Midweek Musing- 8/14/2024

When I was growing up, the first prayer I remember praying was the one I said at bedtime with my parents. It went as follows. “Now I lay me now to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Then I would continue by saying God bless and begin listing family, friends, pets, teachers, and so forth.

Depending on how much I was fighting actually going to sleep my list could get quite extensive. In fact, I remember many nights as I took a breath one of my parents would interrupt with “and God bless everyone everywhere AMEN!”

Of course, in our busyness our adult prayers can be similar. We make mentions of concerns and list names because we are in a hurry. I understand this way of praying and in the words of today’s young people “I am not throwing shade” because I often pray this very way. And I want to say that there isn’t anything wrong with this sort of prayer.

Because all prayer is a way of expressing caring and good wishes for someone, offering your caring presence, whether you are in the room with them or not.

But today I want to encourage you to consider another way to pray in addition to this one most of us traditionally engage in.

This type of prayer comes out of the Quaker tradition. You see, when a person in the Quaker tradition says they will be praying for you they will often say they will be “holding you in the light.”

When you hold someone in the light, you picture them in your mind and imagine that they are surrounded by a warm, glowing, healing light. You can think of this as the light of God, or the light of love, or the light of hope and good wishes. The idea is to focus on that person and slow down long enough to really think about them and send prayers on their behalf.

This type of prayer is deep and meditative. It helps to slow your mind and body down so that you might truly focus on the one for whom you are seeking intercession from God.

This type of deep prayer can also be used as a type of prayer you pray for yourself, just as it is used as intercessory prayer. Holding yourself in the light and remembering the warm embrace of God’s love can help in your own daily walk and struggles.

So, my challenge to you is to find some time to hold folks in the light. Find a quiet place. Perhaps light a candle. Put your phone on do not disturb. And say, “God I am holding [person's name] in the light," and then sit in silence as you imagine that person surrounded by our loving Creator’s warm, healing, grace-filled light. You can do it for one or many. And when you say "Amen" and blow out the candle, you will be amazed that by holding others in the light you will find you have been held there as well.