PRAYER: The Heartbeat of the Church
PAPER Prayers
by Richard Bauman
P
RAYING AND DISTRACTION are practically synonymous for me. Often after
only a few moments, distracting thoughts fill my mind. At other times I can’t
seem to put into words or thoughts what I want to say to God. At these times,
and other times as well, I resort to “paper prayers.”
Prayers don’t have to be voiced aloud or spoken in our thoughts for God to hear
them. Paper and pen, or even computer and keyboard, can bring deeper meaning and
enrichment to one’s prayer life.
In his book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, Richard J. Foster writes: “When you
are unable to put your spiritual life into drive, do not put it into reverse; put it into neu-
tral.” For some of us, the way to put our spiritual life back into drive is through paper
prayers.
Writing prayers does more than quiet distractions; it helps us “talk” more directly to
God. We can release more thoroughly what’s in our hearts and commit those things to
our Creator. As thoughts and feelings flow onto paper, the action of writing actually
generates additional reflections to be expressed.
“Writing has the dynamic character of a movement into the unknown,” notes
Joseph Schmidt in his book Praying Our Experiences. “We can never be sure of what the
writing might yield. When we take pen in hand, we grasp a door handle and begin to
open areas of . . . awareness that are deeper than we had imagined.”
Since praying is communicating with God, that presupposes dialogue rather than a
monologue. “We need to be reminded that prayer involves listening perhaps even more
than speaking,” writes Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book Who Needs God? “It involves
opening ourselves to what God wants us to hear, in a setting purified of the noise and
distractions of the everyday world.”
Praying on paper becomes a conduit for God to reach our hearts and minds. “As our
conversation continues, we are startled by the truths that unfold,” notes Schmidt, in
describing our written prayers. “Significance and awareness reach a clarity that we had
not realized consciously before.”
“In prayer we discover what we already have,” said Thomas Merton. In writing our
prayers, our hearts open and give God time to show us what we already have. We see
more clearly our concerns, pain, and desires, as well as God’s response to them.
Prayer writing requires us to dedicate time to sitting down with paper and pen and
opening our hearts to God. Where can you find the time? Get up 15 minutes earlier
every morning, give up some TV time, find a quiet place at lunchtime to write to God,
or stay up 15 minutes later each night.
People who love one another find time to be together. If we show up, ready and
willing to write, God will show up too, ready to listen and respond to our prayers.
—Continued on page 24
22 EVANGEL • DEC 2008
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38