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In the Hebrew language there are three words for prayer: tifillah, avodah, and hitpillal.

The first, avodah, comes from the word ?to serve.? The word slave is also derived from it.
 
The second, tifillah, comes from the root, which means ?connected to.?

 The third, hitpillal, is a reflexive word which means ?to penetrate into.?

These three words can give insight into various possibilities of prayer as act, concept and process.

Prayer is a penetration to our deepest being, it is reaching the depths of the universe through penetrating into the deepest, authentic parts of ourselves.

Introspection, meditation, even aspects of critical thinking, can be thought of as prayer.

Prayer is also a way of connecting to the transcendent eternal, our not completely understood aspects of God. This is the place we suspend our need to totally understand or control and try to reach the place of surrender to the divine.

Prayer as service means that when we truly serve another, we are acting as prayer by being it. We become living prayers.

Is there a symbolic process that can gather together all these meanings of prayer?  The act of Communion can do this.

In the celebration of Communion we take God into ourselves. There is nothing more intimate than to take God into your very being.

Communion is also the way we serve each other, because in the act of Communion we literally feed each other.

We take in the holy energy of God into our central being through somebody else. This is the symbol of how we truly serve each other and know God in the act of Communion.
Based on this, can we understand the meaning of prayer? Good deeds are our prayer, introspection is prayer, receiving God into our being is prayer, loving another is prayer, loving God is prayer, loving ourselves is prayer.

Because of this understanding ?official, formal? prayer can and should lead us to the other aspects of prayer.

In short, a true prayer is how we live as individuals with those who are close to us, our communities, and our eternal God and so to serve him and each other in a way that is pleasing to God. Amen.