Works for Me Wednesday: Prayer Books

I became a Christian at 13. The very first thing that made me think maybe I wanted to give Jesus a try was hearing the people at the Bible study I visited pray- so spontaneous and intimate, as if they really had a relationship with the person they were speaking with.

I then spent my high school career in the greatest church in the whole entire world (in my unbiased opinion). There I was taught that talking to God can and should be as easy as talking to a friend. Tell Him about the friend who snubbed you at lunch and the boy you have a crush on, ask Him to help you know Him better. Use whatever words you feel comfortable with. It doesn't have to be formal or scary, Jesus knows our hearts and wants us to come as we are.

So that is wonderful, but somehow along the way I got the idea that praying any sort of pre-written prayer "didn't really count". Praying to me was having a conversation, and how could you have a natural conversation if someone else wrote it?! Didn't that mean that it wasn't really heartfelt, or made God sort of distant and removed? Yet tons of my friends at college came from Anglican traditions and clearly had thriving relationships with God using lots of pre-typed, daily-ordered prayers. I gradually gave it a try, and in the past few years I have discovered how much I LOVE using pre-written prayers (prayer books, hymns, daily office, etc.) to pray and connect with God.

Here are a few of the main benefits pre-written prayers have had for my spiritual life:

1) Relief From Anxiety.
This might be the biggest difference using prayer books has really made for me. I am super anxious girl. While I wholeheartedly believe everything I just wrote about coming to Jesus as we are and being able to speak with Him openly and honestly, it is often not that easy for me. Much of praying in high school (OK, and now!) for me was characterized by fear, worry that I'm saying the "wrong thing", or just being totally paralyzed and unsure of how to start. While some of that is deeper issues (for a longer post sometime... :-)), some of it is just plain "pray-er's block". Having something concrete to start with gives me such relief, that I don't have to magically have these great words flowing from my heart and mouth and pen!

2) Gives Words to Things I Want To Say But Don't Know How.

One of my favorite prayers, by Richard Foster, begins: "I am, O God, a jumbled mass of motives. One moment I am adoring You, and the next I am shaking my fist at You... I am full of faith and full of doubt. I want the best for others and am jealous when they get it." Uh, yeah I am a jumbled mass of motives... as soon as I read that phrase I identified with it, but I would never have known what to call that feeling of frustration and helplessness I feel with myself sometimes.

"I believe that Jesus Thy Son has plenteous redemption" (from Valley of Vision). Of course I believe He does, but I'd never been able to put it into words quite so succinctly before I read that prayer, and reading that sentence always reminds me of the hugeness of that truth and brings me to gratitude and praise.

3) Creativity and Inspiration.

There are so many times when I'll read a prayer and totally recognize and fall in love with the way they describe God- but I would NEVER have been able to articulate it so well myself, or even have thought about it. My friend Sarah emailed out a prayer reading, "May the blessing of our love and our strong joy in blessing call out new growth in everyone we know and meet". What a cool thing to pray, to ask God to use us to "call out new growth" in others... but I would never have thought about it myself. That same prayer from Valley of Vision thanks God that "Thou hast seen and abhorred all my sins yet... Thou hast invited me to Thy table". I LOVE that image- God inviting us to sit, relax, eat, be with Him at His table- the picture of relationship. Ever since I read that it's been a new visual in my head when I think about the forgiveness and closeness God offers us.

4) Words To Lean On.

Our feelings so often do not line up with what we know to be true. At least mine don't. Prayer books and hymns give me truths to pray, sing, and repeat when my emotions are all over the place and when God feels far away.

"I will not run from Your presence. Nor will I pretend to be what I am not. Thank You for accepting me with all my contradictions. Amen."

"Lord, You have always provided bread for the coming day, and though I am poor, today I believe."

"Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face, then shall I seek in vain?"

"Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore..."

I don't have to wait for my emotions to chill out to pray and I don't have to feel a truth for it to be true. Still, at times when my mind goes blank and my heart doesn't have anything to say, these words have given me a template to talk to God and reminded me of what is true, not contingent on my moods or circumstances.

There are a ton more reasons that I love and am so grateful for pre-written prayers and liturgy... what I learn about God, the calmness of a routine, the way something sinks deeper into your soul when you say it repeatedly, how something mentioned in a prayer book can act as a springboard in my journaling and "casual" conversations with God, the beauty of praying something Christians have prayed for centuries, the connection I feel praying the same prayer as a friend in the same room or continents away.

So yep, using prayer books works for me! For more Works for Me Wednesday please visit We Are THAT Family.

(I love:

Celtic Daily Prayer, from the Northumbria Community

Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers

Indelible Grace

and my roommate swears by the Book of Common Prayer)

I'd love suggestions for more!