Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Why do we pray?
Last night I was at my Prayer Chaplain monthly meeting. Prayer Chaplains in Unity churches are available, usually after the Sunday service, to pray with anyone who needs to pray about…just about anything. At our meetings, however, we spend a little time asking for prayers for ourselves, for whatever is happening in our lives with which we need some help.
We start in a sacred circle, and go around speaking our truths and asking for prayer. Everyone listens carefully and takes in the requests as holy obligations to one another. We do this so that our channels to God and Spirit can remain open and receptive to the needs of others. It is an intimate and powerful experience. Next we open our circle to the wider world and talk about events that have captured our attention. No one is ever at a loss on this one, and we ask for prayer for people thousands of miles away, whom we may never meet face to face, but with whom we share life.
As chaplains, we participate in ongoing training to support our spiritual growth and development. Part of the training involves reading a chapter a month from a book designed to enrich our experience. This year’s book is called “Original Living” by Reverend Robert Brumet. It is a wonderful read, concentrating on living from our origins – God, and the Holy Spirit, and the essence of Christ. Thus far, we have read and talked about acceptance, awareness, forgiveness, and universal benevolence.
One of us had read a study that followed the rules of research and revealed an amazing fact about prayer .The study was written about in a book by Gregg Braden on the lost art of prayer. A number of people around the world agreed to pray about different issues of importance to the life of our planet and its people. Each person agreed to pray at a preordained time so that all prayers were said simultaneously. The study was set up so that there were measurable effects on the issues being prayed about and it was possible to note any change for the better.
When the power of prayer was unleashed, positive change occurred. When the study was over and the prayers were done, things slipped back into the same old groove. What the study supported was other research done that shows us living in a field of energy that connects us to each other and to our environment. It is this energy that gives wings to prayer.
As prayer chaplains we are often told that the congregant felt a shift in their being as we were praying. Even with COVID restrictions requiring us to pray at a “safe distance” from each other I can feel the energy passing through me to the other person. Anecdotally, people tell us that a certain prayer resulted in the change that had been requested. This has happened too many times for me to have any doubt that prayer can make a difference. A very real difference