Agape Prayer conclusion

In the final chapter of my Agape Prayer book, I started with the following statement:

After these seven steps of this different approach to prayer have been completed, there is a deepened understanding that there is a basic reality in the heart-center of all people. It is important that we are able to awaken a deep awareness of a common reality that we all share.
“But like all understandings that come to us in life, the expansion of this understanding will go on for years, possibly the rest of a lifetime. Each of us may have to go through the seven steps again and again to gain the deep realization of how connected are all people. When the awareness of that basic reality has been awakened, the possibility has opened before us to begin to fully comprehend what all people have in common. And further, it is possible to gain the sense of how we are connected with all of Creation.”

And then by using “the spiritual influence of divine Presence” as a much better translation than “the Kingdom of God,” I used the mustard seed metaphor from Jesus to conclude:

 "spiritual agape ‘has been planted’ in our hearts to nurture our awakening as we slowly grow in our consciousness of spiritual power in our relationships. Such growth could then be called ‘agape consciousness.’ That’s how we become aware of “the spiritual influence of divine Presence.” So as we act on that influence in our relationships, feeling the power of patience, and experiencing the growth and power of kindness (1 Cor. 13:4), we truly realize that there is a divine influence “within us” (or “among us”). That is what Jesus was describing. That is what Jesus was waking up in people’s lives. And so that is what we need to open up to and allow to happen in our lives.”

Peace Prayer revision

In the Conclusion of my Agape Prayer book, I used the following revision of the famous international Peace Prayer (it appeared in many languages beginning in 1912 and was finally translated in English in 1929 in a Quaker magazine, where it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. In that translation, the expression “sow love” was used in a spiritual way that seems to mean what we have come to recognize as agape. So on this 11th anniversary of the 9/11/01 massacre I offer the following revision):
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow agape.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to receive agape, as to spread agape.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.”

There also was a variation delivered by Mother Theresa of Calcutta when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1979 and when she addressed the United Nations in 1985. Because of her work, I think I can keep the meaning by changing ‘love’ to ‘agape’ as follows:
“Make us worthy Lord to serve others throughout the world,
who live and die in poverty and hunger.
Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread
and by agape give peace and joy.
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.
That where there is hatred, I may bring agape,
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,
That where there is error, I may bring truth,
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith,
That where there is despair, I may bring hope,
That where there are shadows, I may bring light,
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,
To spread agape than to receive agape.
For it is by forgetting self that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.
                                                (quoted in Wikipedia, “Prayer of Saint Francis”)

Agape for Creation

Because I finished a very rough first rough draft of the book, I continue commenting on each chapter by now turning to chapter 7. With this chapter I finished describing the 7-step agape prayer practice.
 
Here are a few excerpts from this final chapter:
From our very limited human perspective, our spiritual development is enhanced by accepting a visualization of participation in agape expansion. To aid in this visualization, STEP 7 can be thought of as a series of expansions as ‘the circle of agape’ is understood to expand out and out to ever larger ‘groups.’ To be able to put it into words, imagine Step 7 involving six expansions:

For example, by going from your neighborhood or housing complex out to other areas of your town or city or suburb. Also you could go from one school out to whole school districts.

Another expansion of prayer concern could flow out to a whole state, then out to regions of a country. Further expansion would be to nations near yours. Imagine how a future could unfold in which the consciousness of agape could spread and aid in bringing about creative methods for promoting justice and better understanding between antagonistic cultural groups and eventually produce creative ways to solve problems in relations between nations.

Then expand your prayer for agape to continents and then out to the whole world. Let your imagination open up to creative ways for spiritual development throughout humanity. Envision the possibility of a world in which people could come together to produce long-lasting, creative ways to deal with international problems so that nations would no longer need to resort to military conflict to try solving problems. When the inspiration found in John 3:16 is studied backwards and forwards, the implication becomes the following: God’s agape is for the world [in Greek, “cosmos”], and Christ was sent to start spreading the eternal Life power of agape to all.

And finally, as we remember parts of the Bible where concern is given for non-human creatures, we realize that eventually we need to extend our agape prayer beyond human communities. So we need to realize that, in the spiritual sense, Agape Prayer gives the feeling of following God’s agape as it spreads out to Creation itself. So the last part of Step 7 is to follow God’s agape to all of Creation. That’s why it’s been important throughout all these steps to keep in mind that we are not the originators but are sensing the flow of God’s agape.

Agape for groups

After finishing a rough draft of the book, I continue commenting on each chapter by now turning to chapter 6.

This chapter, of course, is about the 6th Step in the 7-step agape prayer practice. It is an expansion of what I said for individuals. Now I turned to groups.

Here are a few excerpts from this chapter:
Choices of groups might be a church, school, family, study class, neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how agape is manifested among them. When I say pray for the well-being of that group, I mean in the same way that you prayed for a person in Steps 2-5. Prayerfully hold with your attention a group you choose, and visualize participating with this group in the spiritual flowing of agape. Then let agape flow into that moment of prayer. As you hold the group in prayer, you may pray the words, “Let agape flow among …”

And remember, being in ‘agape contact’ isn’t effected in any way by distance or time. Practice this exercise until you are able to experience the power of agape flowing into the center of this group’s life and work.

You might want to expand to other groups by using similar categories to the ones in those previous steps; for example, expand from the spiritually meaningful group to consider a group of friends, then expand to a group of strangers, and finally expand to a group of people from a culture or nation considered to be enemies of your own culture or nation.

As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. So you are merely following God’s agape into the interactions of a group.