May ‘Witness’: A praying community

“The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayers, not the poverty of our heart,” writes Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his classic work, Psalms: the Prayerbook of the Bible. So often, we approach prayer in a Fourth Petition mode, focused on our needs, pouring out our emotions and heart to God. Such prayer is acceptable to Him; He does, in fact, give us the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

But Bonhoeffer’s point is that prayer includes more than daily needs, much more than the emotional struggles of our hearts. In Scripture, God forms us by giving us His Word to pray. Bonhoeffer notes that praying God’s Word often means praying against our own emotions and desires. It also means praying in accord with God’s Word.

The May issue of The Lutheran Witness takes up prayer. The church is a praying community, and we pray in season and out, in the name of Jesus, as the Rev. Peter Bender shows us in his explanation of the many facets of the Lord’s Prayer.

“Prayer is central to the life of faith in Christ because it is the voice of a child of God who trusts her heavenly Father and cries out to Him because of His promises to her in Christ.” Bender writes. “Like any skill or relationship with a loved one, learning to pray is best done by doing. Take up God’s Word, setting aside time each day to read the Scriptures. Pray the psalms; meditate upon the catechism; sing the great hymns of the church. Lord, teach us to pray. Through these gifts, He does just that.”

We pray as a congregation for the church, the family and the state, as the Rev. Sean Daenzer explains. Jennifer Jordan shows us how the ancient form of the collect can shape and guide our prayers by offering a structure for prayer. We take the prayers of the church and use them in our home, along with a number of great resources, which Christian Boehlke shares. Also, the Rev. Dr. John T. Pless and the Rev. Dr. Brian German show us how Martin Luther prayed using the Small Catechism and the psalms, and how you can do the same.

Visit cph.org/witness to subscribe to The Lutheran Witness and learn more about prayer.

Posted May 13, 2024