Wikipedia says prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication. Some form of prayer is found in most major religions. In contrast with Western religion, Eastern religion for the most part discards worship and places devotional emphasis on the practice of meditation alongside scriptural study. Consequently, prayer is seen as a form of meditation or an adjunct practice to meditation.
Prayer and meditation have become important to me over the past thirty years. Prior to that any prayer life I had consisted of short burst of frustration or fear, “Oh my God!” There has been a move within me to for more quiet contemplation and meditation. So I find places where I can have those quiet moments. I use a couple of churches with in walking distance. I use a nearby park and a couple nature areas for more quiet. A quiet corner of my condo can make for a nice place also.
All three monotheistic Religions have a variety of prayer books: The Muslim Prayer Book – for praying five times a day; The Book of Common Prayer -which has prayers for seven times a day; Liturgy of the Hours – used by monastic communities to pray seven times a day; Siddur – the Jewish prayer book for praying three times a day. I could be wrong on these prayer books but it gives us some idea of the importance for prayer within these religions.
4 Comments
paul
A comedian that I hear sometimes, Brother Dave Gardner would say that prayer is asking for something and meditation is waiting for it. 🙂
I, too, though not a religious person, love the quiet, peaceful nature of churches.
Monte Stevens
He’s right!
Chris Klug
What a beautiful image, Monte. Thanks for posting this.
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Chris. It was one of those images where I had some concept but not sure about it’s final look. I just started composing to see what I could come up with. This is what I ended up with.