Sunday Poems has been a personal investigation into how faith can be deepened through words. For this reason, I will occasionally offer how-to guides for your own prayer and devotional practices. This first guide is designed to help you write a prayer of consecration. It helps you write a prayer you can use to consecrate something for a faith community or for something personal, like a journal, pen, or office. The worksheet below goes with this guide. This article, together with the worksheet, will be on SP’s resources page for future reference. Here are the steps: read the article, decide what you’d like to consecrate, and then fill out the worksheet.
.
The Case for Consecration
What is the significance of a prayer of consecration and why should you write one? To consider the importance of consecration, consider the opposite of consecration, “desecration.” One meaning of desecration is:
to treat with sacrilege; profane.
Desecration can look like deforesting a hillside or treating everything as merely things. The Christian life, however, stands in protest to desecration and awaits and pursues a new heaven and a new earth—the will of God here on earth as in heaven. Christian living is about having a consecrated life, and if we want to have a consecrated life, intentionally setting apart things for that purpose is one way to live more fully into being consecrated.
I argue that the events of Jesus Christ are the re-consecration of everything—saints and sinners, food and animals, wood and stone. Jesus’s entering into time and taking on finite materiality is the re-proclamation of all things being good and very good.
Therefore, a congregation’s sanctuary should be consecrated, but so too the garden, the home, the notebook, the kitchen dishes—all things.
Defining Consecration
Here is my working definition of a prayer of consecration:
A prayer of consecration is a volitional prayer that offers an object, place, or defined season or time to Christ. It addresses and names a deep longing, a desired transformation, or an intention. You can repeat or remember the prayer often. These prayers draw our attention to how the object, place, or time is set aside for deep formation and kingdom expansion.
There are two types of prayers of consecration:
For something that is clearly fashioned or built for set-apart purposes. e.g., a sanctuary, a baptismal font, a retreat center.
For things that we wish to relate to as holy and use for holy purposes. At first glance, the item itself is not set apart in the same way a sanctuary is, but through a Christ-renewed mind, we can ask, “What might this be if consecrated and set apart?” If we want holy lives, we need holy things.
Considering Our Language in Prayer
“Private prayer at its best is most public. Public prayer at its best is most private.” —Howard Thurman1
In the context of this quote, Thurman describes the common experience of praying the Lord’s Prayer during a worship service. The mind drifts and, all of a sudden, you say “Amen,” and you realize that you weren’t present in the slightest—it was all by rote. Your heart wasn’t in it. This quote helps us to realize what a balanced prayer might be: Seriously approached, as if you were leading others in prayer, while also tender and defenseless, as if prayed from a secret place. The goal of prayer is connection, but so often public prayers are filled with devotional clichés and theological words or concepts that do not always address the matters of the heart. The words we use, and how they posture our lives and the lives of others, matter.
We must consider language carefully, because we can use language to expand our sense of closeness and connection with God and with others in prayer, or just say words that make us sound smart. I’m sure you can think of examples of both. But what makes them different? How can we explain why some prayers sound personal and intimate while others sound aloof and nonconsequential?
It turns out that twentieth-century philosophers began wondering the same thing when it came to the language used in philosophical dialogue. Western philosophical discourse up until then was vast: the nature of being, the nature of knowledge, and ethics. Many philosophical problems and questions were raised, and answers proposed.
It was during the linguistic turn that language itself was examined. These philosophers began to wonder whether philosophical problems were problems of language, and whether analyzing language might itself prove beneficial.
Eugene Peterson, in The Contemplative Pastor,2 applies some of these philosophical findings about language, and it connects with religious language by breaking language down into three types.
Language I: This is the language we learn as kids. Our first words. It is the language of intimacy. Here, the words and explanations aren’t very long or fancy, but they pierce the heart. A child might not be able to describe all the reasons they love you, but if they say it, you stop in your tracks. A good example of how undefended and heartfelt Language I is: think about a time when you meant to send a text message to your close friend or spouse, but accidentally sent it to a coworker, or someone you hardly know. In that moment, you feel unmasked or exposed because you wrote in the language of love and intimacy.
Language II: Language II is what we learn at school. It is the language of description and reporting. A young child might befriend a rock and tell the rock that they love it, but in Language II, a child learns what a rock is, how it is different from a piece of wood, and what minerals the rock is made of. Most of this how-to guide? You guessed it: Language II.
Language III: This is the language of motivation. Here, words are used to cause an action. Think of a parental command or someone trying to intimidate you by saying something rude. The words matter, but it is more about how those words are being used to elicit a response. Do you remember a time when your parent said, “Go to your room now!” That is Language III. This is the language employed by politicians because they want your vote!
Language I is what we should use in a prayer of consecration, and in prayer in general, even if you are writing a prayer for communal use, because, let’s face it, you can say all the expected and so-called “right” words, and no one will be in a tizzy about it—but what good is that? Say something to God from the heart. Think about it from the perspective of someone in the congregation. What tone and words might they use if they were writing the prayer? What might they be longing for?
As an aside, have you ever been part of a liturgy preparing for Holy Communion or a baptism, and everyone seemed completely checked out? It’s probably because most of it is written in Language II and III.
If you look at the prayers that have moved many over the centuries, they are almost exclusively in Language I. Looking at the Psalms, you can tell they come from a deep place of the heart.
The Five Steps for Writing a Prayer of Consecration (Plus a Bonus!)
1. Decide what you are setting apart.
2. Why do you want to consecrate it? What is the deeper longing or desire you have, and how is God a part of that?
3. Use personal, relational words. Consider how you would talk with someone at a coffee shop, or in a relaxed, intimate setting. Make it personal.
4. Consider how you address God. We all have our default names for calling on God—for this exercise, use a different title. The Apostle Paul called upon God as “Abba.” What I’ve noticed is that when I begin my prayer calling on God as “Almighty God,” my prayer begins to flow in a way that is a bit more like Language II—or it becomes vague and out of touch. Try something new. Don’t worry so much about being “respectful.” You can always change the way you call upon God later on if you are going to be using this prayer in a communal setting.
5. Mimic other prayers. This sounds counterintuitive, but I’ve included example prayers in the worksheet for a reason: mimicking is a good way to learn. Many writers and poets suggest that if you want to become a better writer or poet, mimic the style of someone you greatly admire.
6. The bonus step: Have fun!
Here are two prayers from recent participants in my writing circle who have agreed to share theirs to help you craft yours:
A Prayer of Consecration for a New Prayer Room
The Rev. Julianna Sunrich
God who watches and waits for us, who hears us and welcomes us home,
We set aside this meeting space, this room of prayer and conversation with our heavenly parent. May what was once a room that collected the remnants of construction projects long past be transformed. Let this space become a repository of the unneeded and unwanted burdens of our lives, the dented and deteriorated dreams, the cracked and crumbled spirits borne by the pressures of this imperfect world, the bent and broken hearts and bodies that hold the weight of injustice and grief. Let this space of holding allow those who enter to come away renewed, refreshed, redeemed, and refined through your loving kindness and healing, attentive presence.
Let it be so. Amen.
Writing a Prayer of Consecration for Spiritual Direction Space
Joan Aycock, Spiritual Director
Creator, Energizing Spirit,
who brings to life, sustains life, and generates new life,
this space is Yours, just as Your children within it are yours.
Here, help me listen
…to Your deep voice within, awakened to beloved Presence
…to the longings and desires shared
…to the flow between two companions seeking attunement to Holy Life.
This space is Yours. I am Yours. We are Yours
in a circle of Love ever flowing.
On this holy ground, may we be filled with You.
Amen.
I had a participant from an in-person session write a prayer of consecration for his sunroom, and other participants wrote prayers for their new life stage as retirees.
What will you consecrate?
Howard Thurman, from The Dilemma of the Religious Professional, Pt. 3
Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction, VIII: First Language