I’ve always struggled with prayer. As a younger Christian the anxiety of talking into thin air to Someone was complicated by the anti-liturgical ethos of my fellow Pentecostals. Every prayer had to be “from the heart” so that we weren’t babbling meaningless prayers like the pagans…or the Anglicans, or Roman Catholics, or any group of Christians that had become “fossilized by tradition.” As I’ve aged (matured) I’ve realized that there is nothing wrong with written prayers nor with parroting their contents. The Book of Psalms may have been the first written works that I used for prayer, which felt normal since these were “inspired,” but over time I’ve learned to embrace catholicity, to recognize my limitations, and to openly borrow the words of others. Sometimes when we pray we have no words and the Spirit gives them to us. Sometimes when the Spirit gives us words those words are those of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Ben Ray has done English speaking Christians a favor by putting together a website called Morning Prayer based on the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the ESV. Everyday you can go to morningprayer.is and a new day’s worth of prayers, passages from Scripture, and creedal affirmations will be available. I’ve benefitted from this resource, so I share it with you!
the archives near Emmaus 
Ray’s site is excellent. I found it a while back and was impressed, both with its spiritual content and its design.
I recently posted about my morning prayer routine, as well, partially in response to Richard Beck’s post on personal liturgical prayer at his blog, Experimental Theology. If you haven’t already read his discussion about praying the Anglican rosary, I would highly recommend it. You can access it via my post here: http://everyday-revolutionary.blogspot.com/2013/09/morning-prayer.html
In her conversion from being a ‘radical leftist lesbian’ (her words, not mine) to becoming a deeply sincere Christian believer, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield narrates how witnessing the prayer given by a friend and his wife before dinner deeply impressed her.
She was in the process of ‘doing research’ about the faith she hated, and was invited to the house of a soon to be become friend, a minister who had written her in response to something she wrote in a news paper and he asked to pray before the meal.
The sincerity he expressed about his own faults, the prayers that he sought, remembering to pray for others he knew to be struggling, and a sincere desire to fellowship with those who rejected his faith, left her stunned. Reflecting upon this, amongst other things, ultimately caused her to question the presuppositions upon which her life was based.
Although I’m sure the prayers themselves (and He who receives them) had something to do with her conversion, the example of prayer she witnessed also played a role. That Yochanan ben Zechariah taught his disciples to pray followed by Yehshua’s example of teaching his disciples to pray [Luke 11:1-13] shows the importance of prayer, yet how much time do churches spend on teaching people how to pray?
(Your strategy is a great one to emulate. There are likely few other examples of prayer so rich as those provided in the Book of Common Prayer.
Here is a supreme example of a penitent prayer written in rich language before a Holy God (from an on-line version of the 1962 Canadian version:
ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
Wow, what sentiment!
Good perspective, good post.
@Joshua:
Indeed, it is designed very well. Makes me want to visit it! Thank you for the link. I’ll take a look it!
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