The Prayer PracticeSample

Day 1: Talking to God

Let’s face it: for many of us prayer is more of a duty than a delight.

We’re all so busy, it’s hard to find the time to pray, and when we do, it can be boring, hard to focus, or feel like talking to yourself. But if you struggle to pray, you are not alone.

Thankfully, Jesus was full of wisdom on prayer. In Luke 11, Jesus’s disciples come to him while he’s praying and say “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

And if you’re ready to apprentice under Rabbi Jesus in his school of prayer, pay close attention to what Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, and how Jesus teaches his disciples to pray.

First, what Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. Protestants call this “the Lord’s Prayer”; Catholics, “the Our Father.” And it’s not just a premade prayer; it’s also a theological orientation for prayer, a way of coming before God. Jesus does not ask our Father for anything until midway through the prayer. The entire first half is orientation.

Let me point out four theological truths from the Lord’s Prayer.

First, for Jesus, God is our Father. In Aramaic, abba. What a child would call their dad. The first thing Jesus has to teach us about prayer is that the God we come before has a welcoming heart and good intentions toward us.

Second, God is as close as the air Line two: “Our Father, in heaven.” In Greek, the word is ouranos. More literally, it just means the air. Think about it: the air is all around you, up against your skin, inside your body, in your blood. Jesus is teaching his apprentices that when we come to our Father in prayer, he’s not far away, but closer to us than we are to ourselves.

Third, for Jesus, the first goal of prayer is the worshipful enjoyment of our Father’s company. The next line is: “hallowed be your name.” To “hallow” means to revere and respect the holiness of God. To say God is holy is to say there is no other being in all the cosmos more radiant than God. Here is Jesus, in loving worship of his Father.

Finally, for Jesus, our prayers really do make a difference. Jesus’ next line is: “Your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Notice, Jesus assumes that his kingdom has not yet come and that his will is not yet done. In part, yes, but not in full. And he assumes that through prayer, we partner with Jesus to bend reality in the direction of our Father’s good intentions.

So that’s what Jesus teaches us to pray. Next, look at how Jesus teaches us to pray.

He does not start by teaching us to say whatever is on our mind. Nothing wrong with that, at all. But Jesus is tapping into the first century Jewish custom of praying memorized or pre-made prayers.

This type of prayer is very helpful in a number of situations: when you’re first learning to pray, when you’re traveling and away from your daily prayer rhythm, when you’re exhausted and can’t focus your mind very well, or when you’re searching for the right words to express your heart to God.

We have all sorts of recommendations for you, but really there’s no “right way” to pray. Ronald Rolheiser writes, “there’s no bad way to pray and no single starting point for prayer. The spiritual masters offer one nonnegotiable rule: You have to show up for prayer and show up regularly. Everything else is negotiable and respects your unique circumstances.”

The point of prayer is to live more and more of our days receiving and giving the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And while we never “arrive,” that is our ultimate aim; and prayer is the way.

So, this coming week, as you begin, I can’t think of a better place to start than the disciples’ simple request: “Lord, teach us to pray.”