Creating a Life with God: The Call of Ancient Prayer Practices

As children our prayers consisted of “Now I lay me down to sleep…” or “God is good. God is great…” As we mature, we discover that our prayers are not scripted for us. So how do we learn to pray in a more grown-up way?

Creating a Life with God offers us the opportunity to learn and adopt 12 prayer practices. Some of these prayer practices include the general practice of peace and quiet, Lectio Divina, the Jesus prayer, creativity, journaling, and more.

The first chapter uses the Desert Mothers and Fathers to focus on the general practices of solitude and silence. The second chapter describes the practice of Lectio Divina. The next five chapters describe prayer practices that focus on the use of the mind to come to know God. Chapters 8 and 9 seek to move us out of our minds and into our created bodies. The last three chapters take us beyond our individual selves to show us how the world and our lives can become part of our prayer life.

Along with these prayer practices are historical figures to guide us. Some of these are Julian of Norwich, The Pilgrim (who described the Jesus Prayer), and Ignatius of Loyola. In addition to these helpful guides, Wolpert offers an appendix for step-by-step instructions for practicing each prayer practice either individually or with a group.