The Reformation reemphasized the birthright of the priesthood of believers. The consequence of this doctrine in the realm of prayer is far-reaching in terms of privilege but also of liabilities. It is concerning the liabilities that we wish to speak. The priesthood of the believer means that the individual is admonished to enter into the presence of the Creator (Heb. 4:14–16) to seek mercy and grace in time of need. This doctrine has given rise to the practice of “free” or spontaneous prayer. Consequently among less liturgical churches—I say less, for most churches have their liturgies, whether they call them that or not—it is common practice for the pastor to ask some layman to lead the congregation in the invocation, in dedication of the offering, or in the benediction. Especially in the Sunday school the layman comes into his own. There he leads the group in corporate prayer in the opening and closing services, as well as in the class session.
The practice of “free prayer” has led to definite problems in the corporate worship of the church, among which a prominent one is the stereotype prayer. This can be predicted even before it is uttered. It generally runs something like this:
Oh, Lord, we just thank thee for this beautiful day. We just thank thee, Lord, for all the blessings of life, Lord. God, we ask, dear Lord, that you would just bless us as we worship today, Lord. We just thank thee, God, for the freedom of worship, dear God. We pray for the pastor, dear Lord, that you would just give him words from on high, dear God. Now we just want you to forgive our many, many sins, dear Lord, and Father, we just ask thee to help us glorify thy name in this day, dear Lord, in Christ’s name, Amen.
This stock prayer, by changing a phrase or two, can be adjusted to meet almost any occasion. The words, “Please bless all those who gave this morning,” make it suitable for the offering. The addition of “Bless all our missionaries around the world” or “Bless those who could not be here, and those who are sick,” adapts the prayer to still other situations.
Although it is embarrassing to admit the fact, many churches are bound to this low calibre of expression. Such prayer is decidedly illiterate, grammatically impoverished, full of tautology and of repetitious phrases that Jesus condemned. Even college students who are brilliant in many areas, often seem unlearned and illiterate in prayer. While a book of prayers is not the solution to the problem, it points to an ingredient our spontaneous prayers often lack—forethought!
Obviously God does not answer prayer on the basis of its literary merit. If a layman leads the congregation in prayer, however, his prayer should express the heartfelt thoughts of the group. To do this demands big and vivid thinking and includes the right choice of words as well as sincerity. Too often prayers become occasions for mental vacations.
Generally speaking, the nature and content of prayer have been of concern to the church. Origen’s Treatise on Prayer in the third century condemned repetitious phrases and attempted to give direction for constructing prayers. And the many subsequent worship manuals and prayer books likewise have stressed the need for instruction in prayer. Several things can be done to improve our present situation.
1. The church must teach its people to pray just as Jesus taught his disciples. Because a man is converted and on speaking terms with God does not automatically give him proficiency in prayer. He does the logical thing—imitate someone else! New church members would find it helpful, therefore, to read a book of prayers for all occasions; one good example is worth far more than any number of poor ones. By analysis and study one soon learns, for example, that an offertory prayer is limited to the dedication of the offering—it need not include everything else in the catalogue of human concerns.
2. Every church member could profitably write out a number of prayers. By recording our thoughts to God—giving thanks for his inexpressible love, casting ourselves upon his unshakable mercy, expressing our needs and requests—we can discover what our prayers ought to be. We are not suggesting that public prayer should be read, although some occasions might very well demand such procedure. By writing out a prayer, however, one is apt to remember key thoughts and will be more adequately prepared for public prayer.
In cooperation with Dr. Henry Eason of the Wayland Drama Department, a number of students were asked to volunteer their cooperation in composing prayers for chapel services at Wayland Baptist College. One obvious result was a marked decrease in the repetition of pet phrases. But in the spontaneous portions of their prayers that incorporated the chapel leader’s prayer requests, students tended to revert to their customary phrases. It was also observed that when students prepared beforehand, their prayers improved grammatically as well as in content. Students also tried to express the same thought in different ways. This experiment definitely succeeded in encouraging students to think before praying.
3. A third essential for improving the quality of prayer must come from the pastor or the leader of a meeting. He must forewarn those who will be requested to pray. Often the endless repetitions in prayer are due to the spur-of-the-moment assignments we make to lead in prayer. Taken by surprise, and perhaps a bit nervous, the assignee can think only of Deacon Repeatem’s customary prayer. So he steals the Deacon’s fire and form.
4. Christian people need to learn that there is nothing wrong with pausing to think in the course of prayer. The fear of silence too often prompts us to throw in our favorite phrases like “dear Lord,” “our dear heavenly Father,” “dear Jesus,” and so on. In a prayer of a minute and a half, we heard one student use the title “dear Lord” 12 times. In conversation with a friend, such repetition would sound ridiculous. Pausing to think may very well eliminate disturbing and pointless repetition of phrases.
5. We need to say fewer but pray more prayers. Stop for a moment and recall the total number of prayers given in the course of an ordinary Sunday’s services. Without exaggeration there could easily be anywhere from 20 to 25 prayers. Unfortunately, most of them are the same. Instead of padding our services with “rote prayers” we need to pray more by repeating less.
Perhaps in no other area of our Christian lives are we so poverty-stricken as in prayer. We know that God will not hear us for our “much repetition of words.” And we know that men will not grow in prayer unless we lead them in meaningful prayer.
Perhaps now, as never before, we need to say, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
