Standing in the grocery aisle I was staring at fourteen different brands of mustard and I had one recurring thought: What should we eat tonight? Oh no, I found myself in a grocery slump! Sometimes prayer can be like a grocery slump.
When have you experienced this? Do you know what I mean? I always need to eat, but my desire to go shopping for food waxes and wanes like the phases of the moon. Yet my appetite and need for nutrition is a constant. Prayer is like this. Our need for prayer is like our need for nutrition. It’s part of what we call spiritual formation, which is another way of talking about discipleship. But our desire for prayer or our method of praying can sometimes be as dull as our desire to go grocery shopping when we’re in a dreaded slump.
Honestly, I don’t know how I come out of a grocery slump. Sometimes it’s sheer necessity. I’m hungry enough to shop. Sometimes it’s going back to an old list and just buying what’s tried and true for a staple menu in our home. Other times it involves being brave enough to try something new. This week I found a new recipe for prayer and I’m excited to try it out.
I’ve read some very old and beautiful prayers of John Calvin and also those of the Puritans. I didn’t appreciate the archaic language in every case, but I found the prayers to be very rich and wondered what it might be like to pray in this way. Then I was reading a new book called Prayer by Tim Keller and found an oft used formula that gave me some insight into the style and formation Calvin and others used in praying. On page 198, Keller describes the general structure of prayer used by English Reformer Thomas Cranmer. His “collects” or corporate prayers followed this general structure:
- The address—a name of God
- The doctrine—a truth about God’s nature that is the basis for the prayer
- The petition—what is being asked for
- The aspiration—what good result will come if the request is granted
- In Jesus’ name—this remembers the mediatorial role of Jesus
This is found most succinctly in Cranmer’s collect for the service of Holy Communion:
- Almighty God,
- Unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid,
- Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,
- That we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name,
- Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
We form our ability to communicate as children through imitating conversation. Small children make nonsense sounds and words that follow the intonation and pattern of fully formed speech. They imitate adult speech and eventually learn how to do it naturally. We’ve all been linguistically formed in this way. I wonder how I might be spiritually formed by imitating Cranmer’s collects (without the old English pronouns).
Keller also points out how the prayer moves from grounding in God’s nature (why we can ask) to the petition (what we want) to the aspiration (what we will do if we get it). He says, “It is remarkable how this pattern combines praise with petition, sound theology with deep aspirations of the heart, and concrete goals for our daily life.” It’s the answer to a prayer slump. I’ve been clumsily trying it out this week in private and maybe I’ll get brave enough to try it out in public, too. How about you?
Today I pray for GCC that Almighty God,
the One who is known to us as Abba, Father through the death and resurrection of Christ the God-man who has walked this earth, who knew hunger and thirst, joy and sorrow,
move us from our slumps whether grocery shopping, prayerlessness, addiction, depression, anxiety, or laziness,
that we may have tender and open hearts that receive His goodness, mercy, and love and extend them to others all around us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.