x Prayers of Great Traditions
With other practices
Many other practices are commonly used in personal prayer. The
most usual, available instantly, are silence, singing songs and speaking
in tongues, which may be inserted at any point. Other means are:
listening to spiritual songs or hymns, using an icon, a holding cross or
beads. None of these conflict with written or free prayer, but simply
extend prayer in practical ways.
For many years I have used prayers like these, collected from a
wide range of traditions. Prayed regularly, but with freedom and
imagination, along with psalms and scripture, they have increasingly
become a doorway to personal prayer that I do not believe could
have been possible otherwise. In the changes and turns of life’s events,
daily meeting with a gracious God, perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ
and made real by the Spirit in prayer, has been the foundation of
Christian faith and usefulness. It is my hope that you will find this
Daily Office a means to that wonderful end.