Often, the most significant questions for our lives and faith are the most basic questions. As I wrote about in last month's newsletter, the question “Who is Jesus?” sounds simple. But people have struggled and continue to struggle with how to answer it.
Or take another question: How do I pray?
Prayer is an essential part of Christian life. It is an outgrowth of the relationship that God has begun with us. Martin Luther is said to have commented: “It is no more possible to be a Christian without prayer than it is to be a human without breathing.”
But how do we pray? Luther’s comment reminds us that prayer is necessary, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. Jesus’ own disciples asked him for help with how to pray (Luke 11:1). Then, Jesus teaches them at least one version of what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”
There was an interesting coincidence this morning as I read from my daily prayerbook For All the Saints. Each day, there are selected readings from the Bible as well as a reading from a “saint,” a significant figure in Christian history. What I read for today was a reflection from the ancient Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria (185-254 A.D.). I will get to him in a moment.
I was recently teaching my confirmation class about prayer, and I shared with them something I learned long ago, when I was a teenager. One easy way to focus our prayers is to use the word “pray” itself as an acronym.
“P” stands for “praise.” When we begin to pray, we remember to praise God for the good we have received from His hand.”
“R” stands for “repent.” After acknowledging God’s goodness, it leads us to reflect on our lives and our sins, asking God for mercy and guidance.
“A” stands for “another.” We pray for the needs of others: our family, friends, even our enemies, and the whole creation.
“Y” stands for “yourself.” We pray for our own needs and challenges, and we commend them all to God’s care.
What surprised me is that what I learned at a summer church leadership camp in high school is an idea that came from Origen of Alexandria (Egypt) in the second or third centuries of the Christian era. As we go about our lives of prayer, I will conclude with his words on prayer, which are remarkably similar to what I learned at Leadership Quest in Minnesota in 1996:
It seems to me that four subjects, which I have found here and there throughout the Scriptures, may be outlined, and that everyone should form their prayers accordingly. The subjects are these. At the beginning and preamble of the prayer, so far as possible, God is to be glorified, through Christ glorified together with him, in the Holy Spirit hymned together with him. And next in order after this, each one must offer general thanksgiving including blessings bestowed on many besides himself, together with those he has personally obtained from God. After thanksgiving, it seems to me that one ought to accuse himself bitterly before God of personal sins, and then ask God, first for healing to be delivered of the habit that causes one to sin; and secondly for forgiveness of the past. After confession, it seems to me that in the fourth place one should add a request for great and heavenly things, one’s own and general, and also for one’s family and dearest friends. And finally, bring the prayer to a close glorifying God through Christ in the Holy Spirit…. Having begun by glorifying God, it is fitting to conclude and bring the prayer to an end by glorifying him, hymning and glorifying the Father of the universe.
Pr. Tom Jacobson