only 7 ways to pray
I was surveying different ways of praying, as I’m reinvigorating my prayer life (if you want to use that kind of venacular). I came up with these 7:
- speaking: this is probably the most common as someone prays out loud, and others bow their heads and close their eyes in agreement; some Asian groups will pray with everyone speaking out loud at the same time
- thinking: this is the kind of praying when they have a “moment of silence”
- writing: you cacn pray by writing in a journal
- typing: you can type into a document on your PC, or text it in a 99-cent iPhone web app called Pray and it doesn’t go anywhere (by Frog Army)
- reading: you can read a Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, or Evening Prayer; aka Daily Offices
- signing:
for those who are deaf, they’d pray with sign language - posturing: I’ve heard and seen this kind of praying from Doug Pagitt, who poses in yoga stances as a means of prayer; and even wrote up a book about it, BodyPrayer: The Posture of Intimacy with God
Are there any other ways to pray?
I would add listening to this list. Here in the west we almost exclusively conceive of prayer as an action and rarely as receiving or simply presenting ourselves before God.
Nice list.
Pete
body prayer. hmm.
good one too.
How about with visual art? Create a piece of art that communicates what you want to say to God.
I had to chuckle:
“…text it in a 99-cent iPhone web app called Pray and it doesn’t go anywhere…”
Are you sure, DJ? If someone steps forward to say they had a prayer answered with it, are you willing to reconsider your opinion? 😉
drawing/ painting as prayer
dancing – which I guess is a type of posturing
singing – which could fit under speaking but is really rather differen
good! yes, creating art can be done as art, and/or as prayer.. apologies for the omission
alright! great additions to the list, 3 more would make it 10 ways to pray 🙂
In the OT the word for “work” and the word for “worship” are both rendered by the Hebrew word “Avodah” and that word is also sometimes also used for “Service” so perhaps work can also be a form of prayer.
Ministry, or service – can that be prayer too?
How about creating or making music?
Applying an extension of Col. 3. 17 – anything we “do” can be prayer…