By the Rev. Rebecca Bryan
How are you? Really?  

How is your spirit? Is it full of good cheer? Or are you struggling to feel again the lightness of times when burdens were few and laughter was long? Life is not always easy. It can be hard in the winter time when it is cold with less light and spring seems far away.  

I wish that we had all the time in the world and could just sit together, hearing each other’s stories. I hope that you can find the time to listen and find the time to share.  

Like many of us, I have had a complicated journey with prayer. As a young child, I was taught a few simple prayers. Some of the were helpful; others were not. I was also taught to pray to a white man with a long beard, who lived in the sky. That was not helpful, not any part of it.  

As a Unitarian Universalist, I wasn’t sure where, if anywhere, prayer fit into my life. It was only in the last twelve years that I came to experience the power of prayer in new and profound ways. I want to share two of them with you tonight. There are others.  

One way that I use prayer is as time to think of people. This includes people that I love and people that I appreciate. It also includes people that I am having a difficult time with or need to forgive. I imagine them in my mind’s eye, and I simply send them love — uncomplicated, open ended, freely given love.  

As my congregants, you make your way into my prayers. I think of you when you are ill or facing decisions. I think of you when I haven’t seen you for a while or when you simply come to mind. It is a precious connection. Unfettered and free of demand.  

Another way that I use prayer is to settle, center myself, if you will, and connect to the power of peace.  

My prayers do not include requests or expectations these days, and I find it much more helpful that way. They are simply and profoundly an act of mindful gratitude and a connection to what is good.  

They serve to remind me of what is important, and they never cease to expand my feelings of compassion. Praying this way takes me out of myself and reminds me that we are part of the interconnected web of life.  

My prayers happen all throughout the day, while walking or approaching a task or driving someplace. I suppose you could consider these just “thoughts.” To me they are more precious when I think of them as loving prayers. Approaching life with an attitude of prayer invites mindfulness and open heartedness. It keeps us appropriately humble and teaches us to be good listeners. It also makes it clear when it is time to take action. 

I experience some of the most expansive tenderness when I connect with someone I don’t even know, even with just our eyes or a smile.  

Soren Kierkegaard said, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” I don’t know about the God part, but I certainly know that prayer changes me.