Posted: July 2, 2020

Parish Prayer Project

Ideas to Enrich Your Prayer Life

Do you want to build or rebuild the habit of daily prayer or to try different approaches to prayer life? These are suggestions that various parishioners shared as 20 of us prayed for each other from May 25 to Trinity Sunday. Why not pick a friend you miss from church, call and let them know you miss them, and commit to pray for that person for the next week?

1 Write the name or issue down on a slip of paper and tape it onto the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator or another place you will see it every day. Stop in that moment and raise that person’s name to God.

2 Incorporate this person or issue into your on-going prayer practice.

3 Set aside a certain place and make an “appointment time” each day. Try it for this special period when you have made a commitment. Take it one day at a time.

4 Create a prayer list in writing. Write down blessings for which you are thankful, issues about which you need guidance, and people (including your assigned parishioner) for whom you want to pray. (If you are struggling with coronavirus despondency, make your list of five blessing every day about 5 pm. If you can’t think of five blessings for that day, you still have time to take a walk, or a bubble bath, or eat some ice cream!)

5 Use something as a reminder to raise your prayer to God – a penny in your shoe, sitting down to a meal, loading the dishwasher, going for a walk.

6 Use The Book of Common Prayer simple family devotion formats starting on page 136. Or Forward Day by Day.

Remember, there is no “right” way to pray. Find something that works for you. And thank you for including our parish family in your prayers!