How to Pray

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one" (Matthew 6.9-13, NRSV).

Prayer, then, is precisely what?

In fact, no single word can describe what happens in prayer. With or without words; chanted, spoken, or thought; in unison or responsive; active or passive, prayer  fills and empties, reaching out as well as in. There may be no language less well understood yet so widely shared as that of prayer.

Yet it is possible to speak of clearly identifiable kinds of prayer. A helpful starting point is ACTS:

Adoration is prayer that extols and praises God, names God, and addresses God for who God is.

Confession is prayer that honestly acknowledges our sin and alienation, our estrangement from God, asking God's forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

Thanksgiving is prayer that offers our gratitude to God for the gifts and blessings we receive.

Supplication is prayer that asks God to do something either for yourself or someone else.

Brother Roger of the Taize community in France regularly called prayer "communion with God," meaning the way we are brought together in sacred time and space to worship. Intimate and profound, rich and sometimes raw, prayer rises up within us as we experience our unity in faith, life and witness.