Prayer And Religion

Prayer is the religious and spiritual act of communicating with the divine through ritual and repetitive acts. It is an act deeply rooted in tradition. Kneeling, repetition, and chanting are all various forms of ritual and of prayer. It is not the intention or message behind the prayer that makes it such, but the active participation itself that grounds individuals both physically and spiritually. This participation is rooted in ritual. Today, the distinction is often made between contemporary and traditional worship services. The worship and prayer that exists as a part of these services may vary across faiths, but the manner in which ritual and tradition change the tone of worship and prayer remains consistent across faiths and cultures.

A few old hymns mixed with contemporary praise songs plus a couple of 1960s choruses should make everyone happy” (Arn). Arn does point out that churches may find that everyone finds something that they don’t like as well, and then emphasizes the importance of having two separate services. However, the manner in which additions such as 1960s chorus songs might effect prayer that is concerning. Ritual often becomes so ingrained in those partaking in it that it becomes their truth, thus manifesting itself within their prayers and creating a more authentic environment for prayer and genuine conversations with the divine. If ritual is removed from services simply to make everyone happy, services will be too focused on making worship fun and new and will fail to focus on worship and prayer. As previously mentioned, bringing aspects of our every day life into a place of worship may be confusing. If we bring 1960s choruses into a place of worship, our mind will drift to what we think about in our living room instead of focusing on prayer as a connection with the