What’s Happening to Prayer?

Do you pray regularly each day? Can you honestly say that personal communion with God is a vital factor in your life? If so, you are probably an exception among today’s church members.

An informed Protestant commentator says that “many Christians today, including theologians, openly acknowledge that their prayer life is virtually nonexistent” (The Reform of the Church, by Donald G. Bloesch, p. 159). Roman Catholics have always fostered the practice of prayer; their houses of worship are often open to all for prayer and meditation. Yet a perceptive observer from that tradition has “the suspicion … that hardly enough praying goes on to justify discussing what people believe about it” (What a Modern Catholic Believes About Prayer, p. 25). The author of this statement, James Bowman, a former priest who admits that he himself “does not pray any more or prays very little” (p. 83). A recent study conducted by two sociologists at Laval University disclosed that only 38 per cent of Canada’s English-speaking Roman Catholic priests still recite their daily office (reported in the Western Catholic Reporter).

It shouldn’t really surprise us that many Christians find praying difficult these days. For some time the vertical relation between God and the believer has been greatly de-emphasized while the social mission of the Church and horizontal relations between people have been stressed. Christians are being exhorted to “get with it,” to “be where the action is.” As Will Oursler shows in Protestant Power and the Coming Revolution (Doubleday, 1971), many of the traditional concerns of the church are being neglected:

Religious conversion, serious concern with the study and importance of prayer, belief in the intervention of God in our personal lives, acceptance of at least part of the Bible as the actual inspired word of God—all of which were once serious matters in many, if not all, major Protestant religions—no longer appear to hold a major place in Protestant thinking. Other matters have higher priorities [p. 8].

Problems And Possibilities

Many current trends and conditions have tended to deepen the doubts and difficulties that have always plagued those who would pray. How can anyone believe that speaking to God can possibly do any good in a world governed by laws that scientific man can now understand, chart, and even master?

Personalism is another prayer-silencer in our time. Good “vibes” between people, sensitivity sessions, and non-verbal communication are popular concepts now.

Also, people speak of morality from a different frame of reference. Isn’t it wrong to ask God for help and favors? What about the poor and needy who didn’t believe in prayer or are unable to practice it? Is the Lord interested only in people who pray? Does he want us to be self-centered beggars?

Fortunately, some recent events and developments bode well for prayer. For instance, some astronauts have publicly identified with belief in God, the Bible, and prayer, and some Soviet scientists, intellectuals, and writers are leading a revival of belief in God and in the whole concept of a supramundane approach to life in a society that officially professes atheism.

Anyone who has experienced an exhausting encounter-group session knows it is possible to become overinvolved with others! Even Jesus had to depart into “a lonely place” on occasion (Luke 4:42). Some people who are committed to contemporary manifestations of humanism and personalism are turning again to meditation in an attempt to find and heal the real person.

It is significant, too, that superstition tends to reappear in secularized life. The recent revival of interest in witchcraft and in devil worship may actually force people to face the possibility of a living, personal God. Even astrology may suggest something about him who made the stars and who still determines their movements.

People are not so confused today by claims of many heavenly beings or persons. Invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayers to other saints are decreasing even within those Christian churches where, officially, they are still fostered.

Perhaps we have so emphasized the problems of prayer, with the passing of the old order and its methods of praying, that we have failed to realize times, potentials, and incentives for prayer in our new way of life. We can pray if we believe.

The act of prayer is in itself not especially appealing and surely is not self-sustaining. One theologian observes that “in matters of prayer we are only too apt to deceive ourselves because, generally speaking, man does not enjoy praying” (Romano Guardini, Prayer in Practice, p. 10). Nor is the basic foundation and incentive for prayer to be found in one’s temperament or personality. A life characterized by prayer, while founded upon faith, still requires discipline, thoughtfulness, and a workable system.

The Place Of Prayer

Christian people have traditionally provided times in their daily schedules for Bible reading, meditation, and prayer. The “family altar” has been part of Christian life in our land. But Christians can also pray when they are in public at a sports event, or political rally, on the way to or from work. Prayers offered in such settings will probably be brief, but they will probably also be genuine expressions of conviction or need. Waiting in line or for an appointment is a common occurrence for many of us today. Why not read a pocket Testament with the Psalms and pray at such a time? High-rise apartments have been regarded as problems for the churches. But the loneliness that presses in upon an individual or couple in such a setting can be turned into a time of fruitful growth and communion with God. It is strange that we haven’t noticed the similarity between an efficiency apartment and the monk’s cell!

There may be no better place for prayer than on a jet plane. Time there is one’s own, and the occasion is conducive to communion with him “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas. 1:17). Conversation with others is more fruitful after we have pondered God’s Word and spoken with him.

Newspapers and newscasts, when they are evaluated in the light of Christian faith and truth, undoubtedly stimulate believers in their prayers. Thoughtful Christians cannot help praying when they scan the affairs of men and of nations with a discerning spirit. One who believes he should not “put … trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help” (Ps. 146:3) will surely intercede for the nation and for its leaders, present and future.

How To Pray

Suggestions may be helpful, but they are of only secondary importance. The twentieth-century Christian needs more than a new schedule for prayer! Indeed, exhortations may be pointless—a bit like telling a mortally wounded man he should speak clearly and regularly to his physician.

The living God alone gives faith to his people, and with it the desire and the power for prayer. Sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father can always pray, regardless of conditions in the world, in spite of what others do or don’t do. Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Mediator. The Holy Spirit creates and sustains trust and the assurance that we are heard. “Pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 20, 21).

There have always been temporal conditions, intellectual difficulties, and personal trials to challenge the people of God as they tried to pray. The Book of Job presents an anguished story of one who persisted despite terrible obstacles. “Behold, I cry out ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths” (19:7, 8). Our very weaknesses, which sometimes keep us from prayer, should spur us to seek strength; there would be no need of prayer as we know it if we were perfect. “Though I am sinful and unworthy, still I have the commandment of God, telling me to pray, and His promise that He will graciously hear me, not on account of my worthiness, but on account of the Lord Christ” (What Luther Says, II, 1,081).

Prayer books have long been in general use within many Christian traditions, but the greatest of all prayer books is the Holy Bible. It records the perfect prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. In the Bible David reveals the secret of true prayer: “O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise” (Ps. 51:15). The Psalms, which make up the largest single section of Sacred Scripture, are marvelously varied prayers and incentives to faith and devotion—brutally honest in confessing sin and in voicing questions and complaints, fully recognizing the evil in people and in the world, yet faith-strengthening in their powerful encouragement to devotion and obedience. “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Ps. 62:8). Prayers are to be found throughout the Old and New Testaments, along with prayer suggestions and examples, and mighty encouragement to come to him “who hearest prayer” (Ps. 65:2).

In the last decade changes have appeared in almost all forms of Christians’ public worship, changes accompanied by anguished cries from traditionalists that they “can’t pray any more” in church. Ministers and priests should surely heed these appeals when faith and devotion have truly been shaken. Yet we should continue to instruct and to lead when the complaints merely express growth pains as the people of God become accustomed to worship and words more honest and more expressive of true faith and prayer in our time. When prayer has been mechanical and thoughtless, a shaking up, though disturbing, can produce much good. Where does Scripture say that prayer should be placid?

There is reason to think that some contemporary forms for the celebration of Holy Communion, folk masses, and modem religious musicals have genuine Christian powers and appeal to many young people and others. Why not use them occasionally when they are doctrinally sound? Surely no one, young or old, could fail to be moved by—for example—the hauntingly beautiful expression of traditional Christian faith in the recent musical setting of the Nicene Creed by Herbert G. Draesel, Jr.

Power For Prayer

Many who devoutly believe in Christ do not fully grasp his power and assurance in their prayers. Christ’s Word is the only promise and guarantee that our words reach and please the Father. Our Lord and Saviour, working through the power of his Spirit, is the secret of continued faith and persistence in prayer at any time. The Saviour gives his own full assurance about prayer offered in his name, in accord with his will: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

We can pray in assurance and confidence, and make petitions for ourselves and for others, when we trust in him who is our only Mediator. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20). Holy Scripture, God’s written Word, must evoke, fructify, and guide our prayer and keep it from withering or from wandering off in a foolish or evil direction.

The spirit or philosophy of man will never create or sustain true prayer. It is God’s Holy Spirit, poured out upon his people by Jesus Christ, according to his promise, who actually prays within the Christian: “Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6). The power of the Spirit is the secret of the persistence of Christian faith and prayer in a world that is always trying to quench and silence them, or at least to hasten their demise. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.… The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26, 27).

The ultimate working and power of prayer will always be a mystery because in it we are engaged with him whose ways and thoughts are different and higher than ours. Yet prayer will never cease from the earth, for God is always at work here. “He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly” (Ps. 147:15). Prayer will continue in its purest and perfect form, without cries for forgiveness and relief, in heaven. The glorious and never-ending song and prayer of the saints in heaven is all worship and praise.

Prayer languishes now because of widespread doubt and unbelief. People are wrapped up in themselves, in others, or in the world about them. They are expecting more than they will ever receive from people or from a life lived apart from God. Prayer will flourish again in Christian lives, and in the Church, when faith is strong and when the Word of God supplies its unique life, light, and wisdom—when, like the disciples, we plead, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

BROADWAY

there is a way

that seems right to a man

in the crowded street

his words echo in

talking a good race

to walk where he would

for the getting of culture,

and in running to Rome

he does as one should

drinking no more water—

champagne

for the stomach’s sake,

and to numb one’s thirst

while still awake

so as not to stand out

as though one saw

the Invisible

a pity

he dare not shake his shoes off

outside the city

the maze of things

shall grow old with him

and dissolve in his hand

that his memories keep:

things that he feared

then accepted

now seeks

at the price of his youth

and a few words of truth

mumbled upon the day

of his week’s lipservice

D. R. UNRUH

George M. Marsden is associate professor of history at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has the Ph.D. (Yale University) and has written “The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience.”

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