As a disclaimer I do not have
a charismatic bone in my body, it’s just not part of my makeup. During my
visits to charismatic churches I’m becoming more and more aware of public prayer
needs and requests that are cocooned in the name of the Lord. “Yes Lord…And
Lord we ask you…And Lord we know…Please Lord…Help us Lord…Hear us Lord.” It’s
as though the name of the Lord has become a mantra within the prayer. Stylistically
speaking, with emphasis added in italics, the model prayer taught by Jesus would
sound something like, “‘Our Father in heaven, Father hallowed be your name Father,
your kingdom come Father,
Father your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven Father. Father give us today our daily bread. Father forgive us our
debts, Father as we also have
forgiven our debtors. And Father
lead us not into temptation, but Father
deliver us from the evil one’” (Matt 6:9-13 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Some people need a lot of emotion in their religious experience. To them, if something is real, then it can be felt. So, even though the Lord is quite aware they are addressing Him, repeating the person of address over and over and over sensationalizes their pitch to Him, at least in their own hearts. I’m rather opposite. I need a lot of information in my religious experience, because to me, if something is real it has definition, aspect, and form, whether physical form or spiritual form. So I muck up my prayers with concepts and ideas as expressive of the realities I’m addressing as possible.
-----Either way, though, prayer is a succession of requests. As such, the appellate nominative is usually left absent when the context supplies it. You demonstrated the direct supplying of it in the Lord’s prayer with a noun. It could also be demonstrated with the second person pronoun, “…you give us today our daily bread. You forgive us our debts…you lead us not…you deliver us…” The substance of the prayer remains the same.
-----And that might be the problem. Whether garnished with emotion or information, prayer is an address to the Lord regarding relevant issues of reality. That substance can be embellished either way, and it will yet be delivered to the Lord. But when the substance of the prayer is a show, its embellishment with either emotion or information merely makes it more gaudy. In the end, it remains a show, probably on a channel the Lord isn’t watching.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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