Thanks for sharing these thoughts. I especially like the finally quote from the Assemblies of God member and it helped me make a connection in a way I have never articulated.

It seems to me like often the criticism of liturgical or “formulated” prayers is that they seem overly wordy similar to Jesus’ rebuke of the pagans in Matthew 6 for their wordy prayers. Interesting that in his response, Jesus gives a formulated prayer.

It is so true what Pastor Henderson quoted from Jeremy Taylor. My parents left the Lutheran Church back in the mid 1970′s to attend a pentecostal one. After that my Dad would sometimes make remarks about how he couldn’t stand “canned prayers.” Prayers, he said, needed to come from the heart not a book. Well, years later when my Mom was not well, I came to stay with them to help take care of her and what did she say to me one evening at bedtime? “Will you please say The Lord’s Prayer with me?” You see, she never heard that prayer said in the pentecostal church. I thank God for that memory.

Excellent post! And very comforting too because I sometimes feel guilty for not praying more extemporaneous prayers than I do. The Assemblies of God preacher summed it all up perfectly at the end.

Having sometimes found myself reciting the Lord’s Prayer but not praying it, I have to conclude that the scriptural content of written words in a prayer does not guarantee that God is pleased with my utterances.

It has been said that worship is about speaking God’s words back to him. But if my employees communicated only by speaking my own words back to me, I would be tempted to think they lack intelligence, imagination or courage. From where I sit, it is far more pleasing to see them not only grasp what I try to teach but also apply and build upon it to the degree they have been gifted to do so, even rephrasing their knowledge for the benefit of others.

In the Taylor quote, he asks, “And now then, what greater confidence can any man have for the excellency of his prayers, and the probability of their being accepted [...]. Something is bothersome about this word, “probability”. Cannot faith stand rather more securely?

“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought [...].” Romans 8:26 (ESV) What prayer, then, pleases God? Isn’t that the better question?

Paul, Just got my updated PRAY NOW for my iPad and the improvements and integration of the lessons and readings and so forth into the offices is very good… can you talk to the folks who are doing this app… I see that there are notes that you can add to the days readings (propers type stuff) can they somehow do that also within the offices themselves so that for instance, among the prayers you can keep a list of those intercessions/people you pray for every time in one or all of the offices and for instance you can insert in a note a favorite prayer that is not available inside the app that you wish to use often? Thanks if you can forward such requests. Harvey Mozolak And sorry to add this to an unrelated topic…

The liturgy, praying the psalms and other scripture, memorizing and reciting the catechism are all similar to forms of karate kata. As such the same problems exist in the Christian world that exist in the karate world:

Many have seen the “forms” or “kata” merely as tradition that was passed on because so many didn’t know what they meant. Sure, they understood parts, but so much was merely “going through the motions” that many decided to do away with them all together. Such silly things were for a bygone era and no longer needed—they really don’t apply to the real world now. And for those who are “traditional” martial artists, they are probably correct. They go through the traditions simply as if by performing the movements or choreography that something “magical” will happen, all the stars will align and they will be brilliant karateka. The traditionalists love their tradition…but it just movements they go through. Very little remains of what those are for and what they do—but you must do them! You must!

Enter a third group: The classical artists. These folk see the wisdom in ancient kata and learn them by rote, but they don’t stop there—they live the kata, they fight the kata, they understand not just the basic but multiple applications of the kata. No, they don’t do everything the same way every time, but the core, the basics and the kata—they don’t change. But the classical artist studies the kata to know WHY they don’t change and how each movement will apply to a different situation. The longer one grows with a kata, the more that can be seen and understood where only a childlike understanding existed once before.

I hope you can see the analogy to the Christian world: Many (especially the Zwinglian-Reformed) have thrown away the “classic forms” because they “don’t mean anything” and instead invent new forms because “they are better for the real world.” Others, such as the Romanists and Eastern Orthodox (and a growing number of Lutherans I am afraid) simply follow the traditions because like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, life is “Tradition, tradition” and yet they are only going through empty motions. They have a “form” of godliness, but the actual “living it out” where it becomes a part of them is gone. Finally, you have those who like Martin Luther, see the reason and purpose behind the forms and reapply them for a new generation so that they see that forms are a means to end–in this case, toward an interaction with the Most High God, Divine Judge and yet Loving Savior. These are the ones, who like the classical martial artists, understand how what we do now needs to be relevant to living in the world of today, but also that those who went before did what they did for a reason, and passed those forms on so that they would not be an empty motion, but a directed step in a life with purpose and meaning.

One last side note: The classical artist is not afraid to learn from others today and incorporate parts of what they might have into his system, but the core of what he does does not change. It may be enhanced by a new thought or application (just as a new chorus or hymn might enhance a service), but the core does not change.

I hope that might relate to some folk.

Grace and Peace,
Randy
(Nidan, Matsumura Seito Koeppel-Ha)

@Bob Gruener
Of course we are not the Lord’s employees but His sons and daughters in baptism and faith. My analogy regarding prayers from the Word and ex carde prayers is this, fwiw: at one time greeting card companies promoted cards with nice pictures but nothing written/printed on the inside. They never caught on. So we buy greeting cards, at birth, at death, at marriage, at a birthday, paying for someone else’s words to express what I can have difficulty in writing or saying, and to people we deeply care about and for. And the Lord gives us His Words and He even paid for them. Now, just as in preaching, a pastor does not simply have quote upon Biblical quote, and so call it a sermon. But a sermon is written out of the texts, phrases, words, expression of the Bible. It’s just wonderful to read the sermons of say, Bernard of Clairvaux and how much Scripture is used. In the same way, when we know the Psalter,say, out of those Words of God our hearts can then express in confession, thanksgiving, adoration etc. prayer to the Lord. But just like a blank greeting card, it can be a rather daunting task.

PS: The following article appeared in both Christianity Today and Touchstone regarding spontaneous prayers which the author attributes in our day and time to one book that greatly influenced evangelical circles: Prayers beyond Father Weejus.

@Rev. Mark Schroeder
I forgot the link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/winter/12.75.html

I was raised reformed and now, looking at Christendom as a Missouri Lutheran, I see no-one who memorises and uses effectively the form-prayers of the Bible (i.e. the book of Psalms) like the reformed. That being said, one should appreciate the fact that our divine service settings are comprised largely of the Bible’s form prayers. I’ve always thought that a judicious mix of form- and extemporaneous-prayer is a good thing; we may find ourselves one day in a situation where our prayer books are not readily available. In this case it may be good to be able to pray extemporaneously or have a good number of Psalms memorised.
Cheers,
Mark.

@ptmccain

If you do that, I will have to buy and ipad just so I can use the app. Great idea!

Glad you appreciated my post, Paul – and gave it wider exposure via Cyberbrethren.

For those who suggest that simply praying the words of scripture is not necessarily God-pleasing…well, of course not;, but note the title of my post – ‘How to Pray With the Spirit’. Not only is there a note of irony there, picking up on the popularity of “How to…” books and sermons in evangelicalism, but there is also quite a serious intent – I mean, as does Taylor, praying with the Spirit with all that implies.

Everything and anything I know about spirituality I learned from “sitting at the feet” of Dr John Kleinig here in Australia. Can I recommend to Cyberbrethren’s readers his book “Grace Upon Grace” (pub. by CPH, of course!), particularly ch. 3, The Mystery of Prayer, where he writes about praying with Jesus and the Spirit through the use of scriptures words.

This summer when we left for the NYG in New Orleans, instead of using an Extemporaneous prayer where I would more than likely babble on… I used the Litany (from the Lutheran Service Builder) with the concluding prayer for travel. I find that in youth ministry even in the LC-MS it seems to be very much about extemporaneous prayers so I wanted to make sure we used the Litany. The Litany serves the church by praying for so many areas and issues. Thanks be to God for this gift passed down through the ages.

Layperson here, learning today. Thanks. I myself prefer to read my prayers. I confess I do catch myself going through them, unthinking, but I can stop and get back in, so to speak.

I lead a committee and I always close with the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.

If called to prayer unprepared; I guess I would ask us all to pause for a moment praying silently or speaking for their concerns and I would briefly close with my own concerns.