March 14, 2010 - The Phenomenology of Prayer

The Phenomenology of Prayer

A CBS news poll reported that about 59% of Americans pray regularly. There may be some situational factors, however. A study by Brandies University in 2008 found that 90% of people who visit hospitals pray. In general, though, from the many polls taken on the issue in the last decades, it appears that about half the people around us pray every day.

The pollster Gallup says that men, white people, young people and those making over 50K a year don't pray quite as much as women, non-whites, the older, and the poor. Prayer is more practiced by those not in power.

People pray far more than they go to church. With all this praying going on, you would think we would talk about it more. But we don't. Prayer is such a personal thing, that most people and many preachers feel that it's sacred ground. And it is. But we still can grow and learn by talking about it.

This morning I'd like to talk about personal prayer, and next week, we'll think about public prayers.

Folks have discussed what to pray for and perhaps even how to pray. Preachers have reviewed the prayers of the Bible and Jesus' prayers. What I would like to do though, is talk about the most basic experience we have of prayer. Phenomenology is a fancy word for experience.


Personal prayer happens inside our heads. Whether it has mostly emotional or discursive content, it still goes on in our skulls. We may at some point whisper or sing a little prayer, but for the most part, personal prayer is an invisible, unmeasurable experience that happens in our minds. Since we don't talk about it much, we might imagine that the same sorts of things are going on in the heads of people around us when they pray. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Many people use words 'spoken' in their heads to relate to God.


Words to ask for help (Gallup: 42%)


Familiar word prayers (Gallup: 19%)
  lord’s prayer, now I lay me down to sleep,
  23rd psalm as prayer

Word talk like with a friend ("what a friend . . .") (84%)
   share feelings: gratitude, mad, sad, glad, fear

Words questions like a teacher
  How should I deal with my son?


But words can be a problem sometimes

Words are culturally based

Mark Twain (end of “The War Prayer”) “For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, fill the hearts of the enemy with helpless fear and grief. Break their spirits, blast their hopes, and blight their lives. All this we ask in the spirit of Love, of Him Who is the source of Love. Amen.”

Questions often frame answers –
“Should I buy a expensive jacket or a really expensive jacket?”
Which two days of the week should I beat my wife?
How can I get away with what I really want to do?

Words lead us to expect word answers from God.

Words are insufficient: sometimes "there are no words"
times of crisis, overwhelming trauma


Other people have less defined mental actions –
'sighs too deep for words'

bring to mind images
       faces – family,
        enemy – praying is reorienting our feelings of fear
holy or natural places – chapel at fowler
relax control - giving up in middle of the night
an awareness of presence
   Rudolph Otto’s – numinous experience
   Martin Buber’s I Thou – the (w)holy other
   attitude of consciousness – a constant suspicion that we are not the center of things, that a benevolent     presence has a desire that is in play. This is praying too.

Pray without ceasing now possible