Crafton: Praying for Others
“I can compare prayer to a river-strong, clean, swift, carrying everything along in its powerful current. When I pray, I have stepped into the river and allowed it to carry me. When I pray for you, I have taken your hand and together, we step into the river and let it carry us with power.” —Barbara Crafton in The AlsoLife (Morehouse 2016), p. 128.
Episcopal priest and well-known speaker and writer Barbara Crafton taught us a different view of prayer at a Lenten retreat at St. Mark’s about her book, The Courage to Grow Old. Hers was a surrender prayer, a prayer of few words, feeling the power of prayer as we pray, bringing others with us into prayer. It is prayer that comes with sitting, swimming, or walking in silence and simply waiting for the Spirit’s lead.
Swimming once was a favorite exercise. I could indeed visualize those in my prayers swimming or walking in the water with me. However, Crafton gives us an even more powerful image of swimming in a river or ocean, where we surrender to let the current or Spirit move us.
Crafton also writes about prayer as connecting ourselves and aligning ourselves with the energy of the love of God. Prayer is love, loving God, ourselves, and our neighbor.
Some people imagine Jesus in prayer, walk with or carry friends to Jesus, and leave the person they pray for in Jesus’ arms. I often used this prayer image when praying for my children and grandchildren.
For some, kneeling at the rail for the Eucharist is an image used in prayer. We can imagine walking with or bringing our friends in need in prayer to that rail, and kneeling with and beside them.
This image also helps us pray for enemies or those with whom we are having difficulty. It is hard to keep hate in our hearts when our enemies kneel beside us, waiting as we are for the body and blood of Christ.
