Well, here’s some good advice from a surprising source: The New York Times.
The paper today published a guest essay from author Sara Sherbill, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home and has some thoughts on how to pray during these troubled times:
As a society, we have witnessed enough scandalous falls from grace by those who offer public prayer that many of us find prayer suspect, or false. As the years passed, I came to experience the words of the formal prayer service I grew up with as a poetic abstraction — beautiful but distant — when the assistance I needed were words that were urgent, immediate.
And yet, even if prayer as you once understood it isn’t a place of solace, that doesn’t mean it can’t be once again. What if we redefine prayer entirely? What if, when you are home, you simply sit in a chair and breathe, imagining you are worthy of what you pray for? Maybe that’s peace in your heart, or the strength to act with courage even when you are terrified. Maybe you are asking for the clarity of mind to know which path to take next.
Prayer can also be less a request than a thank you. It can be a list of everything you are grateful for.You might direct prayer toward those you have lost: In my case I think of my grandfather, or my best friend who died in April after a long battle with cancer. What if prayer is asking those who are gone to watch over us? Maybe your prayer is a walk in the morning that takes in the world around you, observing the light bouncing off the leaves. It seems to me that, too, is a prayer. Who is to say it is not?
You needn’t abandon a God-focused relationship toward prayer. It might simply be altered. For me, sometimes prayer looks like this: I am driving and it is raining and the windshield wipers are going back and forth and I am crying and I am asking God for help. Help me Hashem, I whisper over and over. Just please help me. I use the Hebrew name for God because that is the name of God that I know.
Looking for some other ideas on prayer? Check this out.
