The Welcoming Prayer

Have you ever heard of “Welcoming Prayer?” While its name sounds like an ancient prayer for hosting guests at your house, it is a recent, counter-intuitive prayer practice. The basis of the Welcoming Prayer is paying close attention to what is happening around and within you, noticing when you feel resistance, and rather than increasing that resistance, acknowledging what you wish to resist and welcoming it instead. After welcoming it, you can let it go.

Here is Thomas Keating’s version of the Welcoming Prayer:  

               Welcome, welcome, welcome.

               I welcome everything that comes to me today

                             because I know it’s for my healing.

               I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons,

                              situations, and conditions.

               I let go of my desire for power and control.

               I let go of my desire for affection, esteem,

                              approval and pleasure.

               I let go of my desire for survival and security.

               I let go of my desire to change any situation,

                              condition, person, or myself.

               I open to the love and presence of God and

                              God’s action within. Amen

The prayer is based on the simple observation that if something is creating resistance in you it is already operative in your life. Trying to keep our doors closed to things that are already in our house is futile. Richard Rohr says, “What you resist persists.” Rather than resisting the feeling or circumstance, try welcoming it instead.

Here is an example from my life concerning a feeling (fear) and a circumstance (medical emergency): I had a stroke while playing basketball the day after Christmas 2019. While experiencing the onset of symptoms and then bodily control failure as the stroke progressed, I recognized and accepted that I was in a fear-full situation. My son and nephews were with me, so we made a plan to deal with the situation. I prayed that God would protect me and help me get the medical help I needed. I realized I was in a life or death situation, but rather than being filled with fear, I was flooded with peace. I could not walk, I was incredibly nauseated, but I remember telling the EMS workers that “Jesus is my friend, and I will be okay whether I live or die.” That was right before asking for a barf bag. Welcoming fear was not for the purpose of remaining fearful, it was to acknowledge that fear was both appropriate for my situation and present in my mind. After welcoming my fear, I prayed it away, and God replaced it with peace.    

Feelings and/or situations that we struggle to resist demand our attention and energy at the precise moment when these precious resources are needed elsewhere. If we practice the welcoming prayer, we can acknowledge our feelings and our situation, then turn our attention and energy to more helpful matters, like prayer and problem-solving activity. When I welcome my fear or anger into my consciousness, my faith can then sit with them while I am attending to other matters. Soon their voices, which sounded so threatening and overwhelming while they were outside, are lowered and other voices – like faith, hope, and love – can speak with greater volume and authority.

While the name is not used in Scripture, I believe that Jesus used the approach of the Welcoming Prayer while praying in Gethsemane before his arrest and trial. Jesus plainly identified the emotion that was knocking on his door when he told his disciples, “My soul is sorrowful to the point of death, keep watch and pray for me while I am praying.” Though not thankful for the sorrow, he rightly acknowledged that it was his companion. Noticing the progression of his prayers you can see literally Jesus moving from overwhelming sorrow to courageous resolve. His faith in the Father, and his willingness to submit himself to God’s will, silenced the sorrow in his heart and empowered him to walk boldly towards the cross. He walked out of the garden a different man than when he walked in. That is the power of welcoming prayer.    

This three-part dance - welcoming (what is disturbing us), letting go (of what we want to hold so tightly), and opening ourselves to the good will of God – can give us a completely different perspective on what is happening in our life. As you know, changed perspective creates the possibility for changed response. The welcoming prayer may be a valuable tool to help you break bad habits that seem like impenetrable fortresses.

If you would like a companion to walk with you into the practice of deeper prayer, please start a conversation with me, I would be delighted to walk with you.