Decentering of self and making room for the sacred

In The Phenomenology of Prayer, the author states that "prayer effectively strips the soul of its pretense and makes it available before an inscrutable God." This is one of my favorite parts about prayer, and yet it's also so intimidating! The reality of being totally bare before God is such an amazing and beautiful one, though the thought of it is often nerve-wracking when I consider the self application. How sweet it is to be fully known, though. And not just fully known, but fully loved in spite of the knowing!

The stripping of the soul's pretense, thus making it available, is something that I think would be a prerequisite to the kenotic posture of prayer discussed in the reading and in class. The kenotic posture is one in which we empty ourselves before God, and thus de-center ourselves, and transition from preoccupation with the self to focus on God instead. Dr. Redick drew our attention to an example of Christ de-centering Himself found in Philippians 2:6-8 which reads "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." What a strange and beautiful thing for Christ, as God, to de-center himself in this way, submitting to the will of the Father.

Very similar to the emptying of one's self is the idea of "making room" for the sacred, as James Mensch suggests. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a beautiful example of this that came to my mind when reading. Mary made room for the sacred in her physical body as she carried Jesus in her womb but also made room for the sacred in her life, allowing it to be irreversibly disrupted by the baby she carried before being wed.

The discussion of the kenotic posture of prayer and the de-centering of self in class instilled in me the desire to do the same in my own heart and my own life; and by the de-centering of self, make more room to carry the sacred.