Teach Us To Pray

by Rev. Greg Moore

JESUS WAS PRAYING IN A CERTAIN PLACE. WHEN HE FINISHED, ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES SAID, “LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY, JUST AS JOHN TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES.” LUKE 11:1

EVERYBODY PRAYS LIKE SOMEBODY.
Even as I survey my own prayer life, I can hardly bow my head without hearing the voices of those who taught me to pray weaving their particular cadence and intonations into my own…Ms. Ginger Thomas, whose soft, steady voice weekly led me through the Lord’s Prayer in Sunday School…Rev. Cliff Gilmer, whose deep baritone was the first I heard voice anger in a prayer, as if God could handle that, too…Ms. Willie Mae, whose South Carolina low country accent made God seem close, accessible, simple, with us… Rev. Vivian Fowler, who picked up a prayer book and effortlessly joined our hearts and minds together with all those who prayed these same prayers in season and out, thus teaching me that prayer isn’t always an effort of creating holy spontaneity, but can shape our spontaneity towards holiness through discipline.

And on and on it goes. I simply don’t know how to pray a single prayer that isn’t like theirs.

Jesus prays like Mary, “Let it be with me according to your will” and his disciples pray like him, “thy will be done” and on and on it goes right to this very day.

Prayer is our most concrete experience of communing with the saints. What’s more, everybody teaches others to pray.

How we pray will shape the prayers of those around us, our children, our co-workers, our churches, our neighborhoods. Everyone teaches others to pray, either by example or by neglect thereof.

EVERY LIFE IS A CLASSROOM OF PRAYER.
In the upcoming posts, you will find stories of others teaching and learning to pray. This is, at heart, the work of worship. May the stories and lessons forthcoming encourage and strengthen your prayer life, and may Jesus continue to answer the request of the world through you, his body, as we teach and offer communion through the gift of prayer.