Bare Necessities: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi
The worship of God is fundamentally prayer. This was true even of the temple worship in Israel. When Jesus enters and cleanses the temple, He does so because His house is to be a house of prayer, not a house of money changing. With this framework of prayer in mind we can see the worship in the Levitical system was essentially prayer. The major difference being their prayer was mediated through animals. The principle offerings of Israel were the guilt/sin offering, the ascension offering, and the peace offering (Leviticus 9). These translate to prayers of confession, prayers of consecration (praise, petitions, intercession), and prayers of thanksgiving (specifically in regards to communion). These offerings were accompanied by specific butchering and burning instructions. In the New Covenant the substantial change is that our mediator is the Incarnate Son of God who is the sacrifice and the High Priest. Now our prayer is human-formed. We no longer offer animals, rather we offer ourselves as offerings ignited by the Holy Ghost. The centrality of prayer emerges in the disciples as they ask Jesus to teach them to pray. This is where Jesus teaches them the Lord’s Prayer.
One of our greatest needs is to learn how to pray. We don’t know how to contemplate the Lord, this lack of contemplation undercuts our desire and ability to obey the Lord. Prayer is often seen as a private largerly personal action. The rule of prayer, however, begins with “Our Father” not “my Father”. The corporate prayer of the church must shape the private prayer. Your identity as a Christian starts in a relation to other; Christ and His Church. For too long extemporaneous prayer has shaped the corporate spirituality of the church. This is a well that will run dry because it is rooted in our imagination rather than the imagination of the church throughout the ages. Our prayer must be shaped according to the whole fullness of faith that the Church has abided in throughout the ages. This prayer is the prayer of an expectant bride harmonizing to her husband’s speech.
The rule of our prayer will inform the rule of our belief. Much of the contemporary worship in the church reinforces an emphasis on personal invention and self-expression. This is not to say people are praying to themselves, rather it is to say our natural desires end up being the metric for prayer. Our comfort ends up being a larger governor for prayer rather than the rule of faith. The Word must shape prayer; the Faith once delivered must shape prayer in order for it to enrich our personal faith. In the early Church the faith was delivered and defended primarily through teaching the people how to pray via worship. The baptismal formula, prayers to Christ, and the like were all supports in the defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. We need to ask ourselves if our worship, our common prayer as the Church, is providing us with similar tools?
Our prayer must be informed by God’s speech. Our prayer should primarily derive from the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, then other portions of scripture. So even when we are composing prayers, or picking up historic prayers, we are praying phrases that are taken form scripture or heavily influenced by scripture. It is to these words we say Amen, So it shall be.
As you worship on Sunday, and especially Pastors, as you lead people before God’s throne on Sunday, ask yourself what does the rule of our prayer do for our belief? Where did our church’s prayers come from? Are these prayers time tested? Am I relying on contemporary imagination primarily? What do these prayers teach us about God? Do our prayers reinforce the centrality of the Trinity? Do we rehearse enough prayers that my people can have internalized the soul food needed for various trials? What does the corporate prayer life do to enrich the private prayer life of the people? Are there forms of prayer that we have neglected because of our desire for spontaneity?