EXCERPTS FROM WEEKLY MESSAGES BY ART CALLAHAM, EHS CHAPLAIN
“ The Prayer Ladder consists of five rungs, each representing a “modality” of prayer: Petition, Thanksgiving, Intercession, Confession, Adoration/ Contemplation.”CALLAHAM,
Introduction to Prayer Ladder:
Whether or not your current list of spiritual goals includes working on your prayer life (mine does all the time), revisiting the basics of prayer seems like a good thing.
So, for the next several weeks, I’ll use this space to walk us all through a framework for prayer that has been important to me for at least the last decade. I call this framework the “Prayer Ladder” and I hope that it helps deepen your relationship with God.
The Prayer Ladder consists of five rungs, each representing a “modality” of prayer: Petition, Thanksgiving, Intercession, Confession, Adoration/ Contemplation. The modalities are more than methods or even subjects for prayer. They are more like states of mind with which one enters into a relationship with God. They are anthropological and developmental, not hierarchical. The saints (that’s you and me) move up and down throughout their lives and even during a single instance of prayer, much like angels on Jacob’s ladder.
I think I’ll end on that too-dramatic allusion this week. Over the next several, I’ll have something to say about each of the modalities on the Prayer Ladder.
In the meantime, keep praying, friends.
“ Though each rung builds on the last, the Ladder should not be approached as a one-way trip or a system where one “graduates” from one modality of prayer to another.”
Using the Prayer Ladder:
Now some thoughts on “How To Prayer Ladder”
The ordering of prayers in the Ladder is not meant to be a strict hierarchy of prayer based on quality, ease, importance or effectiveness. In my mind, the order maps on to the way in which one’s relationship with God develops, and I liken this to other “stages of development” concepts from sociology and anthropology. It is difficult to thank God for something if you don’t yet believe that God can even be addressed with a petition. It is difficult to confess the brokenness of a relationship that you don’t think exists.
Thus, when I work with people who are having trouble with one modality of prayer or another, I often encourage them to take a step back and work on one or more of the lower rungs of the ladder for a season. Having trouble praying for others? Try praying for yourself for a while. Can’t quite “grok” the whole contemplation thing? Check and see if there is something you really need confess or give thanks for.
Though each rung builds on the last, the Ladder should not be approached as a one-way trip or a system where one “graduates” from one modality of prayer to another. I think of it more as a trouble-shooting check-list for people who want to feel closer to God through prayer.
So, give it a try this week. Start wherever you want on the ladder (Petition, Thanksgiving, Intercession, Confession, Contemplation). If that modality of prayer comes naturally and feels like time well spent, AWESOME!! If your chosen prayer feels forced, empty, or difficult in any way, then spend a few days praying in modalities “down” the ladder. Be intentional and consider the discipline “relationship practice.”
Let me know how it turns out.
Grace and Peace.
Prayers of Petition:
Prayers of petition are simply prayers that ask God for something that you need or want. Though petitions are, in some ways, the most basic of prayers, many folks have the hardest time with them. Petitions require only that we need/want something and that we believe, even fleetingly, that there is someone/thing outside ourselves could provide it for us. Anthropologists see this as the move from seeing “God as enemy” to “God as friend.” Theologians see it as the move from understanding “God as good” to understanding that “God if good to/for me.”
Grannies and pious aunts/uncles seem to disagree. They teach us not to “bother” God with the trivialities of our lives, and to “pray for others more/before yourself.” Their hearts are in the right place. However, most of the time, their advice is too much of a good thing. Many faithful folks, including me, are so out of practice that, even when we are desperate, we shy back from asking.
So, I want to encourage you this week, friends, to work on the prayer of petition. Figure out what you most want/need FOR YOU (“I just want my kids to be happy” doesn’t count for this exercise) and spend some time praying about that this week. I guarantee it’ll deepen your understanding of the goodness of God and put you (back) in touch with the God who is both able and willing to do good for you.
Have a great week, Friends.
Prayers of Thanksgiving:
This week’s rung in the Prayer Ladder (the second) is Thanksgiving. Based strictly on anecdotal evidence (i.e. spending a large portion of my life around people who are praying), this is probably the modality of prayer that comes most naturally to people. Or, rather, this is the modality of prayer that comes most naturally once our grannies and pious uncles (see last week) have gotten a hold of us. “[Re]Turning thanks,” as my own granny would say, is the very first thing you should do each day, before meals, before going to bed, etc. “It’s what separates us from the animals.” Don’t get me wrong, giving thanks to God is important. But, I think there is more to it than simply being well-mannered or evolved.
Thanksgiving is the furtherance of the conversation/interaction with God that began when we asked for something in the first place. Thanksgiving goes further than petition in as much as it acknowledges God’s agency in addition to God’s personhood. God is not only capable of relationship, but has chosen to act in a specific relationship with you. And that’s a good thing.
So, this week, I invite you to practice thanksgiving. As with last week, I’ll challenge you to make your thanksgivings as specific and personal as you can. Acknowledging God’s good work in the “wonder of creation” is all well and good. But such prayers tend toward abstraction. The real sense of relationship with the God who cares deeply and personally about YOU comes when you thank God for something specific done for you. Such prayers may feel overly self-centered. But, we’re working on YOUR prayer life. There will always be time for more general prayers.
As always, friends, I am thankful for each of you. God has clearly been the agent in our getting to know one another and our relationship (yours and mine) is of tremendous benefit to me.
Let me know how I can pray for you.
Prayers of Lament:
A valued and wise friend of mine once challenged me on the notion of the Prayer Ladder by asking whether or not there was room for prayers of Lament in my typology. The truth was that I hadn’t really considered the place of lament. But like a good religious professional, I said “Sure! But I’m afraid we don’t have time to talk about that today.”
My friend was right, though. Lament does not fit neatly into the Prayer Ladder. Yet, it comes up frequently enough in both the tradition and the lives of faithful people that it needs to be addressed. Lament isn’t quite the same as Petition. But neither it is the same as Intercession, Confession, or any of the others. The simplest answer would probably be to give it its own spot in the Ladder. However, I don’t (want to) believe that it shares the same essential qualities as the others. I don’t believe that Lamentation is necessary to relationship with God, even though I am convinced that it is both permitted and, oftentimes, beneficial.
If pressed, I would say that prayers of Lament are most closely related to those of Thanksgiving. This is counterintuitive, I know. But, bear with me.
When we are suffering, when we’ve experienced loss, we reach out to God with our prayers of Lament. In my experience, the first sentiment is rarely one of “God please fix this.” So, Lament is not exactly a petition. Rather, the question is usually “God, why did this happen?” or “God, why did YOU do this?” Acknowledging God’s agency and purpose – even in a questioning or challenging way – is the soul of Thanksgiving. It is one step up the ladder from simply acknowledging the personal reality of God.
This is the point in the essay when many of you might be saying “So what!?!” What does knowing the nature of Lament have to do with improving my prayer life? The Prayer Ladder is most useful when one is at an impasse in prayer. Moving a rung down the ladder is often helpful when you find yourself unable to pray like you want to.
So, locating Lament in the neighborhood of Thanksgiving suggests that if we are having trouble expressing our Laments to God, then we should look at how and whether we make our petitions. More succinctly, if you are having trouble demanding a reason for your suffering from God, ask first for God to do something about it. In a similar fashion, if you are further “up” the ladder, struggling with praying for others, confessing, or simply being with God, think about whether or not you have anything against the Almighty that you need to get off your chest.
Let me know how I can pray for you.
Prayers of Intercession:
This week’s rung in the Prayer Ladder (the third) is Intercession. Intercessions are prayers “for” other people or broader situations. Though I think this is very likely what most people think of when they think of “prayer,” I put it third in the list because I think intercession is actually a pretty complex modality of prayer.
Like all prayers, intercessions are a relationship. What sets these special prayers apart from thanksgiving and petition, though, is which people are the focus of the prayer relationship. On the first two rungs, the relationship being addressed Is the relationship between you and God. Petition addresses our willingness/ability to see God as a person with whom relationship can be formed. Thanksgiving is about God’s agency/ability to change things in our lives.
Intercession, on the other hand, is principally about our relationship with another person or other people. Praying for the needs of another is about seeing the other as a person, specifically a person worthy of God’s grace and favor. It is vain for us to think that by praying for another person, we change God (point out something that God hadn’t noticed or convince God to be generous or compassionate.) What we change when we pray for someone else is ourselves. Praying intercessions is about us joining God’s point of view: ever compassionate, ever loving, ever willing to help.
Friends, it is my joy to pray for each of every day. Let me know if there is anything specific, I can add to my intercessions.
Prayers of Confession:
“Confession is good for the soul,” is what my Mom always used to say. I was never quite sure whether she was dispensing spiritual guidance or trying, like some noir-style detective, to coerce me into “spilling the beans” on my misdeeds. Regardless of her intentions, I reckon that her advice is sound. Confession is certainly good for something.
You can probably tell by now that the heart of the Prayer Ladder and the very soul of prayer itself (as I understand it) is relationship. Beneath the specific words we use, or the postures we adopt, or the subjects we address, is a relationship with God which is, itself, our prayer. Thus, it should be no surprise that I find the great good of confession to be how it changes relationships. “Confession is good for your relationships,” to coin a phrase.
Confession is our recognition that relationships can be (and are) broken. The relationship with God that we have been cultivating through our petitions and thanksgiving, the relationships that we have memorialized in our intercessions, are ultimately fragile and can be damaged by our “thought(s), word(s), and deed(s)” and “by the things we have done and the things we have left undone.” Confession, in bringing to mind the absence or brokenness, of relationships both divine and human is an important step in acknowledging the reality and the importance of the relationships in the first place. Our lives are diminished when relationships are broken. We call out to God in hopes that relationships can be restored.
Practicing confession can be difficult. But, I cannot overstate how important it is to our growing sense of relationship with God and others. So, let me encourage you to give it a try this week. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Simply let God know about a relationship that is important to you, one that you feel has been damaged in some way. If that feels safe, then consider examining, with God, what role you may have played in the damaging of the relationship. Don’t blame yourself for something that is not your fault; that’s not the point here. Sometimes it is sufficient to simply say, “Something went wrong. God, I would have it another way.”
Then see where things go from there. I trust God won’t leave you hanging.
Let me know how I can pray for you.
Prayers of Contemplation or Adoration:
The final rung on our prayer ladder is, perhaps, both the easiest and most difficult of them all. Contemplation (or Adoration) is the prayer of simply being with God. I know it sounds kind of esoteric. But I assure you that, at least as I understand it, Adoration (or Contemplation) is far more down to earth that it may first seem.
I often find it helpful to teach Contemplation with a story.
When my wife and I were dating, but before we were married, we used to travel together, a couple of times a year, from our boarding school near Baltimore to her parents’ home near Chicago. It was an 11-hour drive. Because we taught (and lived) at the same school, the normal small-talk of “how was your day” or “how are your classes” evaporated quickly. Moreover, terrestrial radio is really patchy in the Alleghenies and along most of the Ohio Turnpike. So after the first couple of hours there really wasn’t anything more to say or to listen to.
So we sat.
And it was OK.
The comfortable silence between two people who are deeply and intimately acquainted can be a beautiful thing. Some might say that it is the quintessence of relationship. It is comforting and calming. It is not pretentious or forced.
This is what the prayer of Contemplation/Adoration is. Neither of the two names given for this modality of prayer are quite sufficient to describe what the interaction is actually like: contemplation seeming too intellectual, adoration sounding too sentimental. Contemplation (my preferred term) is nothing more than simply “being together” with God as you would with a long-time friend, a lover, or beloved member of your family. It is as far from the “awkward silence” that our students talk about as one can possibly get.
I offer contemplation as the final rung of the ladder, not only because it is particularly transcendent, complex, or reserved only for spiritual “masters,” but because it is often benefited by “clearing” all of your other prayer topics before giving it a try. You need to get through the small talk and even the “business” of prayer (petitions, intercessions, etc.) before you will feel comfortable saying nothing. And that, too, is OK.
So give it a try this week. Find some time to simply sit and “be with” God. No words, no agenda, no special postures, or programs. Just hang out with God. I know for a fact that God is looking forward to it.
Let me know how I can pray for you.
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