Brian’s Reflection: Monday, June 8, 2009

However one might pray - in any verbal way or completely without
words – is unimportant to God. What matters is the heart's intent.

- Malcolm Boyd, Episcopal priest, author, born on this day, 1923


Last Tuesday, Dennis and I drove to Pasadena to attend a luncheon hosted by the bishop of Los Angeles and his wife for retired clergy. And there was Malcolm Boyd, looking good at almost age 86! It was good to see him. I met him first in LA in 1976, when he was 53 and I was 30. Last Tuesday, he still had the same engaging smile and the same intense attention to others.

I believe he is right about prayer. He once said, “By my definition, prayer is consciously hanging out with God. Being with God in a deliberate way.” There is no skill necessary to pray. You don’t have to know anything, or have any skill, to pray. You just quietly open the heart to God. And listen. And I think Malcolm is right when he says that what matters “is the heart’s intent”. Oh, I do think that prayer can surprise you! But what we “hear” will be, I think, powerfully shaped by what we experience in Life, and what we are taught. That’s why the context in which we are nurtured is so important. And why the quality of “church” is critical. If “church” fails in living out the authentic Gospel life (or temple, or mosque, etc), our prayer will not hear the voice of God’s Love.

How are you nurturing yourself? In a context of hate and prejudice and stagnant thinking, often fueled by literalist thinking? Many today do. Or in a context of Compassion and openness to new evolving truths?

What is shaping your heart’s intent? The quality of your life, and of the human community, depends on it.

Brian+