Christian Prayer: A Way Of Knowing

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Term Paper Title	Christian Prayer: A Way Of Knowing
# of Words	1283
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.13

Christian Prayer: A Way of Knowing

     What is prayer?  A book titled Healing Words, written by Larry Dossey, M.D. states that “Prayer” comes from the Latin precarius, “obtained by begging”, and precari, “to entreat”—to ask earnestly, beseech, implore.  This suggests two of the commonest forms of prayer—petition, asking something for one’s self, and intercession, asking something for others. There are also prayers of confession, the repentance of wrongdoing and the asking of forgiveness; lamentation, crying in distress and asking for vindication; adoration, giving honor and praise; invocation, summoning the presence of God; and thanksgiving, offering gratitude.  The classification of prayer can seem endless; theologians can describe several separate categories.  Prayer is the most fundamental, important “language” that humans speak.  Prayer starts without words and often ends without them.  Theologian Ann Ulanov states, “It works some of the times in signs and symbols, lurches when it must, leaps when it can, has several kinds of logic at its disposal . . .” Prayer may be individual or communal, private or public.  It may be offered in words, sighs, gestures, or silence.  Prayer may be conscious activity or may flow from the depths of the unconscious.  It can emerge in our dreams, bypassing our waking awareness.  Prayer has its roots in the unconscious; therefore a complete definition of prayer can never be given.

     Every major religion has referred to inner guidance in its teachings . . . the Spirit of Christ, God within.  When someone speaks of their “consciousness” they are referring to the part of the mind that is aware. One of the facts of modern psychology is that we live the vast majority of our lives not in awareness but in unawareness or unconsciousness.  If we are not even aware of that large part of our psyche or what it is doing how can we claim total conscious responsibility for what happens in our life? It is impossible to use only the conscious part of the mind.  In many situations we have to “let go” and admit that we can not make some things happen.  This reality explains what the scripture means that says, “to pray without ceasing” in Thessalonians 5:17.  We are not physically or consciously capable of continuous prayer, but out unconscious could be praying when we are not aware of it.  This also means that we pray in our sleep, which does not seem humanly possible.  Our living habits and experiences in life supposedly creat...

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