Ritual

Luke 11:1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." And he said to them, "When you pray, say”:

If you follow the daily readings from “The Jesus Walk,” you will know that the following passages after this request from his disciples, is the prayer that Jesus taught, which we call the Jesus prayer. I will always remember the time I was working in a hospital as chaplain when one of the people I was visiting asked me to pray for her, she said, “Pray the “Our Father” prayer.”

I have never been one to practice the ritual of a particular prayer. I have prided myself on the spontaneity of prayer and the power of praying in the moment. I believe that this has enabled me to keep fresh in my prayers and thoughts; however, I do appreciate the power of ritual especially in times of distress and difficulties. I remember another time in the hospital when the person I was visiting could not speak. I asked her to form the words of the “Our Father” while I spoke them out loud. What an amazing thing it was for us to be able to participate in prayer together.

Ritual has merit in the reality that it enables us to remember the important things of life. In fact, much of life is ritual. We get up every day, dress, eat breakfast, take off to work or activity, return home, finish the course of the day and then off to bed. There is nothing wrong with ritual. What is wrong is when we think ritual is all that is needed. In reality, ritual is only our guide; ritual is there to keep us on track and to navigate the seasons of our lives so that we can follow more closely the way of God who created us.

There are times we need ritual because we get off track and lose our way. We easily get distracted with other things and forget what needs to happen. Ritual is there to gently remind us of what needs to be done and how to proceed forward when times get rough. It’s our spiritual method when we can’t clearly see the path before us. Ritual serves as the pathway to recovery to return us back to the power of God through prayer. Use it.

This prayer of Jesus is a roadmap for effective prayer. It is not the prayer itself that has power, but the practice of each of the essentials combined together to remind us of what is important. It’s OK to pray just this prayer if you want, but don’t stop there. Allow this prayer to move you forward to discover the joy of extended prayer, as each of these essentials contained therein lead us to more discovery of our life.

Try it sometime. List the essentials of this prayer of Jesus found here and in the gospel of Matthew, spend some time with each idea, and allow God to fill you fresh with His spirit as we pray together Our Father. Amen.

Blessings, Rip