Shawn Casselberry's Blog
Taking the pressure out of prayer / Dec 9, 02:07 PM
Growing up, I used to think my prayers had to be original. Whether praying publicly or privately I felt this underlying pressure to be fresh, relevant, and new. I felt that my originality in prayer was a sign of my spirituality with God. I thought God would not answer my prayers unless they were dazzling.
Sometimes I would approach prayer like a math or science equation. If I just had the right formula then my request was guaranteed to be fulfilled. God was like a giant vending machine and prayer was the money that granted me my desires. If I didn’t get what I wanted I must have screwed something up.
During seminary, I couldn’t pray without stressing out about getting my theology right in prayer. Do I pray to Jesus or to God through Jesus? Does the Holy Spirit feel left out? As if God were sitting there critiquing my prayers for theological correctness, style, and grammar.
Now I don’t worry about all that stuff. One thing that has helped me take the pressure out of prayer is by praying the prayers of saints and other prophetic people down through history. I don’t think this is a cop out. After all, when the disciples asked Jesus to help them pray Jesus shared his prayer with them. I think it can be a form of humility to admit we have no clue how to pray. And humility is a good thing right?
Here are some of the prayers that have been helping me to learn to pray. They are not dazzling, presumptuous, or particularly theological. Maybe that is why they are such good prayers for me.
I just discovered this prayer by fourth century Bishop Serapin.
“We beg you, God, make us fully alive.”
Prayer of Saint Catherine of Siena
“Lord, take me from myself and give me to yourself.”
A Tax Collectors Prayer in Luke 18:13
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Prayer for Justice
“Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen”
Please share any struggles you have had in prayer or prayers you have found that have been helpful in your journey.
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I used to do the same…now it’s more like:
‘Lord…Be Glorified”
It’s that simple to me now.
And sometimes:
“Dad-You’re a rockstar. Thank you!” hah-He is!!!!
By A girl from MS - just looking. :) / Dec 10, 10:36 AM / #
thank you for your insight shawn. and also for letting me borrow your copy of the way of a pilgrim. i am still wrestling with the concept of prayer, but i think god is helping me through it, if that makes sense.
By joe grove / Dec 10, 02:17 PM / #
Shawn….it helped my family to start praying out loud at dinner time. We all know dinner prayers. We got the kids comfortable with US actually praying outloud, and that has helped us be more spontaneous with prayer at other times, though it is still often awkward and the kids still often roll their eyes. We have to be brave enough to begin our family legacy NOW….today….tonight’s dinner….Thanks for your blog.
By Lynda Russo-Jones / Mar 11, 07:40 PM / #