Prayer, Praise, Worship, & Communion with "Waldo" [Episode 3]
Updated: Nov 16, 2020
From poetry to lyrics and music, there are all sorts of ways to experience communion with the God of your understanding through prayer. Gratitude lists, music, and meditation are all different ways to praise The Divine. Similarly, “worship” can be done through art, singing, dance, even just sitting in intentional wonder as we gaze upon nature’s splendors. This week on Unboxing "God," McCall and fellow travelers explore PRAISE. At the same time, tune in to learn the related three ideas that can help you too unbox God through music.
Summary
When the podcast starts, McCall delves right into the concept of prayer by sharing the definition and expanding on the notion, what it means for us and how it is related to praise and worship.
Guests then share their concepts of prayer. For some, prayer means praising the nature for blessing the human beings with a beautiful world. Others view it as a gratitude for things that happened in their lives. However, everyone agrees that prayer is an act of thanksgiving.
In the second half of the podcast, McCall talks about music as prayer. To show how music affects the mood by changing different brain chemicals, she takes the listeners through the research of Kiminobu Sugaya and Ayako Yonetani – two world renowned professors and experts in their field.
Next, McCall elucidates the three ideas to help you unbox God through music. These are: 1. Music connects us to God. 2. Lyrics are prayer 3. Harmony is worship
In the end, McCall briefly talks about prayer as a form of therapy. Just like therapy is not for the benefit of the therapist, God doesn’t need our prayers. So prayer is about us because it changes our hearts.
Timestamps
[00:39] The definition of prayer [01:25] Different forms of prayer [02:19] McCalla shares how she connects with God [03:15] Johanna from St. Petersburg talks about how she prays [03:58] Prayer as an act of thanksgiving
[04:39] How Brain from New Zealand shows his gratitude to God [06:03] The philosophy of prayer by June from Los Angeles California [06:39] McCall shares an excerpt from the first chapter of Change Me Prayers by Tosha Silver [07:52] Honesty as a form of worship by Cassen from Florida [08:42] – [09:59] Advertisement [10:02] Music as prayer [11:35] How music affects the mood [11:56] Music and the Brain by neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and world-renowned violinist Ayako Yonetani [13:12] The three ideas to help you unbox God through music [13:38] Music connects us to God [18:05] Christian C from Philadelphia Pennsylvania shares her two prayers [19:22] How to pray if you don’t believe in the idea of God
Quotes
Awareness + action for me is how I practice gratitude.
It’s hard to be fearful and grateful at the same time.
“The memories associated with music are emotional memories, which never fade out — even in Alzheimer's patients.” - Kiminobu Sugaya
"He who sings, prays twice.”
Any song, lyric or piece of music that helps you focus on how great the Divine, Universe, God is, well... that, my dear friend, is praise music.
Prayer is not about talking to God, it’s about changing your heart.