Prayer

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Prayer

The motto of the Benedictine monastic order is popularly cited (in Latin) as "ora et labora" (the force of the et in Latin provides an English rendering as "to pray is to work and to work is to pray," or "pray and work"). This terse couplet nicely provides the widest possible definition of "prayer" and at the same time provides a focus from which to analyze and understand this universal human phenomenon, which admits of no limitations by denomination, tradition, or circumstance, even though it is often formed by such factors. This motto does reflect, of course, the particular Benedictine commitment to a daily cycle of corporate, sung services of prayer and praise, as many as eight times each day, as the heart of its weekly, annual and vocational rhythms of life, all of which are known historically as the opus Dei (the work of God).

Thus prayer may be thought of as both a human activity and as touching on the divine. Further, it is, as the motto so succinctly says, an act of piety and also of the very essence of the never-ceasing "work" or "labor" or "effort" of life itself. The Benedictine monastic locus of such a definition reminds us that prayer is equally personal and corporate, just as it is both ritual and secular. One needs only to refer to the classic Jewish practice (also daily) of "davening," or the regular saying of one's private prayer and praise. It is customary in this tradition to speak the words just loud enough to hear the sound of one's own voice as a reminder that "all of Israel" is praying along. This bears a not surprising resemblance to the traditional Catholic practice of moving one's lips during the daily office of prayer (using a look known as the Brievary) even when entirely alone, or in a crowded public place.

Thus it is possible again to widen the definition/description of prayer by saying that this human-divine, personal-corporate, sacred-secular activity is an once a reaching "up" and a reaching "down," a reaching "out" as well as a reaching "in."

All of these characteristics are in that most loved and well-used corpus of prayer known to Christians and Jews as the Book of Psalms, the Psalter. The classically accepted genres of these 150 Hebrew poems express this universality very well: praise, hymns, thanksgiving, petition, and lament. For centuries these texts have formed the basis and heart of the daily opus Dei for both Jews and Christians. Also for centuries, these texts, together with certain New Testament "canticles" and liturgical formulas, have functioned as the sole body of corporate song in Christian public worship, whether in a sermonic or in a sacramental context.

The varied roles of prayer in contemporary American culture range from such highly structured practices as already mentioned to more spontaneous moments in public and private life. The 1980s and 1990s, which witnessed an extraordinary explosion of charismatic, spiritualistic, and ecumenically based patterns of liturgy, have also come to include more opportunities for spontaneous, spoken prayer, often associated with the sharing of "joys and concerns" by members of the worshiping assembly. There also has been considerable effort and experimentation to adapt the language of corporate prayer to the contemporary vernacular by Protestant churches, which for centuries used an archaic, Elizabethan form of English, and by Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, which traditionally have used formal liturgical languages, not English. This has encouraged fuller participation by lay as well as clerical persons. Most notably and somewhat controversially, many churches have printed a new translation of the Lord's Prayer, produced by an international and ecumenical body known as the English Language Liturgical Consultation. This text cuts through the historic standoff between "debts" and "trespasses" in favor of a more literal rendering of the Greek as "sins." It also rids the verbs of ancient forms such as "art" and the formal "thee/thou" pronouns. Interestingly, Reform Judaism has found it important to move in a somewhat opposite direction just at the close of the century by adopting a "platform" that calls for a return of some use of the Hebrew language and Jewish customs in the context of its prayer and worship. But this simply underlines the fact that prayer and liturgy are always bridges between contemporary culture and concerns and traditional memories and identities.

More recently, independent, nondenominational local churches have developed in urban and suburban areas, often under the leadership of self-appointed charismatic persons. Many of these "megachurches" engage in highly informal styles of worship and prayer, often using the styles and media of public entertainment.

In spite of this sort of development, however, the incidence of spoken prayer in civic and public events has been subjected to growing criticism, if only under the impact of a pluralistic and secularistic consciousness. Prayers still grace the halls of Congress and other legislatures as well as sports events, but the focus of such praying is highly contextual, lacking much serious theological reflection or, as some would contend, integrity!

Debate continues in the United States with regard to prayer in the public school system. The assumptions involved in "the separation of church and state" vary from region to region but are increasingly subject to litigation and conflict. This is especially true at festival times, either religious or civic. Various strategies are often employed to circumvent some of these problems, such as silent prayer, interfaith celebrations, and the recovery of ethnic customs and festivals.

In short, the twentieth century has seen the stubborn continuance of prayer and religious observance, however much a highly secular mode of thought and behavior has come to characterize its latter decades. The sheer fact that the incidence of positive responses to poll-taking regarding private prayer and participation in public worship regularly seems to be exaggerated and not in full accord with observable practice is perhaps evidence enough that the American people regard prayer as essential to the working out of their lives, however much the perceptible work and practice of prayer is obvious or not.