Phenomenology of Prayer

According to “The Phenomenology of Prayer,” there are five different kinds of prayers that we could choose to partake in. These five different elements consist of thanksgiving, confession, petition, and intercession. After reading the first couple of chapters in this book, I have realized that personally, I struggle with the concept of the decentered self. Benson, discusses this concept in depth. “To pray is to experience a profound ‘‘decentering’’ in which the self loses its preoccupation with itself and focuses instead on God. The result is that one is constantly learning to pray” (Benson, 2005, p. 4). This quote has impacted me over the first few weeks of the semester. I am realizing that most of the time when I come to God, I am subconsciously trying to get something out of the time I spend with him. In our society it is easy to think that we are wasting time unless we are benefiting from it in some way. Spending time with God doesn’t always have a tangible or physical benefit, but time with Him is the most valuable. The goal of de-centering, isn’t to receive a tangible benefit. The goal of de-centering is to posture the heart in a way that is ready to partake in a relationship. It’s about giving glory to the creator of all things, the one who wants to rule with us as Kings and Queens, Sons and Daughters.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student Choice #1

This semester, I have found myself most Sunday afternoons feeling stuck. I don't want to use my mind and I don't want to move off my couch. Nothing seems to sink in past surface level and I would simply scroll through Facebook, not taking in any information but merely skimming. I heard someone once describe this feeling as the "fog of war." Battling with negativity, artificiality, and cynicism for too long leads to this lethargic state of in between, not giving up but not contributing, lukewarm in the truest sense of the word. I wonder if part of the solution to this "fog of war" is to simply be around something that is real. Something that is created. To feel the wind, even if it is bitter cold. To listen to a piece of music that is so beautiful or tragic that it brings tears to your eyes. To touch a tree or a blade of grass. To watch an ant crawl across the sidewalk. To see the sunset or to feel the rain fall. When I am surrounded by screens and walls and ...
Read more

Landscapes of the Sacred #2

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Ch. 10 discusses the tension between place and placelessness is Christian Spirituality. It discusses the two approaches to sacred place: kataphatic and apophatic.  Kataphatic rejoices in discerning the presence of God in the “thisness” of various places [place] while a pophatic: skeptical of an image’s ability to contain the mystery of the Holy [placelessness]. In one specific section, The Christian Imagination and a Theology of Place, Lane discusses how God is here, but not only here. He writes, “A theology of transcendance will never be comfortable with place.” He goes on to describe 5 “motifs by which the religious imagination is able to ‘create’ places or landscapes that become embodied means of experiencing the divine presence.” The first comes from John Calvin, he “spoke of the natural world as a theater full of wonders in which God’s glory becomes apparent..” The second is n ature as a ‘second book’ alongside scripture as a way to read the presen...
Read more

It All Begins With Praise - Phenomenology of Prayer

When talking about the elements of prayer, the author of The Phenomenology of Prayer claims that praise is where we need to start. Prayer is the "deepest decentering of the the self." Prayer should begin with adoration, acknowledging the power of the higher being. From the faith background in which I was raised, the idea of removing yourself from the center of the universe (humiliating yourself) and putting God at the center is how to live a spirit-filled life. Wholeheartedly yielding yourself to the Spirit is no easy feat, Galatians 5 explains that the desires of the flesh (personal projects) are against the desires of the Spirit (wholly other's projects). This ongoing struggle is the life of one who has faith in Jesus. The more time spent praising God in prayer, the more preoccupied one will become with God and submitting to his will, empowered by the Spirit, will then become our project.
Read more