Approach to Prayer Wednesday
A unique approach to prayer is the concept of adding one’s private prayer requests to a piece of paper, folding it, and dropping it into a basket that contains many prayers from others. It reminds me so much of the story I heard a long time ago about a dad who calmed down his child’s fears by putting them in a paper bag and having the child throw the bag in the garbage. Adding a similar three-dimensional attribute to prayer is a great way of bringing it to life. Your job is to reflect on your own prayer habits and address whether you add, or would add, prayer requests to a prayer basket, or during some similar type of ritual, at your place of worship.
Creative Idea Gal’s Thoughts
As a general rule, I don’t pay much attention to the mass that I attend each week. There are many reasons for this – – most of which are tied to my harried life as a mother. One thing I’ve always noticed, however, is the presentation of the prayer basket when it makes its way to the altar. I don’t know why this always catches my attention, but it does. In some strange sort of flashback way, the image of the prayer basket and its overflowing tiny little pieces of white paper remind me of a sight I saw in Canada when I was very young.
My parents took me to St. Joseph’s church; inside was a wall that contained hundreds of crutches. That vision seared my memory. If the crutches represented miracles of people who couldn’t walk and were healed, could the same be true of all the tiny papers in the prayer basket? Would everyone’s collective prayers be granted? The answer to that question is best answered with faith. I know what I think. What do you think?
Helpful Resources
For today’s prompt, I offer:
A great nondenominational definition of prayer basket.
A prayer basket tutorial for Pagan worshippers.
A similar Jewish ritual of leaving notes in the Western Wall of Jerusalem.
Writing Prompt 032
- Step 1: Find out if your place of worship collects prayers in a prayer basket or a similar receptacle.
- Step 2: Think about what happens to the prayer papers after they are added to the basket. Reflect on whether it makes a difference if the prayer basket is blessed or honored in some way.
- Step 3: Reflect on your own prayer habits. Answer the question: Do you add prayer requests to the prayer basket? Be prepared to discuss your reasons either way. Write! Add definitions and personal perspectives. Suggestion: create your writing in the form of an opinion, essay, blog post, or social media blurb (status update, post, tweet).
- Bonus Step: If you own a blog and wish to share a link to the blog post that contains your response to today’s writing prompt, we welcome your permalink and encourage you to post it as a comment below!
Note: You get major brownie points for fleshing out your writing into rich subparts or adding historical perspectives to your writing.
Please be sure to leave comments about this writing prompt. We want to hear from you!
About the Author
Amanda M. Socci, J.D., is a freelance writer with 14 years of experience writing professionally. Socci currently cuts her blogging chops on her personal portfolio blog, the Creative Idea Gal blog, and on an online news site, Mount Vernon Patch. Inspired by Nina Amir’s Write Nonfiction in November writing challenge, she created a unique 10-month training program for Writenonfictionnow.com and Writenonfictioninnovember.com blog visitors.
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