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Embracing Beginner's Mind: Unlocking the Power of Prayer

Discover the transformative essence of prayer as a beginner with a humble and open mindset, allowing God to reveal truth through simple presence and vulnerability in daily practice. Explore different prayer types and the importance of "showing up" in your spiritual journey. Embrace the childlike faith and innocence that opens the door to deeper connection with the divine.

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Embracing Beginner's Mind: Unlocking the Power of Prayer

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  1. Enlightenment Period Chapter 3

  2. Last week, we spoke about the “prayers of the Church”, or what Fr. Ron Rolheiser calls “priestly” prayer. We mentioned that we, as members of the Church, have a responsibility to pray the Church’s prayers, which is largely what we do in the Daily Offices and corporate worship. Today we focus mostly on personal, or private, prayer. The Daily Offices can still provide a structure for our private prayer. Experiment!

  3. In prayer, everyone is a beginner, so don’t be embarrassed that you “aren’t any good at it”. What is most important, whatever prayer type you use, is to “show up” – to persevere in your practice of prayer! “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” ― Meister Eckhart This is one of the most important attitudes one can have when approaching prayer: to have “a beginner’s mind”.

  4. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." --Mark 10:15

  5. Richard Rohr says: “Jesus says the only people who can recognize and be ready for [the kingdom of God] are the ones who come with the mind and heart of a child. The older we get, the more we’ve been betrayed and hurt and disappointed, the more barriers we put up to beginner’s mind. We must always be ready to see anew. But it’s so hard to go back, to be vulnerable, to continue to say to your soul, ‘I don’t know anything.’

  6. “Beginner’s mind is an opening to… the Spirit of God… That is why you do not need to be anxious or try too hard. It is more an allowing… Beginner’s mind is a non-grasping, patient, and compassionate holding of truth, with the readiness for God and life to reveal even more of that Truth, and the meaning of that Truth, as your life goes on. Beginner’s mind is always a humble mind, always knowing that it does not yet fully know.

  7. “[People who have a beginner’s mind] are capable of simple presence to what is right in front of them without ‘thinking’ about it too much. This must be what Jesus means by little children already being in the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:3-4). They don’t think much, they just experience the moment—good and bad. That teaching alone should have told us that Christianity was not supposed to be about believing doctrines and moralities.

  8. “Children do not believe theologies or strive for moral certitudes. They respond vulnerably and openly to what is offered them moment by moment. “Beginner’s mind is pure presence to each moment before I label it, critique it, categorize it, exclude it, or judge it up or down. That is a whole new way of thinking and living. It is the only mind that has the power to actually reform religion.” --Adapted from Beginner’s Mind

  9. You can find definitions of “prayer” that are all over the board. "The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees before the Blessed Sacrament.” – Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

  10. There are 2 primary ways of praying: kataphatic– prayer that uses words, thoughts, images, Scripture, and apophatic– prayer that is beyond words, thoughts and images. Here are two examples from the Book of Exodus:

  11. EXODUS 20:21 (God in Darkness) 18 [After the Lord had given the Law to Moses:] Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin.” 21 And the people stood afar off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

  12. EXODUS 24:9-11(God in Light) 9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

  13. Much of what Western Christians understand as “Prayer” is in the kataphatic tradition; the apophatic tradition has been more common, down through the centuries, in the Eastern Christian traditions. This is only a generalization, however, for there are many examples of those who practice apophatic prayer in the more contemplative traditions of the West. And there is a global shift toward more contemplative ways of seeing and operating – even in the business world!

  14. Yesterday, Lou Blanchard shared with our regional group some work by Otto Sharmer (from the secular world) on what Sharmer calls “Presencing”. Sharmer says: “What counts is not what leaders do and how they do it but their interior condition, the inner place from which they operate or the source from which all their actions originate.”

  15. In this Enlightenment chapter 3 (which I heartily recommend; there’s lots of good stuff!), Steve uses the acronym “ACTS” to speak of various kinds of prayer. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. This is similar – but not identical – to our Prayer Book Catechism’s explanation of prayer (pp. 856-857). There, we find: Prayer and Worship Q. What is prayer? A. Prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.

  16. Q. What is Christian Prayer? • Christian prayer is response to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. • Q. What prayer did Christ teach us? • Our Lord gave us the example of prayer known as the Lord’s Prayer. • Q. What are the principal kinds of prayer? • A. The principal kinds of prayer are adoration, praise, thanksgiving, penitence, oblation, intercession, and petition.

  17. Q. What is adoration? • Adoration is the lifting up of the heart and mind to God, asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence. • Q. Why do we praise God? • We praise God, not to obtain anything, but because God’s Being draws praise from us. • Q. For what do we offer thanksgiving? • Thanksgiving is offered to God for all the blessings of this life, for our redemption, and for whatever draws us closer to God.

  18. Q. What is penitence? • In penitence, we confess our sins and make restitution where possible, with the intention to amend our lives. • Q. What is prayer of oblation? • Oblation is an offering of ourselves, our lives and labors, in union with Christ, for the purposes of God. • Q. What are intercession and petition? • Intercession brings before God the needs of others; in petition, we present our own needs, that God’s will may be done.

  19. Q. What is corporate worship? A. In corporate worship, we unite ourselves with others to acknowledge the holiness of God, to hear God’s Word, to offer prayer, and to celebrate the sacraments.

  20. I encourage you to experiment with different kinds of prayer! Dan offers many in his book. Pb Walsh has offered to teach anyone, one-on-one, to pray. We have several books on prayer in our library. I can talk with you individually if you would like some direction or advice. There are many, many different understandings of prayer. I would urge you not to hastily judge one or the other as “right” or “wrong”, “good” or “bad”. This is one place where we are all beginners – indeed, that is the essence of the attitude of prayer, to have that “Beginner’s mind”.

  21. Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message, says “DON’T DESPISE FIXED PRAYERS. AMONG MOST EVANGELICALS, THEY DON’T THINK FIXED PRAYERS ARE REAL PRAYERS…YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE PRAYING? WELL, YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEEL LIKE PRAYING. JUST PRAY THE PSALMS… FIXED PRAYERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IMPORTANT PART OF THE CHURCH’S LIFE…MARY’S PRAYER, SIMEON’S PRAYER.

  22. “YOU’RE NOT IN CHARGE OF THIS. YOU’RE NOT. THE TRINITY IS. DON’T FEEL EMBARRASSED OR SECOND RATE IF YOU PRAY SIMEON’S PRAYER. IT’S A PRETTY GOOD PRAYER! YOU WON’T DO MUCH BETTER ON YOUR OWN.”

  23. Practice It is not a contradiction to say that one must keep a Beginner’s Mind while practicing to become proficient in prayer.

  24. One web site says: “To become proficient in any skill requires training, practice, and perseverance. Each of us can think back to childhood and remember a sport we worked at or a musical instrument we practiced until we improved to the point when we became proficient. The cultivation of a healthy prayer life is done in the same way.

  25. “There are many books and resources dedicated to the topic of prayer. While reading about prayer is beneficial, putting prayer into practice on a regular basis is vital to developing the skill of prayer. Establishing a time of day to spend in daily prayer is a way of giving back to God a little of the day He has given to us. If the time we set aside is our gift to Him, then we will be less tempted to use that time for something other than prayer. The time of prayer can always be worked into the busiest of schedules if there is some flexibility in the time of day chosen.

  26. At times, we can grow tired of the routine of prayer. Prayer is a discipline; a good habit which needs to be cultivated over time with consistency. Prayer requires perseverance, and it provides the means by which we can persevere in the difficult daily circumstances of the day. St Paul counsels us to “Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4.2). (http://prayer.littleway.ca/the-practice-of-prayer)

  27. If I do not practice one day, I know it. If I do not practice the next, the orchestra knows it. If I do not practice the third day, the whole world knows it.--Ignacy Jan Paderewski , concert pianist, former Prime Minister of Poland “I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of GOD.”― Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

  28. Amid all our dryness let us never grow discouraged, but go steadily on, patiently waiting the return of better things; let us never be misled to give up any devout practices because of it, but rather, if possible, let us increase our good works, and if we cannot offer liquid preserves to our Bridegroom, let us at least offer Him dried fruit—it is all one to Him, so long as the heart we offer be fully resolved to love Him. ... François de Sales (1567-1622)

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