Spiritual Disciplines

My Morning Prayer Routine I am invincible in the morning. Anything requiring my creative thinking and positive attitude is best done upon arising, preferably before breakfast. Many of my readers may be night owls, so my morning prayer routine may be a non-starter for you. Maybe something here will help you think about mornings differently. But first, a word of caution: I am aware—in myself and others—that using one’s electronic devices for spiritual purposes is fraught with peril. My iPad is my alarm clock, prayer book, and Bible. [The advantage here is that I do not need to turn on

You haven’t heard from me for a while, but I am alive, well, and improving in all aspects of life. Give thanks to God! I have even been writing—about four or five hours a day since the beginning of the year. The result of that labor of love is a book entitled Why I Don’t Pray: [Subtitle TBD]. Now that it is in the capable hands of my editor, I can turn my attention to blogging. What spurred me on this week was the request to share with my congregation “a prayer practice.”  Yes, indeed, one who ’fesses up to

The question came up this week: Mary, how do you practice prayer? It’s a great question, because prayer is a practice and it takes practice. But “it”—the precise form of prayer—varies greatly from day to day, from person to person, from tradition to tradition. There are so many ways to pray! What’s very important, though, is to confirm that I am referring to a conversation with God—the One who created everything and is sovereign over the universe, our world, and our souls. God has no true rivals, though we try occasionally to erect our own golden calves. The God I

Imagine my surprise, while walking through a London Tube station, to discover a framed picture of a labyrinth hanging on the wall! No label, no instructions, just the picture seen here. Then imagine the frenetic times when you might need a calming prayer practice, and you realize a Tube station is the perfect place to position this ancient prayer prompt. A labyrinth is a circular walkway laid out so you can start at the entry and follow the path toward the center and out again. This is not a maze in which you can get lost. It is a trail