The Weight of Tradition

Having grown up in a church tending more towards the Pentacostal side of Christianity, I am steeped in the privatized, extemporaneous "from-the-heart" prayers. I recognize the feeling and power in praying to a personal God. I also spent my college years attending a Lutheran church, where I gained an appreciation for liturgy and how proscribed prayers (ones chosen specifically for their potency) can augment a worship service. So I am going to talk today about how worship and prayer can be deepened by blending the modern prayer with traditional prayer.

Traditional prayer comes in many forms. There are the Roman Catholic prayers (to saints, the Virgin Mary, guardian angels, etc.). There are prayers for specific occasions (death, birth, marriage, baptism, the eucharist). There are famous historical prayers (St. Francis', Martin Luther's, Abraham Lincoln's). I'm going to talk specifically about a couple of these traditions and how they can enhance your prayer life.

One of my personal favorite types of prayer is the Lutheran Prayer of the People. This one is a corporate prayer. It is actually a dialogue between the minister and the congregation. Or a prayer leader and the congregation. The wording is variable, but it is a long prayer that usually covers the general ills of the world and prays for the country, the sick, the infirm, the suffering, the hungry, the poor, the president, etc, etc. The general layout is the minister begins the prayer and offers a few sentences on a subject and says "Lord, in your mercy." The congregation then says together "hear our prayer." This is repeated until the prayer is finished. What I like about this one is that it gets the congregation involved in corporate prayer. It forces the congregation to actively listen to the prayer (to make sure they don't miss their cue), and to think about what the minister is praying about. I also like it because it makes prayer for the state of the world a part of every sunday service. So often we get by with praying simple prayers like "open our hearts", and prayers about us. I like that the Prayer of the People is about others. That every sunday, we pray about world hunger, poverty, the sick and infirm, suffering, the imprisoned, Christians around the world. It is a prayer with a vision. A good one to start the day.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has a meditative prayer called, simply, the Jesus Prayer, or the Prayer of the Heart. They believe that a Christian's mind, body, and spirit can all work together in prayer. It's a quiet, contemplative, meditative prayer. A short, "arrow" prayer, it simply says: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Simple, to the point, it is a repetitive prayer. Maybe a good one to center yourself in the middle of a hectic day?

Another type of contemplative prayer, sometimes good for nighttime devotionals, is called the Lectio Divina. It is an ancient Christian practice, going back to the church fathers. The lectio divina is truly meditating on the scriptures. You can take a verse, section, or chapter, and spend a lot of time going over it. There really is no certain way to do it, though a typical way is to read the passage once, just listening and being receptive. And then pause and read it again, this time listening for a word or phrase that speaks to you. Then read it a third time, listening for what God is saying to you through His word. It's quiet, personal, and a great way to pray the word of God.

A final personal favorite of mine is a book called The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers. I bought this book a few years ago after a Professor read one of the prayers to begin a class. The Puritans certainly had a way with words, and of writing prayers. It is easy for us today to speak prayers, but few people take the time to actually write prayers (which can be just as much a form of worship as spoken prayer). There are prayers for every occasion and emotion, and they are powerful prayers. It's a nice meditative read. This has been a long, meandering blog post, so I will leave you with a section of the prayer on peril. Would that we all could pray this way:

"Sovereign Commander of the Universe:
I am sadly harassed by
doubts, fears, unbelief, in a felt spiritual
darkness.
My heart
is full of evil surmising and disquietude,
and I cannot act faith
at all.
My heavenly Pilot has disappeared,
and I have
lost my hold on the Rock of Ages;
I sink in deep mire beneath storms
and waves,
in horror and distress
unutterable.

Help me, O Lord,
to
throw myself absolutely and wholly on thee,
for better, for worse,
without comfort,
and all but hopeless.
Give me peace of
soul, confidence, enlargement of mind,
morning joy that comes after
night heaviness;
Water my soul richly with divine
blessings;

Grant that I may welcome thy humbling
in private
so that I might enjoy thee in public;
Give me
a mountain top as high as the valley is low. . .

Out of my sorrow and night, give me the name Naphtali.