英文灵修文章-Prayer Beyond Father Weejus

諾行

 (A long but good article)

Prayer Beyond Father Weejus by Tony Jones


Who in the world is Rosalind Rinker?" I admit to asking when I read Christianity Today's list of the most influential books in 50 years of evangelicalism. CT managing editor Mark Galli defended the selection of Rinker's 1959 book Prayer: Conversing with God as number one on that list, admitting that other CT staffers had a fit when they learned of his choice.

I'd never heard of Rinker or her book, but I resonated with Galli when he blogged about how most evangelicals think of prayer as informal conversation, yet 50 years ago this was virtually unheard of. Rinker's book was a prime catalyst for popularizing informal, conversational prayer.

In two decades of youth ministry, I've heard a lot of conversational prayers to Father Weejus. You know, "Father Weejus ask that you'd be here tonight, and Weejus hope you'll really bless our time." I've heard a lot of unnecessary "justs" and "reallys" over the years, and inappropriate uses of the subjunctive mood ("We pray you would move your people and you would do your will …").

I'm all for conversational prayer. But a lot of it is sloppy, which, I'm afraid, has been bred by too much informality.

Thanks a lot, Rosalind!

Christians didn't always pray like this. For, oh, about 1,950 years, followers of Christ prayed with a great deal of reverence. Augustine prayed in Confessions: "Is there anything in me, O Lord my God, that can contain you? Do even the heaven and the earth, which you have made, and in which you did make me, contain you?"

Conversational? Yes. Informal? No.

Before Jesus, the Israelites had an even more formal relationship with God. In fact, they wouldn't even speak God's name, fearful that they might inadvertently break the Third Commandment.

So I work amid younger Christians who, on one hand, appreciate the informality with which they can speak to God. But we also get it when Kevin Smith, in his hilarious (and outrageous and filthy) film Dogma mocks that image of Jesus with his "Buddy Christ," a life-sized statue of a smiling, thumbs-up Jesus meant to replace the wholly depressing Catholic crucifix.

Smith's postmodern irony makes a salient point: modern Christianity has emphasized the immanence of our Savior, but, pushed too far, we are in danger of making the God of the universe little more than our buddy. Or, worse, as sociologist Christian Smith has found, many churched teenagers pray as if God is little more than a "Cosmic Butler," awaiting their next request for his services.

After a generation of this, it shouldn't surprise us that more traditional modes of prayer are making a comeback. Lectio divina, for instance, was virtually unheard of outside of Catholicism two decades ago. Now it's becoming common among evangelicals. Lectio divina (Latin for "sacred reading") is simply a slow, contemplative process of praying Scripture—a way to engage God's Word in prayer.

Phyllis Tickle, in her Divine Hours books, has led many of us into another monastic practice: praying the daily office. Using centuries old prayer and Psalms, we stop what we're doing three or four times a day to pray, in concert with millions of other Christ-followers around the world.

Many of us find great life in other ancient prayers, like the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner," an adaptation of Luke 18:13) and the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4).

The common objection I hear is that such practices inevitably become "meaningless repetition," against which Jesus explicitly warns in Matthew 6:7. I respond with the next clause in Jesus' warning: the Gentiles think they'll persuade God as a result of their many words. It's sincerity, not originality, that Jesus is after. And I can be just as sincere (or insincere) with words that have been uttered billions of times as I can with words that I come up with extemporaneously.

And here's what's most intriguing about these old-fashioned prayer practices: they're full of great theology! These prayers are rife with orthodoxy, whereas spur-of-the-moment prayers sometimes are not.

They're also full of immanence. That is, ancient prayer practices will actually draw you closer to your best friend, Jesus.

Books to Expand Your View of Prayer

Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
By Richard Foster (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992)

Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence
of Jesus
By Mark Yaconelli (Zondervan, 2006)

The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life
By Tony Jones (Zondervan, 2005)

Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life
By Marjorie Thompson (Westminster, 2005)

The Divine Hours: A Manual for Prayer
By Phyllis Tickle (Doubleday, 2000)

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today
International/Leadership Journal.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-6-2 4:03:01编辑过]

marylu

MM，辛苦了，是有点长，看完需要耐心，因为俺一看全英文就头晕眼花。

要是条件许可，你或是香给翻译了做成语音版附在后面一定会受我欢迎的，嘿嘿。