Advent 12 - Walking As Prayer

By William Porter

So many people I know seem to be exercising outdoors these days. Whether doing 5K runs, wild swimming or just brisk walking, there is clearly a trend in getting outside to get fit. Fantastic but slightly strange in a world where we use transport to do the necessary stuff. It is as though we have found a need to reconnect with our bodies, with nature, with the physical world.  

I would like to encourage you to use some time to walk outside in nature and pray during Advent. Why? Because Advent is a time of preparation and pilgrimage, a welcoming of the incarnation of Jesus and a journey towards the stable and manger. I am sure that Joseph and Mary would have prayed as they walked the miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, asking for God's help in becoming new parents, and pondering the future life of their miracle baby, the one who would save his people from their sins. 

We often think of the busyness of the Christmas season, and so a sense of journey and spiritual pilgrimage counters that nicely. You may well have things you are pondering on, searching questions you are living with, or burdens you are carrying. A slow walk does wonders in blowing cobwebs from our minds, and if you add prayer in the mix, it can be a deeply productive time. It is strange but true that God often meets us when we are 'off guard'; meaning when we are not over-preoccupied with the stresses of the day or distracted by a hundred pulls on our attention. 

When I say pray whilst you are walking, I mean in the spirit of someone like Enoch who 'walked with God'. If you go for a walk and ask the Spirit to help you simply be aware of God, that is sufficient in itself. If you end up pouring your heart out in prayer, fine, but silent companionship with the Lord is great as well. My most satisfying times of prayer have often been outside, walking up a hill or around a lake, or sitting on a rock or bench and overlooking the world around me, simply in silent awareness of God. 

So let me encourage you to get outside to walk and pray. A cold and crisp day would help, but don't be put off by winter weather from getting outside. Try to get to a park or a beauty spot; being in nature heightens our awareness of the transcendent. It may be helpful to have a Bible verse that you hold in your mind and keep coming back to; something like the phrase 'Be still and know that I am God' (Psalm 46v10) would be a good example. Then just walk with God, probably slowly, in that special, carved out time. Notice what's around you - how does that speak into your life? Be aware of the Spirit's presence around and in you - how is that special to you? Let vocal prayer surface if you need it to - things you want to lay before God, troubles or issues you need his help with, or hopes and dreams as another Christmas approaches.  

 The journey to Bethlehem and our own Christmas celebrations need not be frenetic nor overcrowded; when we find time to walk with God our days can instead become more prayerful spaces.  

Radiant and Resolute

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