Praying When You Don't Know the Words

"Teach us to pray," the disciples implored.
And Brother Jesus taught them about prayer as relationship:
Our Father, he said, Abba Daddy -- not Awesome Deity on High.
Our Father... meaning mine and yours together, we who are family.

Are you learning to relate to God this way?

Our own Dawn Dreyer is immersed in Quakerism this sabbath year near Philadelphia. "It makes me love Calvary all the more," she writes. She sent us a poem from a course she presented called "Exploring Prayer." Maybe you can relate....


Before I Knew How to Pray
For Calvary United Methodist Church, Durham NC

God whispers to me
“I am here.”
I cannot hear God
over my own screaming.
But I know God is speaking to me
by the way I cry in church.
No dainty tears
or pretty, glistening eyes.
But shaky, snotty sobs.
How did my church
know to leave me alone
with God?
I could feel their love,
tangible as rain,
but they let me alone,
trembling in the pew.
Did they know that my tears were
living water,
embodied hope,
all I knew of Him?

~ Dawn Dreyer
Artist in Residence
Pendle Hill Retreat Center

www.pendlehill.org