First Discourse in Matthew: Prayer

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ~ Matthew 6:5-8


In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart. ~ John Bunyan



 Jesus follows up his talk of giving in secret to praying in secret.

 And I have to admit, that this is a text that I come back to time and time again because its one I've spent a good part of the past couple of decades trying to live into. And I'm 90% sure I've already talked about this text here before.

 But sometimes a little repetition is a good thing.

 We've all seen examples of elaborate prayers given to large groups of people: televangelists crying and beating their chests...So maybe that's the first thing we think of when we think of Jesus warning against the "many words" and "empty phrases."

 But we Lutherans also like words. We have our Intercessory prayers and often have wordy prayers before meetings. We pray aloud before meals together and around campfires together.

 And I don't think that most of the time those prayers are ones that are heaping "empty phrases" (of course, sometimes they are!)

 But are we missing out by focussing just on our wordy prayers?

 Is there something wonderful about the silence found in secret prayers?

 In listening for God rather than talking to God?

 There are many ways to pray, and I'm not saying not to pray aloud. But if you haven't tried it, spend some time in secret silence with your God and just see what happens.
Prayer: ....silence....

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