In Spirit and in Truth

In this world there are diverse religions and methods of worshiping the higher power.

Some cultures pray to their ancestors, some pray to a multitude of deities, atheists claim to believe in nothing but find themselves calling on the name of God when in crisis. Muslims go to great lengths to ensure they pray properly, bowing themselves to the ground 5 times a day, in the direction of their holy city Mecca. Devout Jews pray three times and always facing their Holy City, in fact all the Synagogues in the world are aligned to face Jerusalem. The Catholics pray set prayers from their Catechisms, Protestants pray spontaneous prayers but often these prayers tend to sound very similar as we humans like to use the same tried and tested means. Who then is praying the proper way? Who is asking God’s favor in a way that will get Him to answer in a timely fashion?

Muslim prayer seems to emanate from a people who fear their God not from a sense of awe but from a sense of fear, from not knowing for sure if they will be saved in the final wash up. Muslim prayer, or Salat is preceded by the washing of hands in preparation. The faithful are called to prayer by the muezzin who announces the call to prayer usually through the Mosque’s minaret, or even on the radio nowadays. The worshippers are line up in parallel rows behind the imam, who directs them through the rak’as, the positions and prayers. The prayer service starts in a standing position and moves through several simple postures until the worshipper is kneeling. Special prayers are said by the petitioners in each position (IslamicVoice.com). This process happens five times or more a day and it is a ritual that is very structured and no doubt gives one a feeling of piety. In Islam it seems to be most important to make these gestures of piety in order to rack up ‘brownie’ points in the eternal paradise standings. There is a weighing up of good versus bad deeds and if the good outweighs the bad, then Bob’s your uncle, but if not then your goose is cooked (pun intended).

Jews on the other hand just have to obey the Ten Commandments and they are assured of going to Abraham’s bosom too. The Ten Commandments I feel are hard enough on their own, and most people, you’d think, would try to lessen the number by combining a few. But the Jews being faithful Jews have gone and simplified them by splitting them up into 613 little laws which I am sure no one keeps anyway. Any Trekkie who is reading this might be reminded of Quark and the Ferengi rules of Acquisition. Jokes aside, when praying Jews will pray the Psalms and sing songs which are very devotional, but once again there does seem to be a multiplication of words, which is alright because it is Scripture, but there is rarely if any spontaneous prayer heard. There are three prayer times, the SHACHRIT, morning prayer, the MINCHA, afternoon prayer, and MA’ARIV, the evening devotion. Then there are the Sabbath and Feast day special prayers, but even these seem to be a multiplication of words in rituals. So what sort of prayer does God indeed listen and respond to.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he was at the well speaking to the Samaritan woman about praying and she told Him that they prayed to God on the mountain of Shiloh. and He told her, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23. When Jesus was teaching his disciples he was coming from a Jewish tradition, and he wasn’t going to try and change the Law of Moses, in fact he said that rather than getting rid of Moses’ Law he had come to fulfill it (citation). I grew up in the Catholic tradition and there is something to be said about a religion which prays a prayer and is done with it. I joined the Protestant traditions firstly through Catholic Charismatic Movements which are just as guilty of “verbosity” as their Protestant cousins, because in ‘house’ meetings the head of the house would stand and start praying spontaneously and especially when he was asking for something, the tone would sometimes be almost apologetic when asking for the particular intention from God. The Ministers who inspired the most confidence in me were those who could confidently stand before the Lord as He instructed us and knowing they have put on the mind of God, they confidently ask the Lord in a short and concise prayer. When He was asked by his apostles, how they should pray, he told them,

“Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.” (Matthew 6:3) This refers to people who love to get up and pray loudly so that other people can hear how devout and spiritual they are, the fact that Jesus said they already have their reward is saying that this type of prayer elicits the admiration and praise of those people within earshot, so God doesn’t need to reward it since he supplicant already has his/her reward from admirers. The next verse talks about alms-giving in the same way, keep it secret and God who sees in secret will reward.

But what about spontaneous prayer that we hear that just seems to go around and around in circles repeating the same thing over and over? Jesus also had some words for his disciples on that.

“But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” (Matthew 6:7) One can’t help but think on hearing supplicants seemingly and mindlessly repeating prayers, that this is exactly what Jesus was talking about to His disciples. Clearly one prayer can say everything that one would need to ask for. One prayer that has no repetition and copying of what the “gentiles” do when they pray. It is the prayer that has been around for 2,000 years, that is recited in every Christian Church, but I wonder if we who recite it so often really comprehend the gravity of the words we are speaking.

This prayer which is a signpost that shows the way to what Jesus meant when He said “Ask and you will receive,” because many people have earnestly asked for things and not received, so does that make the Lord a liar? Certainly not! In Pauls letter to the Ephesians he taught them to think like God, or to ask like God. “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Eph 4:23-24.) So if we are thinking like God, then we will ask for Godly things in a manner of which God approves and which God will respond to. The Lord’s Prayer or Tefilat Adonai in Hebrew is the embodiment of everything that we would ever need from our Creator. We needn’t multiply our words and come up with eloquent ways to pray or request that God intervene for us for, “Be not you therefore like to them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)

The Lord himself laid it out plainly and simply how we should pray when He told the Apostles,

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. There are some schools of thought that hold that the Gosperl of Matthew is in fact the oldest. In fact, being written before the usually credited Mark. Textual analysis of Matthew shows how it was written for Hebrews at a time when the only followers of Jesus were Jews who spoke Hebrew. Our Father is usually rendered in Hebrew as ABBA which simply means father also, but it implies a closer relationship of the son to his father and is akin to the English Dad, or daddy. In the Brit Hadasha, the Hebrew New Covenant, this line is rendered, AVINU (our Father) SHE (that is) B’SHAMAYIM (in heaven), ITKADASH (Holy is) SHEMCHA (Your name). In our mind when we say this line we show that we know who we are addressing, where He is, and how holy He is. TA’VO (come) MALCHUT’CHA (your Kingdom) YASEH (be done) RATZON’CHA (your will) B’SHAMAYIM (in heaven) CA’ASHER ( as/when) NA’ASEH (it is done) B’ERETZ (in Earth). Here we are lining up our wills with the will of God in asking for what He has promised us in that He will return and establish His Kingdom on Earth. In the next line, ET (the) LECHEM (bread) HAKENU (our legal allowance) TEN (give) L’ANU (to us) HAYOM (today). We ask here for God to provide us with whatever we need in our lives that will sustain us physically and spiritually and we can know that He will provide because we are using His own words to ask. V’MAHAL (and forgive) LANU (for us) AL_HAVOTENU (our sins) CA’ASHER (as when) MAHALENU (we forgive) GAM-ANACHNU (also our) LHIVAINU (sinners against us). Note here that we ask God to do as is His will to forgive us as/when we forgive others, and therefore if we don’t forgive then He is telling us that we cannot receive His forgiveness. The act of not forgiving effectively blocks the blessing of God’s forgiveness reaching us. And finally in the Lord’s prayer we ask to be kept safe from the evil things that come against us, V‘AL-TAVIANU (and not to lead us) L’YADAI (by the hand) N”SION (into temptation) KI (like) TACHALTZENU (our deliverance) MIN-HARA (from evil). Just like in Scripture we are told not to tempt God, here we also ask Him not to let us falter when we get tempted, or in fact not to let us be tempted at all, to be allow us to be in that situation.

This simple prayer embodies all that we need in our lives. It covers all of the precepts in the Torah that we are to Love God with all our Heart and soul and mind, and that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. The mere act of calling on God as ABBA Daddy, shows our relationship to him and our devotion. Also if we forgive our neighbors and we are forgiven in turn, this shows our love one for another. Of the three monotheistic religions in our world we can see many different types of prayer used in supplication to God. Which one then is the best one? The answer to this should be clear as He has Himself told us, for when we pray we pray like this ABBA Father.