Over the last year, as our church in Tokyo connected almost exclusively online during several waves of COVID-19, I (Laura) was given the opportunity to lead a series of online seminars about spiritual formation for our church members. These seminars have been valuable learning experiences for me as I practice particular Japanese language and learn cultural nuances through conversations with fellow Christians. As I have recently spent more time learning and practicing various forms of prayer, my seminar in August focused on teaching different methods, such as centering prayer, Examen prayer and prayer through writing. The participants ranged in age and Christian experience, though most were learning about the various types of prayer for the first time.
One participant, who became a Christian as an adult, reflected with me after the seminar about her discomfort with prayer. Since she did not grow up in a Christian home, she did not feel like prayer came naturally to her, even though after her baptism she was expected to know how to pray individually and in front of her church family. Prayer for her had been learned by observing those around her. I encouraged her that it is the same for many of us, no matter when we were first exposed to Christian prayer: we learn first from others and grow into learning our own preferences and ways of connecting with God. This is a common journey for followers of Christ and reminds me of the importance of praying and learning together in community.
I (Carson) didn’t know how to pray. It was not an emotional or spiritual issue. It was a lack of language skills. As in most nations, in Japan there is colloquial language and there is religious language. Within Christianity, we have insider language and deeper still is the prayer language used to communicate with God. It is language that seems to exist almost nowhere else.
The most important action I have taken to improve my prayer language has been to listen to the community around me. I listen to words in worship services from songs and scriptures to learn phrases that express honor (an important cultural value), petition, and thanks. I listen to the joyful and painful words of neighbors, completely unconnected to the church, who offer prayer requests through common conversation in the park. I listen to the diversity of the prayers in midweek prayer meetings as each soul brings his or her unique self before God. Finally, I listen for words that God calls upon me to express, in whatever way I can muster.
And though I am glad that my public prayers have developed from gibberish to more comprehensible sentences, I have also learned that joining in prayer with our beloved community does not require that I be an eloquent orator. Presence in prayer with brothers and sisters often speaks more than any words that I can offer.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
