We combine Prayer with campaigning because we believe Prayer makes a real difference.

What Is Prayer?

prayer, an act of communication by humans with the sacred or holy—God, the gods, the transcendent realm, or supernatural powers. Found in all religions in all times, prayer may be a corporate or personal act utilizing various forms and techniques. Prayer has been described in its sublimity as “an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation held alone with the Beloved” by St. Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Spanish mystic.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/prayer 

Prayer is about a friendship with God who cares.

Does Prayer Really Work? 

This video covers Scientific Studies including ‘The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology’ (JESP) which published a paper on a study on the impact of prayer on personal well-being, self-control, and willpower. These results are consistent with and contribute to a growing body of work attesting to the beneficial effects of praying on self-control.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103113001923 

Prayer is also about personal transformation as well as about seeing transformation in situations of injustice. 

The conversation on this video 33 minutes and 45 seconds in gets interesting. 

https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/William-Braud-2040116767 

It’s amazing to see spirituality become more of a focus in our culture. 20 years ago when we started it was quite fringe. The Power of the Now 

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment is a book by Eckhart Tolle. It presents itself as a discussion about how people interact with themselves and others. The concepts of self-reflection and presence in the moment are presented along with simple exercises for the achievement of its principles.

In the Eastern and Western traditions, contemplation has been an essential part of spiritual practice. A beautiful Christian perspective can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_the_Presence_of_God 

The Practice of the Presence of God is a book of collected teachings of Brother Lawrence (born Nicolas Herman), a 17th-century Carmelite friar, compiled by Father Joseph de Beaufort. The compilation includes letters, as well as records of his conversations kept by Brother Lawrence’s interlocutors. The basic theme of the book is the development of an awareness of the presence of God in the present moment. 

SPEAK PEOPLE praying together on a Protest outside DESO that we later helped close. 

We combine Prayer with Campaigning in our regular prayer and post-campaign resource. If you can spare 10 minutes termly ( or every 2 months) 

We give the option of prayer/meditation/ or reflect and post to enable people to engage in sending positive energy for justice if prayer isn’t a term you happen to feel comfortable with but you really want to send good vibes or reflect or meditate instead. The people who started our movement believe and feel happy with praying.

However, we also recognize that it may not be a language that resonates with everyone due to complicated history surrounding it. So we have reached the point where we want to be inclusive rather than exclusive for people who want to join in with us in solidarity for action for justice and engage spiritually in a way that works for them.  So reflecting and meditating for justice is still part of the Pray and Post so let us know if you can think of a better name for regular prayer and action requests. 

We have sought to take our prayer life deeper with our contemplatives and activists space (LINK) and SPEAK monastic rhythms (LINK)  . Please see these links if you want to explore this more.