Prayer & Community

Happy Sabbath Day, bloggy friends. I've started a new book for morning devotions, Learning to Pray Through the Psalms by James W. Sire. This morning's chapter was on Psalm 32. Here's a quote Sire took from Eugene Peterson that I wanted to share:

The assumption that prayer is what we do when we are alone - the solitary soul before God - is an egregious, and distressingly persistent, error. We imagine a lonely shepherd on the hills composing lyrics to the glory of God. We imagine a beleaguered soul sinking in a swamp of trouble calling for help. But our imaginations betray us. We are a part of something before we are anything, and never more so than when we pray. Prayer begins in community.

Sire goes on to say:

This does not mean that we should not pray alone. Jesus himself often went off by himself, away from his disciples, and prayed. But it does mean that all of our private, lonely prayers are to be seen as linked with those of our community. Even alone we are communal, and never more so than when we are praying the psalms, for then we are joining the community of an ancient king who himself was a member of the community of the King.