Guidelines to develop a place for prayer
Responding to an Invitation to Prayer
Using your home as a place for prayer
In the Feature Article this month, Foster writes movingly
about the invitation to you - and me - to come home, to come
home to where we belong - which is to the Father's heart -
through prayer. For prayer to become a reality, place and
space is needed.
Create a Place
Do you have a place for prayer in your home? Is there a
spare room or a corner in your bedroom, a garden shed that
could be converted into a place for prayer? If this isn't
possible is there a church nearby, a particular walk or
beauty spot where the sense of God's presence is strong?
In the past three homes that we have lived in, Judy and I
have create a place for prayer. It is quite simple to do and
very exciting. We start with a table or desk with a cloth on
it, plus those special books that have been helpful in
developing our devotional life; a Bible; perhaps a cross or
crucifix; icons. We have a candle that we light when we come
to prayer to remind ourselves of Jesus, the light of the
world, who is present. A CD player for music can be helpful;
different styles of prayer books. (See the Resources section
below) We use journals to record our thoughts … and the
promptings that may come from God. Photographs are sometimes
used - of special places, people we pray for.
It is also a place to which we bring things through which
God has spoken to us - seed pods, acorns, autumn leaves,
spring flowers, a bird's nest, plovers' eggs from which the
chicks have hatched. We also rearrange the prayer place with
the changing of the liturgical year.
Create a Space
'A prayer place is of little use unless we carve out a
space where we can step off the treadmill and give time to
developing our relationship with God' 1
In creating a place for prayer, I have found it becomes
an inviting place. It also is an aid to establishing a daily
rhythm of prayer. We go to the prayer room first thing in
the morning, sometimes during the day and (in the summer)
before we go to bed.
Some evenings, I have a desire to experience the mystery
and mystical nature of God. I set up several candles, put on
Rachmaninov's Vespers, burn some incense and turn out the
light…wow! I'm not sure if earth finds itself in heaven
or whether heaven reveals itself on earth.
Join the adventure of prayer! Find a place in your home
and a space in your diary where prayer can become a daily
experience.
Have fun, enjoy God!
Ross Flint
1. Joyce Huggett Open to God p.25
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