The Unspoken Prayer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Formulas and language are so much at the forefront of our conversation about prayer, that the mystery of a conversation with the living God is all but\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Unspoken Prayer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Formulas and language are so much at the forefront of our conversation about prayer, that the mystery of a conversation with the living God is all but\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-05T18:46:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-07T16:58:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2012\/09\/unspokenprayer-300x174.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/\",\"name\":\"The Unspoken Prayer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-05T18:46:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-07T16:58:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"Formulas and language are so much at the forefront of our conversation about prayer, that the mystery of a conversation with the living God is all but\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Unspoken Prayer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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{"id":905,"date":"2012-09-05T12:46:57","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T18:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=905"},"modified":"2012-09-07T10:58:33","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T16:58:33","slug":"the-unspoken-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/09\/the-unspoken-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unspoken Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Formulas and language are so much at the forefront of our conversation about prayer, that the mystery of a conversation with the living God is all but lost.\u00a0 Add our preoccupation with intercession and petition and the mystery disappears completely.\u00a0 God has become like a stranger \u2014 accosted on the sidewalk \u2014 forced into our homes without prelude or introduction, without relationship or experience, gang-pressed into service, meeting our needs.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong.<\/p>\n

I am not opposed to prayers of petition and intercession.\u00a0 I am not opposed to spoken prayer.\u00a0 I often find myself counseling people who wonder what to say when they pray to simply treat their relationship with God like a conversation with someone you are confident loves you better than yourself.\u00a0 I trust that in time a knowledge of the relationship will shape the conversation, turning plaintiffs into children, beneficiaries into companions of Christ.\u00a0 But we are spiritually stuck and the pattern isn\u2019t changing.\u00a0 The culture favors something less robust and we are living down to its expectations.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong.<\/p>\n

I am not interested in mystifying prayer.\u00a0 That is not the same thing as the mystery itself.\u00a0 The mystery of prayer is the distance between God and us \u2014 the unutterable gulf between heaven and earth.\u00a0 It is also about the unexpected and undeserved love that bridges the distance.\u00a0 Turning prayer into voodoo is an act of self-indulgence that erases the mystery.\u00a0 It puts me in the center and in charge.\u00a0 Mystified prayers are prayers said to impress, prayers used to wrap the aura of secret knowledge around our shoulders.\u00a0 It is self-indulgent nonsense, the work of hacks and charlatans.<\/p>\n

What I am interested in is prayer that enters into the mystery.<\/p>\n

Prayer shaped by conversation in mystery is marked by unspoken prayer \u2014 those transparent moments when the distance and the love overwhelm us in the same moment.\u00a0 There are times when it is the unexpected gift, thin space in which we can feel the presence of God, but we are not in charge and the words fail us.<\/p>\n

There are other times when it is the gift given in a hard place.\u00a0 Prayer unspoken when our resources fail us, when the presence of a loved one slips behind the fog that is Alzheimer\u2019s disease and all we can do is trust God\u2019s embrace.\u00a0 Unspoken prayers when we walk alongside Christ, convinced that we are meant to be his faithful companion, but forced by circumstances without the reassurance or encouragement of those around us.<\/p>\n

These are the unspoken prayers \u2014 the prayers that depend upon the One who is other and who loves us more than we love ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"