Dear friends in Christ at Peace and Grue,
Most catechisms in Luther’s day began with the Creed, the Lord’s prayer and then the Ten Commandments. The Creed represented “mere faith” that was insufficient for salvation. Such faith needed to be formed by works of love into saving faith. Prayer, including the Lord’s prayer was a method to further this process.
This resulted in a number of problematic prayer practices Luther confronted: Medieval Christians thought they had to first become worthy before God would hear them. Medieval Christians prayed to the saints and to the Virgin Mary as intermediaries to advocate for them before God. Medieval Christians regard prayer as our good work done to impress God or somehow “make up” for sin. Since prayer was viewed as a good work repeating that good work was considered beneficial, leading to certain times of the day, seasons and occasions when prayer (often to a particular saint) was seen as mandatory. Finally Medieval Christians thought prayer was primarily a work for the clergy.
Luther took a shot at all of this by placing the Lord’s Prayer third in his catechism. After hearing words that tell us how God wants to live and what God does for us, we are invited to “talk back” to God. God promises to hear us and even commanded us to pray. Our words come in response to God’s word to us. Luther knew that what we believe about prayer tells us much about what kind of God we have and how we understand our relationship with God. Not only do we hear God’s command to pray and promise to hear, God gives us the words to use in prayer. In this way we see how deeply concerned God is about our needs, and we should never doubt that prayer pleases him and is assuredly heard by him.
So, what stops us, what are the obstacles to prayer, why do we fail to call on God and seek help elsewhere? While prayer was an important part of Luther’s life, Luther knew that prayer needed to be taught, for although the need comes naturally the words do not. In this regard Luther considered the Lord’s Prayer the very best of all prayers. He wrote, “Since our Lord is the author it is without a doubt the most sublime, the loftiest, and the most excellent. If he, the good and faithful Teacher, had known a better one, he would surely have taught us that too.” For Luther authentic, honest prayer does not mean you have to be creative or extemporaneous, we can and should use the words Christ gave us.
When you converse, how do you know your words have really been heard, what would give you such assurance? For Luther that assurance comes in the “Amen.” We say “Amen” not to have the last word but as an expression of faith in our listening and generous God, which for Luther was not only sufficient for salvation, but the only legitimate response to God’s saving work in Jesus Christ., leaving no doubt that God who promises to listen has indeed heard our request.
“More than that,” Luther wrote to his barber, “never think that you are kneeling or standing alone, rather think
that the whole of Christendom, all devote Christians are standing there beside you and you are standing among
them in a common, united petition which God does not disdain…this I know as a certainty and a truth.” But
more about that next month.
Enjoy the Holidays as we enter into a new year and pray often,
Pastor Dan