In a two-part series, Austin Rickett’s explores the depths of prayer: it’s difficulty, discipline, and delight.

by Austin Ricketts

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(Part 2  found here)

The Conception of a Discipline

When I first decided to attempt a spiritual discipline, I thought that I would do something with worship. I was going to try to see God wherever I could. Maybe I would notice His handiwork in the sunset of the day. Perhaps His provision in my life would be evident in the cheeseburger I was eating at the time. Possibly God was allowing me to relax with the advent of an overcast and drizzly day, which often instills a somber mood within me.

As I set out to begin this experiment, I was joyfully hindered. It seemed as though the Lord was saying, “Find something new, you already practice this discipline quite often.” And so, I decided to take God’s advice because I hear that He’s omniscient, therefore He probably knows what He’s talking about. Without much hesitation I moved on to something new.

The Miracle of Birth

It wasn’t hard to move on because I had an idea welling up inside of my head that had been there, if only dimly, for some time. I wanted to pray more effectively. Not that my prayers would be any more efficacious from the standpoint and outworking of God, but I wanted more discipline and I needed more structure. From this notion, I started to develop my previously infantile idea and it began to move toward pubescence.

Somewhere in the early stages of my idea—between post partum and pre-natal—I realized that I love church Liturgies and that I could combine this love with the pattern of prayer. Ahh! Relief! The baby has left the incubator. It’s time to go home.

I would indeed pray according to the structure of a Reformed Church’s Liturgy. This may mean rearranging or perhaps renaming parts of the Liturgy in order to make it fit, but this was an exciting proposal. I was on to something.

Changing the Diapers

The standard Liturgy of the Reformed Church consists of the following segments in chronological order: the Invocation, the Lord’s Prayer, the Salutation, the reading of the Law, General Confession, General Absolution, Psalter readings, lessons from the Old and then New Testaments, a General Prayer, a Sermon, the Benediction and some hymns sprinkled in between. This looked like a good pattern to follow, however some things necessitated a change if only to make the process flow more smoothly.

One change would involve the singing of hymns. Though I often had the tune of some inspiring hymn in my head during my prayer times, I did not proceed to actually sing the entirety of Amazing Grace, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, or any other hymn during this time. Although, now that I look back, I may seriously decide to do this in the future. I also chose not to include readings from the Psalter, a General Prayer, or lessons from either the Old or New Testaments.

Then there comes the Sermon. It would, of course, not really make sense to have a sermon in the middle of a private prayer, yet the sermon is such an integral part of the Liturgy. In fact it’s generally the most anticipated part of the entire Liturgy. After much thought, I decided to replace the sermon with what most people would consider the integral part of any normal prayer, the petitions and pleas to God Almighty. Now, with a clean idea, I was ready to continue. . .

in the next post: Raising Cain and Adulthood?

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