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What is it?
What is it?
Together and by ourselves, not only in formal services of worship but also in all times and places, we lift up the fullness of our lives and the world to God in prayer.
“We do not build the kingdom of God on earth by our own efforts (however assisted by grace); the most we can do through genuine prayer, is to make as much room as possible, in ourselves and in the world, for the kingdom of God, so that its energies can go to work. All that we can show our contemporaries of the reality of God springs from contemplation: Jesus Christ, the Church, our own selves.”
Han Urs von Balthasar, Prayer
"I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer."
Psalm 17:6
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:9-10
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."
Colossians 4:2
Starting Questions
Starting Questions
When I pray in class, what is my posture? Does it matter if I am standing or sitting? How about for my students? What if we stood to pray? Or kneeled?
Eugene Peterson notes that prayer is always a response ("answering speech"); can prayer be a response I weave into my lesson or at the end instead of the first task of my lesson?
Could I have students write prayers or poems in a lesson or as a response to issues that arise in class?
Theologian Karl Barth is thought to have said that Christians should have a Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Both should lead us to prayer. Are there content-specific news sites or articles that I could use that might lead my students - or our whole class - to prayer?
Prayer doesn't have to be spoken prayers. Perhaps creating a piece of music could be prayer or writing a poem or making a movie?
Another way of thinking about prayer is attentiveness. How can my class make my students more attentive to the world, others, and God? Mary Oliver's poem captures it well: Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it."
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
The following is a list of teacher-generated ideas of ways that this practice could be implemented in the classroom or school culture.
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