By: Mattan, Community Engagement Coordinator
The Only Necessary Thing book report
How do you learn how to pray? By prayer, of course!
In my lifetime so far, I haven’t read much Christian literature other than the Bible. It has been refreshing and encouraging to read “The Only Necessary Thing”, by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Simply put, this book approaches all facets of prayer. This book offers compiled excerpts from Nouwen’s text, clarifying topics that relate to leading a prayerful life. As a young christian, I have found it challenging at times to grasp an understanding of my faith through praying. I want to highlight some key points from the book that have helped me learn and growing my walk with God.
Nouwen states that prayer is a time of solitude, silence and rest. He introduces the concept of spiritual discipline by “spending a useless hour with God”. Nouwen proposes that we should spend one hour of our time to be intentional with prayer. In this time we are most alone, most unique, and therefore closest to God. Just as Jesus spent time “alone” with his thoughts, he was really in the presence of God. Jesus clarified his purpose and knew that his actions were accomplished by his father. This means living with an understanding of our true selves and an open heart filled with the Holy Spirit. He explains that here it is possible to start living life with a quiet centre. Prayer helps me to gather my thoughts and pray for myself in my daily successes and struggles. The emphasis of a lonely place is peculiar to me, because being in a lonely place can be difficult. I had never thought of prayer as a lonely place, but rather a personal space for myself and God. When looking at it with an understanding of God and the Holy Spirit, it’s almost as if I am not actually alone during this time. I make myself aware of the holy spirit working within me. While Nouwen [jokingly] calls it “useless time with God”, I realize how important it is to have a focused time to be with God, as ultimately it is spending more time with God. Yet, spending a set alone time has been a challenge for me, because sometimes I don’t know what to do with this time. There are so many distractions that yearn to pull me from my prayer time, whether it be my phone or wandering my thoughts.
A key point of the book is having a desire to pray and realise why prayer time is so important. Nouwen talks about how our need for prayer might come more from God’s desire for humans to connect with him. I hadn’t really thought that God desires us to pray more, but I understand that God desires us to become closer with him. That’s why I think that a need for prayer is a mutual desire from God and myself. I am learning that my prayer is purposeful, even when it seems like my time is not accomplishing anything. Furthermore, Nouwen states that while we might not hear God speaking to us during our prayer time, God can still call out to us in any part of the day. During my prayer time, I have an open ear to listen for God and be guided by the Holy Spirit, but throughout the day, I think I can get caught up in whatever I’m doing. In times where I am stressed by the tasks at hand, I find that I should remind myself that God is walking alongside me at all times.
Nouwen also applies the concept of prayer to other aspects of christian living. When a group of christians have a strong base in their prayer journey, they can form a community of discipleship. When I consider the fellowships I have been a part of, through church, school, and, I try to remember what part prayer had in our programs. In most cases, we pray for each other at the end of our sessions, but what might it look like to be praying throughout our time together? I believe that prayer is a great way for a group of people to connect together, through a joint belief that God listens and answers prayers. Faith means trusting in God while we cannot see him physically. Through prayers of the people, we can begin to see God working through the Holy Spirit in each other’s lives.
The Only Necessary Thing has welcomed me to examine what prayer means to me in my faith journey. The teachings from Nouwen have broadened my perspective on how I can approach prayer. Some things I have learned while reading this book is that I can pray anytime, and I’ll know that God is listening. I can pray when I am nervous, stressed or anxious and pray in times of joy and thanksgiving. I have also been reminded that I am on a lifelong personal faith journey with God. I have much to learn about what it means to pray and how to set aside this time effectively. I hope to practice these new prayer techniques and ideas as I start a new journey away at university.