O Me of Little Faith by Jason Boyett

Author:Jason Boyett [Jason Boyett ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310563341
Publisher: Zondervan

If you get a chance to pray this among a community of believers, it’s a very powerful thing. The opportunities for me to pray this in church are rare, so I make it singular instead of plural: I am truly sorry and I humbly repent…I’m hoping the Episcopalians will forgive me.

I’ve altered and combined a few other prayers from the Book of Common Prayer that I pray individually for my wife and two children. The best prayers on their behalf, though, are the simple and authentic ones, like Help me. People tend to reserve that one for emergencies, but I think it works best when used frequently. As a husband, as a father—even as a writer—it’s almost always appropriate. Thank You is another all-purpose prayer. I learned it from my parents, who taught me how important it was to say thank you as often as possible. Show gratitude to grown-ups. To friends. To God. I’m trying to teach my kids the same thing.

So I’m learning to pray again, and I’m learning to pray for what seem to be the right reasons. Other than requests for grace and forgiveness and my daily bread, I hardly ask for anything anymore—especially not for myself, and especially not for the gift of tongues. I pray for my family. I do a lot of confessing, because I have not loved God with my whole heart or my neighbors as myself. I try to say thanks a lot too, because gratitude is a good weapon against doubt. It’s hard to doubt God’s existence when I keep thanking him for stuff.

But mostly I pray because Jesus prayed. He taught his disciples to pray, and I guess he’s teaching me, too. I still have to put in the effort, of course, when it comes to removing the wall, brick by brick. But the tools are not my own. They come from somewhere else—from deep traditions, from ancient communities of faith, from classic spiritual writings, from the Son of the living God.

Rather than diminish my spiritual life, praying with others’ words actually increases my faith. It gives me something to pray when I can’t generate the words myself. It teaches me humility and graciousness. It shows me that prayer is less about the attitude than the action. Praying ancient words of confession brings me to a place of repentance. Praying ancient words of gratitude somehow expands my Grinch-like heart. With liturgy, I pray my way into true prayer.

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