52 Weeks of Prayer

Last year I joined a mini-retreat type program called Revive: a certain number of mornings throughout the year devoted to study, prayer, and discerning our calling.  So far, it’s fabulous.

As 2020 was approaching, I felt prodded…perhaps prodded is the right word…by God to do 52 weeks of prayer: a full year of prayer, every day, committing to different methods for all 365 days of the year.

Well, technically, a different method of prayer every 2 weeks.

That’s 26 different kinds of prayer that I would dive into for one year of my life.  And, hopefully, discover that some of those methods stick with me for the years beyond this one.

What is Prayer?

This desire to do 52 weeks of prayer was born out of a realization that prayer can be fun and creative.

I had grown up, like many of us perhaps, with prayers before bedtime – prayers like, “As I lay me down to sleep…”  (Isn’t that one terrifying?  It was only in adulthood that I realized how surreal it was to pray that the Lord should take my soul if I should die in my sleep each and every night.)

And I had sometimes done prayers before dinner.  Who doesn’t know Johnny Appleseed, after all?  Actually…now that one is completely erased from my brain, except for the fact that there’s something about sun and something about rain, and something about apple seeds.

But prayer, for me, had never moved beyond rote recitation of things that my parents, or my Sunday school teachers, had taught me to say.

So when I realized that prayer could be a conversation with God…and that it didn’t have to be just me sitting in a quiet room, listing off things I was thankful for and things I wanted to ask for….I was completely blown away.

Prayer is not just a list of ‘thank you’s’ and ‘pleases’.  It is not a rote recitation of some magic formula that saves our souls from damnation.

Prayer is:

• talking with God
• listening to God
• connecting with God in a relational way

God is already in communication with His creation.  Our job is to enter into that communication that is already ongoing.

26 Creative Methods of Prayer

As I dive into this year-long prayer adventure, I have drafted a list of different prayer methods that will help to expand my prayer tool kit.  This is a fairly wide-ranging list, with some creative prayer methods, some quick prayers that can be done in just a few minutes, and some longer, contemplative methods.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the prayer methods out there, but it is a good sample of the different ways that we can enter into communication with our Creator.

• prayer through music
• thankfulness jar + gratitude journal
• fasting
• everyday prayer
• doodle prayer
• prayer beads
• contemplative prayer
• lectio divina
• visio divina
• ACTS
• body prayer
• blessing
• Lego prayer
• labirynth
• prayer stones
• 3 minute retreat
• praying the psalms
• pray with Scripture
• praying the pictures of Scripture
• daily examen
• prayer loom
• prayer tree
• IOUs prayer
• promises of God
• Lord’s prayer
• letters to God

Note: as this prayer project progresses, there will be explanation, tutorials, experiences, and reflections added to this list.