Letter from Amy: October 7, 2026
Dear friends,
I loved being on retreat with so many of you, and I missed being with those who couldn’t make it. I hope that wherever you found yourself last weekend, you experienced God’s goodness.
At the retreat, we focused on the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 (we’ll also focus on this story in our small groups this week). In that story, Jesus is trying to get away to a quiet place to pray alone and grieve the death of his friend John. But the crowds find him and press in with their need, sickness, and hunger. Jesus could have protected his prayer time from these interruptions, but instead, he turns toward them in compassion, and his prayers take on a different form.
I am grateful for how familiarly human Jesus is in this story: he tries to pray, but he’s interrupted. Even in a premodern agrarian society without digital distractions, it was hard to protect the boundaries of time with God! Because then, as now, the world was populated with real people whose needs rarely conform to our agendas.
And then, as now, God is as present to us alone on the mountain as he is in the midst of the needy, noisy crowds. And that is good news for our life of prayer.
I have been pondering all this because of my participation in the Ignatian prayer group that Laura Niver is pioneering this fall (side PSA: it’s wonderful). The group invites us to cultivate new habits of prayer, and frankly, it’s hard! The needs of others, the distractions of our world, and the limits of my own humanity (inattention, sleepiness, busy self-importance, etc) are always pressing in.
In light of all that, I find myself thinking often of an aphorism that I’ve probably said to many of you over the years: “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” In other words, if you can’t pray for an hour each day, pray for 30 minutes, or 5 minutes, or 1 minute, or just a plaintive “help!” If you can’t pray out loud, pray silently or in writing or without words at all. If you can’t pray for others, pray for yourself. If you can’t pray with gratitude, pray with grumbling. If you can’t pray extemporaneously, pray from the psalms or the BCP. If you can’t pray for long uninterrupted stretches, pray in the midst of your daily life.
We may be distracted and limited and weak in our disciplines; we may be frustrated and confused by our interruptions; but God is not. God is fully present to us in all times and all places, and God always hears us and loves us in whatever form our prayers may take. So I encourage you, as I’m encouraging myself these days, to pray as you can, not as you can’t.
***
This weekend we will belatedly celebrate Saint Francis Day with a blessing of the animals on the church lawn at 10am. This is a great event to invite friends and neighbors to, regardless of their faith background — everyone loves seeing animals being blessed! We’ll have activities for all ages and take up donations of wet or dry cat/dog food for the local Animal Welfare League. This event is always a tiny glimpse of the new creation, and I’m so delighted to bring it back after a few years’ hiatus. Please come, and pray that our neighbors will come too!
***
Finally, today marks the three year anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Gaza, which kicked off a tragic and still-ongoing conflict in which many innocent people have suffered much. If you're struggling for words to pray, here's a helpful collect from the Book of Common Prayer:
For the Human Family. O God, you made us in your own image, and you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Praying as I can,
Amy
Comments