As believers of Christ we have freedom to pray with words that come from our heart and to pray scripture to the Lord. But what about rote prayers?

 

The word ‘rote’ entails learning something by repetition usually without comprehension or understanding. We could learn our math tables by rote and not really understand how to calculate the price of groceries without a calculator. We could say The Pledge of Allegiance or the beginning of the Gettysburg Address or even memorize vast portions of scripture verses, but if we don’t understand what we’re saying or believe it, what’s the value? Does that seem like a good way to converse with God?

 

But memorizing something doesn’t have to make it worthless. Memorization is one way of committing a truth to heart. You might have memorized your wedding vows and probably remember at least some portion of them yet today. Repetition doesn’t make perfect but it makes things permanent. Repeating a memorized truth helps to embed it into our daily life.

 

I’ve known folks who say the same words at every meal to give thanks to God for their food. While you might not follow that ‘rote’ routine, do you think God minds if they’re a sincere expression of the heart? Likewise, if written prayers composed by others speak the truth in our hearts, we shouldn’t be afraid to use them in our prayer life.

 

Martin Luther recommended praying the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments in a personalized way. Many find praying the 23rd Psalm draws them closer to God and expresses what their own words fail to say. So can other written prayers. Consider committing some of these prayers to memory or adapt them to fit your conversational style:

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life. (Attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi)

 

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. (Attributed to Mother Teresa; adapted)

 

And have we ever really outgrown our childhood prayer?
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep: May God guard me through the night And wake me with the morning light. Amen.” (Traditional)

 
One of my favorite rote prayers comes from the musical Godspell:
“Lord help me to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly, day by day.”

 

Memorizing rote prayers or even scripture doesn’t make you holy. But it might help you draw closer to God, which is the purpose of all prayer.

Be blessed.