Pray without Ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5:17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Pray without ceasing.

My eye kept traveling back to this verse as I looked over the whole of the daily lectionary reading.  There's a lot of good advice in this chapter from 1st Thessalonians, but none I think that carry the same depth, weight and perhaps uncertainty as this.

How do you pray without ceasing?

How do you pray at all?

I think prayer is one of those topics we hear a lot about, and yet still manage to stay at least partially flummoxed by.  I know I'm still learning the ins and outs, and I also know I've had Seminary teachers and pastors who have admitted to not having all the answers either.

Martin Luther had some good advice: We are all beggars, indicating that we should approach God with a humble heart and open palm.  

And yet, asking or begging God is only part of the issue as well.  

If I've learned anything it is that prayer is a dialogue.  It is relationship, and a dialogue is not one sided.  Talking to God is only part of it.

Listening is a whole other ball game!

What kinds of things do you do to listen to God?

Meditate?

Walking outside?

Listening to music?

Centering prayer?

There are all kinds of ways we can listen to God, and I think probably it IS the listening that's the hardest part of prayer.  How do you listen for a voice that isn't going to come from vocal chords?

God of song and silence, speak to me and help me to hear you.  Amen.