and go through my emails on my laptop, stopping to pray, reading scripture and soaking it in, and it’s impact for me. I often worship (in my head because my husband is sleeping in the other bed and the cats are all over the place).
During the day, prayer is just recognising that the presence of Jesus is always with me, and sending arrow prayers for various people or situations.
At the end of the day, once I have turned out my light, I practise the Ignatian prayer of the Daily Examen by just letting my mind drift through the day with Jesus – what do I need to ask forgiveness for? What do I want to praise God for? Who is on my heart to put into Jesus' hands? And as I settle down to sleep I might say the Night Prayer from The New Zealand Prayer Book.
Petra: Prayer helps give me a better perspective of life – recognising who I am and what I’m here for, remembering who Jesus is and what his kingdom is like. Every evening, as I rock my daughter to sleep, I pray quietly. I’d heard that tying a new habit to an existing habit was the best way to ensure it actually happened, but I don’t have much routine in my life to begin with, so maintaining a regular prayer rhythm has long been a weakness of mine. It wasn’t until I started the daily necessity of putting my daughter to bed that I thought, “Why not use this routine to start a habit of prayer?”
It turns out to be a wonderful environment: the room is dark and my hands are occupied, so there’s not much opportunity for distraction. My daughter is in my arms, which fills me with deep gratitude and a renewed appreciation for what it means to be considered a child of God myself. And sometimes she parrots my words - where two or more are gathered, right?
Lynda: Like a wonderful kaleidoscope, as I am being transformed, so is my prayer life. Not so many words these days but always life-giving. I have found the times when I’ve been quite sick or very low have been the richest times for me with the Lord, with the Holy Spirit bringing scriptures to me which bring love, caring and inspiration. Precious times when I have needed them most.
I love to just sit in the presence of God, and have had periods of my life when I was able to discipline myself to do this twice daily for 20 minutes… but these days I have built this time into my life by attending the monthly Morning Aside with Nelson Spiritual Growth Ministries, where they have a guest speaker and at least one and a half hours of silent free time to sit, craft or walk in the park.
I love to hear God speaking to me through hearing preaching both on Sunday and in particular in our quiet more reflective service on Wednesdays at church, where we reflect again on the sermon over morning tea, which is very lively.
Petra: I go through different phases, both in the routine and content of my prayer, but the overarching trend seems to be a draw towards simplicity. More and more, I’m learning to simply rest in God’s presence, rather than drive through my checklist of prayer requests. I’ve been reading Beholding by Strahan Coleman, where he says, “We are so used to a commodified economy that appreciating and admiring something beautiful without capitalising on it in some way takes real practice.”
Lynda: You are not alone! We all go through these times. When I am in that space I pray the prayers I know by heart: The Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23, and also I use our New Zealand Prayer Book which is a treasure trove of prayer for every situation. I have downloaded this to my phone through the Tuia app. And if you would like someone to pray with you come to any church service in our Nelson Diocese, as prayer is usually offered at the end of each service.
Petra: Try different things and start small. I remember Sam Harvey from 24-7 Prayer saying something along the lines of, “If you can’t pray for 20 minutes, pray for 10. If you can’t pray for 10 minutes, pray for 5.” Spending a few minutes with Jesus is better than giving up because you can’t maintain a half hour of quiet time every day. If you like to read, I loved Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton and Beholding by Strahan Coleman. They’ve deepened my understanding of prayer and encouraged me to enjoy time with God.
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We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
Prayer is perhaps the most foundational of Christian practices. It’s the way we connect, communicate and commune with the living God. Praying can really change a person! A mentor of mine once whispered to me as an older woman at my church walked past “She’s amazing. Can’t you just smell the amount of prayer she does?” His comment inspired me to get to work on my own spiritual body odour!
One of the great things about prayer is the way it can take so many different forms. There’s not just one way to pray, but multitudes! And as we move through the different stages of life, our prayer life tends to take on different shapes too. But how do you everyday Anglicans in our diocese pray? What does prayer look like out in the wild, beyond the bells and smells of Sunday worship?
I caught up with two everyday women who are in different seasons of life – Lynda Lowery from St Barnabas Stoke (retired, passionate, active) and Petra Oomen from All Saints Nelson (young mum, a bit tired from her toddler, busy) to find out what they love about prayer, and how they do it.
Lynda: Prayer is my lifeline to God. As I wake, it’s “Morning Jesus…” I take coffee back to bed and go through my emails on my laptop, stopping to pray, reading scripture and soaking it in, and it’s impact for me. I often worship (in my head because my husband is sleeping in the other bed and the cats are all over the place).
During the day, prayer is just recognising that the presence of Jesus is always with me, and sending arrow prayers for various people or situations.
At the end of the day, once I have turned out my light, I practise the Ignatian prayer of the Daily Examen by just letting my mind drift through the day with Jesus – what do I need to ask forgiveness for? What do I want to praise God for? Who is on my heart to put into Jesus' hands? And as I settle down to sleep I might say the Night Prayer from The New Zealand Prayer Book.
Petra: Prayer helps give me a better perspective of life – recognising who I am and what I’m here for, remembering who Jesus is and what his kingdom is like. Every evening, as I rock my daughter to sleep, I pray quietly. I’d heard that tying a new habit to an existing habit was the best way to ensure it actually happened, but I don’t have much routine in my life to begin with, so maintaining a regular prayer rhythm has long been a weakness of mine. It wasn’t until I started the daily necessity of putting my daughter to bed that I thought, “Why not use this routine to start a habit of prayer?”
It turns out to be a wonderful environment: the room is dark and my hands are occupied, so there’s not much opportunity for distraction. My daughter is in my arms, which fills me with deep gratitude and a renewed appreciation for what it means to be considered a child of God myself. And sometimes she parrots my words - where two or more are gathered, right?
Lynda: Like a wonderful kaleidoscope, as I am being transformed, so is my prayer life. Not so many words these days but always life-giving. I have found the times when I’ve been quite sick or very low have been the richest times for me with the Lord, with the Holy Spirit bringing scriptures to me which bring love, caring and inspiration. Precious times when I have needed them most.
I love to just sit in the presence of God, and have had periods of my life when I was able to discipline myself to do this twice daily for 20 minutes… but these days I have built this time into my life by attending the monthly Morning Aside with Nelson Spiritual Growth Ministries, where they have a guest speaker and at least one and a half hours of silent free time to sit, craft or walk in the park.
I love to hear God speaking to me through hearing preaching both on Sunday and in particular in our quiet more reflective service on Wednesdays at church, where we reflect again on the sermon over morning tea, which is very lively.
Petra: I go through different phases, both in the routine and content of my prayer, but the overarching trend seems to be a draw towards simplicity. More and more, I’m learning to simply rest in God’s presence, rather than drive through my checklist of prayer requests. I’ve been reading Beholding by Strahan Coleman, where he says, “We are so used to a commodified economy that appreciating and admiring something beautiful without capitalising on it in some way takes real practice.”
Lynda: You are not alone! We all go through these times. When I am in that space I pray the prayers I know by heart: The Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23, and also I use our New Zealand Prayer Book which is a treasure trove of prayer for every situation. I have downloaded this to my phone through the Tuia app. And if you would like someone to pray with you come to any church service in our Nelson Diocese, as prayer is usually offered at the end of each service.
Petra: Try different things and start small. I remember Sam Harvey from 24-7 Prayer saying something along the lines of, “If you can’t pray for 20 minutes, pray for 10. If you can’t pray for 10 minutes, pray for 5.” Spending a few minutes with Jesus is better than giving up because you can’t maintain a half hour of quiet time every day. If you like to read, I loved Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton and Beholding by Strahan Coleman. They’ve deepened my understanding of prayer and encouraged me to enjoy time with God.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
