Friday, May 31, 2013
Pray With Others - Old Others
Chaplain Mike @ iMonk recently shared Luther's morning and evening prayers from the Small Catechism. My father was raised Lutheran though a Presbyterian my entire life out of devotion to my mother. Regardless, the Small Catechism was a fixture in our home - not that Dad had to refer to it, he had it memorized.
Anyway, I found these prayers most useful, as I have many such written prayers and particularly the prayers of the older and ancient. First I am struck by the commonality between what I need prayer for now and what they prayed for hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Our common humanity is a powerful and timeless bond.
But further I find such written prayers useful. They help me to pray when I have no words. They help me maintain a discipline of routine and periodic prayer when I would punt on a session for lack of knowing what to do.
Finally, such prayers serve to remind me it is not about me. They pull me out of myself, reminding me that it is about God and the other. So often my dryness in prayer is becasue I am thinking exclusively about me.
When I pray a prayer written by someone else, I remember to think about them, and others. That's a good thing to remember.
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Anyway, I found these prayers most useful, as I have many such written prayers and particularly the prayers of the older and ancient. First I am struck by the commonality between what I need prayer for now and what they prayed for hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Our common humanity is a powerful and timeless bond.
But further I find such written prayers useful. They help me to pray when I have no words. They help me maintain a discipline of routine and periodic prayer when I would punt on a session for lack of knowing what to do.
Finally, such prayers serve to remind me it is not about me. They pull me out of myself, reminding me that it is about God and the other. So often my dryness in prayer is becasue I am thinking exclusively about me.
When I pray a prayer written by someone else, I remember to think about them, and others. That's a good thing to remember.
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