I want to explore a prayer practice that I learned about at the Transforming Center. It was a little different, at first, but I have really come to enjoy it. It’s the use of prayer beads as a prayer practice, and as a way of engaging more of your senses into your prayer time.
You might be thinking – “yeah, I’m not going to use a rosary to pray.” Yeah, me neither. This isn’t a rosary. I suppose it is similar, but that’s because the practice of using beaded tools for prayer is a very old one. Protestants are not so good at this, but other religious traditions do use prayer beads, and have for centuries – Catholics and Muslims, among the most well-known. And for both of those groups, prayer beads have become a bit of a mantra, something that doesn’t hold a lot of meaning or engage the mind and heart, but only engages the fingers, and maybe the voice. But I’d like to propose that just like saying the Lord’s Prayer from rote memory and ignoring what you’re actually saying, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Praying with prayer beads can be a really helpful way of engaging the mind, voice, heart, AND body in the prayer experience, helping you to stay focused on your prayers, instead of letting your mind start to drift off on rabbit trails. (Anyone else have that problem while praying? No? Only me? Well, ok, never mind, I’ll just share my experience.)
There are really a lot of ways that you could use prayer beads to focus your mind and heart on prayer. One of those might be that you say aloud the name of a family member or friend that you want to hold before the Lord as you make your way around the beads. That could be very useful, but you can also use them to pray Scripture, which is what I want to share more about.
There are quite a number of books of prayers available for prayer beads, but honestly, I love the practice of researching Scriptures and writing my own prayers for the beads. If that’s not your thing, feel free to use some already written. I have a small book of prayers for beads, some of which are mine, and some are from another book that I have for praying with beads. I had wanted to attach the booklet to this email, but alas, I was unable to figure out how. If you’d like one, just hit reply, and I’ll be happy to send you the file!
The beads contain a lot of symbolism. The cross is where you start, entering into the presence of Christ, remembering why you have that access in the first place. Right after the cross is the invitatory bead – an invitation to have a conversation with your Savior. And then you start into the prayer itself. The rest of the beads are arranged in 4 sets of 7 beads, with larger beads setting them off. The larger beads, there are 4 of them, form the shape of the cross, and are called the cruciform beads. These beads are a reminder of the means by which you come before the throne of grace. The smaller beads are the beads of “weeks.” Honestly, I don’t know what weeks has to do with it. But there are 4 sets of 7, and 7 is the number of perfection and completion in Scripture.
Starting with the cross, and working your way around the circle, you let your fingers lead you through the prayer. Generally, at each cruciform bead, you start the main prayer again, repeating 4 times for each of the sets of week beads.
Here are some of the benefits that I see in praying with beads:
- You are engaging more of your senses, praying with your body and not just your mind.
- The beads help you stay focused, really thinking about what you are praying for.
- Most of the prayers are just Scripture, so it is a good way to meditate on God’s Word.
- If you pray one passage of Scripture and repeat several times, you will unconsciously be memorizing Scripture – hiding His word in your heart.
- If you write some of the prayers yourself, using Scripture or just your own thoughts, it brings out your creativity and makes you really think about what you want to say to the Lord.
I invite you to give it a try. First, get a set of beads. You can either make your own, or I’ve listed some places to get them below. And then, acquire some prayers – write your own or get a book. I’ll be happy to send you the ones I’ve written if you want them, or you can find several books on Amazon.
| Places to buy prayer beads: There are probably a lot of places to buy prayer beads. If you do a search for them, search for “Anglican prayer beads.” I’ve put a few links in here if you’d like to buy a set, but really – you should wait until November for the last option! 🙂 Amazon – inexpensive Amazon – way more expensive! A variety of kinds and colors from an Anglican shop OR Wait a little while longer, and you can get handmade prayer beads from our women in Sierra Leone at the Hope Shop. (But they won’t be there until November!) |