Today in Bible study our leader gave us a summary of Martin Luther's short work on prayer, originally penned as a letter to his barber. I tend to love Luther when I actually sit down and read him, and today was no exception... although we weren't actually reading him.
One of the sections on prayer that we were given was this: "Luther recommended using Scripture (especially the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer), The Apostle's Creed, and the Catechism to connect doctrine and devotion. He commends a fourfold process:
a. What does this passage teach?
b. For what can I give thanks in this passage?
c. What must I confess in this passage?
d. How does this passage lead me to pray for myself and others.
Out leader then had us apply this principle using the Lord's prayer. Broken up into seven sections, he assigned each of us a section to meditate on for five minutes, and then compose a prayer based on our meditation. I really appreciated this exercise; it forced me to name some very personal things instead of feeding off of a conversation and not really expressing my own inward thoughts, as graduate school (or at least seminary) conversations lead you to do sometimes, I feel.
My section was "Our Father, which art in heaven." This was the prayer I wrote:
God, thank you for being Our Father. For loving us as your little children, ones whose life springs from you and in whom is all your delight. Thank you that you are always quick to rush to our aid when we ask you for help, for what we cannot do ourselves. Thank you that you have prepared a place for us, that you are always ready to welcome us home.
Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I have grown apart from my brothers and sisters. I think of you as my father, not our father. Forgive me also for expecting to find you on earth and not in heaven. I want, I confess, to see you tamed, earthbound, responding quickly to my expectations and not your holy glory and power. Father, give me back to my sisters and brothers, that I may find in them what I long for in you, that I may be free to see you as you truly are.
Father, help us remember that we are your children. Fill us with a sense of your holy identity, and draw us together.
Amen.
