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Lutherans and Prayer

© John L. Hoh, Jr.

The irony of Lutheran prayer is that Lutherans seem not to do it well. Why this is, I'm not sure. Certainly we can blame the Pietistic influence, but then again, wouldn't Pietism have endorsed prayer as part of holy living over and above the Word and Sacraments? Maybe it's the fear that we'll become like the Reformed, where prayer is an expression of a "holy life" and we don't want to be too showy. Or it could be the matter of fellowship and somehow we shouldn't pray with non-Lutherans as some strict interpreters interpret things.

Prayer with Luther was an important element. He was known to spend ONE HOUR every DAY in prayer. He also claimed that the more that he had to do, the more he prayed. Certainly it was a pause that helped him communicate with his Creator and Savior and prioritize the many tasks and draw from the strength of his God.

And prayer was important that he wrote a tract. The tract is entitled "A Simple Way to Pray." It is available through Northwestern Publishing House. It was written to Peter the Barber, Luther's barber in Wittenberg who had killed his son-in-law in a drunken stupor and was exiled from Wittenberg. Peter asked a very valid question:

"Dr. Luther, you know how to pray. You're a learned man. But what about us simple folk. We're not trained. How can we pray?" It does sound like the disciples' question to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray." That question by the disciples is what led to Jesus teaching us the Lord's Prayer.

Luther then wrote this tract. It is actually a companion to the Small Catechism, as Luther tells us how he prays by following the doctrines in the Catechism. No wonder it took Luther an hour to pray every day!

In the coming weeks this forum will be looking at Luther's thoughts on prayer and what we pray for and why we pray.

As for the six year old asking for ice cream? Oh, if we had the faith and the boldness to ask our Heavenly Father as that little boy asked, we might be amazed at what God accomplishes in our lives! That boy had confidence in going to his Heavenly Father as he would go to his earthly father in asking for-ice cream! And doesn't Jesus tells to approach God, saying, "Abba, Father?" What this means is that we can come in prayer to our heavenly daddy! And no request is too large or too small for the ears of our heavenly Father.