Daily Prayer
Midweek Lenten Service 1
February 21, 2018
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Having heard the Word of the God, the most natural response of a Christian is to pray, that is, to speak back to God. Yet one of the aspects of the Christian life that most people struggle with is prayer. Whether it be not knowing what to say, or how to say it, or how to make the time. We know we are to pray without ceasing, as St. Paul encourages in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Easier said that done. One who does not learn to pray habitually at set times does not tend to make progress in the art of praying at all times. From the earliest days, God’s people have recognized two times when it is especially important to pray: morning and evening. The beginning and the end of the day, when we get up and before we lie down, are two activities that mark human life.
It’s no accident that Luther composed prayers for just these occasions, his morning prayer and evening prayer. These are not wholly original. He models his prayers on those in the Roman breviary, a daily prayer and service book, purging those prayers of their moralistic content and focusing on the God who has saved us and still preserves us. In these prayers we see elements of the first article of the Creed, the second commandment and the Lord’s Prayer.
The purpose is simply to help children (and adults) understand how our lives are to be ordered by prayer. Even the apostles felt the need to ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and Jesus gave them a form to follow in the Lord’s Prayer, a form which the church uses to this day. As we look at the morning and evening prayers we see the rhythm of the Christian life played out.
In the morning, Luther says, make the sign of the cross and invoke the name of the Triune God. The sign of the cross is an ancient gesture confessing to whom we belong, that we are marked with the cross and God’s name at our Baptism, and marked at the grave. Rising in the morning each day, we are encouraged to make the sign and invoking the name of God in whom we live, move, and have our being. It’s interesting that the German of the Small Catechism reads slightly different than our English and could be translated a little more literally: The power of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen. The power to make it through the day, comes from our Triune God and not from ourselves. For where God has placed His name, He has placed Himself.
Then say the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. We say back to God in summary what He has said to us, we confess our faith, reminding ourselves to whom we pray and what this Triune God has done, still does and will continue to do. Then, pray the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us. The morning prayer which follows specifically thanks God for His protection the previous night and asks Him to keep us from evil during the coming day. Luther then suggests that Christians then joyfully go about their day’s work, entering into it with a hymn to the Ten Commandments or whatever one’s devotion may suggest. Here we see Luther acknowledging that the law serves as a guide to the Christian as they go about their daily task. What could be more joyful in our life in this world than, by God’s power, living our lives in accordance with His will?
When evening comes, as we retire for the night, Luther provides a routine in similar form. Again, it begins with thanks to God that He has kept us from harm and danger. While the day begins with a prayer that our doings and life may please Him, the evening prayer includes the petition that He would forgive all our sins where we have done wrong. Confession of sin, therefore, may and should be made directly to God, as well as confessed to one another so that verbal absolution can be given. If you’re married, or if you have children, do not let the sun go down when there is something between you. Confess your sins, forgive the sins of others, and commend your lives and your rest to the Lord.
The morning and evening prayers reflect the rhythm of daily life. We begin each day thanking God for His protection and praying that we might live the day in a way which is pleasing to Him. Then at night we pray for forgiveness for those things we have done wrong, for even though we are His children we still sin daily. Only when we remember this and know that we have forgiveness can we, as Luther puts it, lie down and sleep in peace.
Evening and morning are not the only times to pray, of course. Luther also provides prayer to be used “at the table,” that is, at meals. He saw it important to both ask for a blessing as one is about to eat, and then to give thanks after the meal is over. Prayer before eating begins with verses from Psalm 145, “The eyes of all look to you …,” acknowledging God as the giver of food, not just to us human beings, but to every living thing. Saying He “satisfies the desires of every living thing,” means that we recognize we have from Him all we need, therefore there is no need either for greed or anxiety. In view of this, we then pray the Lord’s Prayer, which includes the petition asking for daily bread, then asking God to bless us and to bless the gifts He is giving to us. Then, following the meal, a prayer of thanks is to be said, also based on the Psalms, and including the Lord’s Prayer. One might see here that good manners toward God prevail, as before the meal we say “please,” and after the meal we say “thank you.”
Morning and evening, at meal times, provide a simple, practical framework for prayer and thanksgiving to spill out into the rest of our lives. It teaches us to train our eyes to see what is in front of us, whether it be a new day or the rest of sleep or those things needed for this body and life, and to recognize the hand of God the Giver and Protector, to give Him thanks, and to call upon in all times of trial or need.
So, memorize prayers that are informed by Scripture. They provide words, and faith, and comfort, and hope, for any and all situations in life. Memorize by repetition, teach it to yourself and others by doing it. It’s that simple.