Leadership Journal

Who in the world is Rosalind Rinker?" I admit to asking when I read Christianity Today's list of the most influential books in 50 years of evangelicalism. CT managing editor Mark Galli defended the selection of Rinker's 1959 book Prayer: Conversing with God as number one on that list, admitting that other CT staffers had a fit when they learned of his choice.

I'd never heard of Rinker or her book, but I resonated with Galli when he blogged about how most evangelicals think of prayer as informal conversation, yet 50 years ago this was virtually unheard of. Rinker's book was a prime catalyst for popularizing informal, conversational prayer.

In two decades of youth ministry, I've heard a lot of conversational prayers to Father Weejus. You know, "Father Weejus ask that you'd be here tonight, and Weejus hope you'll really bless our time." I've heard a lot of unnecessary "justs" and "reallys" over the years, and inappropriate uses of the subjunctive mood ("We pray you would move your people and you would do your will …").

I'm all for conversational prayer. But a lot of it is sloppy, which, I'm afraid, has been bred by too much informality.

Thanks a lot, Rosalind!

Christians didn't always pray like this. For, oh, about 1,950 years, followers of Christ prayed with a great deal of reverence. Augustine prayed in Confessions: "Is there anything in me, O Lord my God, that can contain you? Do even the heaven and the earth, which you have made, and in which you did make me, contain you?"

Conversational? Yes. Informal? No.

Before Jesus, the Israelites had an even more formal relationship with God. In fact, they wouldn't even speak God's name, fearful that they might inadvertently break the Third Commandment.

So I work amid younger Christians who, on one hand, appreciate the informality with which they can speak to God. But we also get it when Kevin Smith, in his hilarious (and outrageous and filthy) film Dogma mocks that image of Jesus with his "Buddy Christ," a life-sized statue of a smiling, thumbs-up Jesus meant to replace the wholly depressing Catholic crucifix.

Smith's postmodern irony makes a salient point: modern Christianity has emphasized the immanence of our Savior, but, pushed too far, we are in danger of making the God of the universe little more than our buddy. Or, worse, as sociologist Christian Smith has found, many churched teenagers pray as if God is little more than a "Cosmic Butler," awaiting their next request for his services.

After a generation of this, it shouldn't surprise us that more traditional modes of prayer are making a comeback. Lectio divina, for instance, was virtually unheard of outside of Catholicism two decades ago. Now it's becoming common among evangelicals. Lectio divina (Latin for "sacred reading") is simply a slow, contemplative process of praying Scripture—a way to engage God's Word in prayer.

Phyllis Tickle, in her Divine Hours books, has led many of us into another monastic practice: praying the daily office. Using centuries ...