Prayer and scripture: templates for praying

The Building Bridges Seminar undertook a close reading of two key prayer templates - for Christians, the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:5-15; Luke 11:1-13); for Muslims, al-Fdtiha, the first sura (verse) of the Qur’an. In her discourse on the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer taught by Jesus, Susan Eastman (2013) focussed on the naming of God as “Our Father”; the coming of the Kingdom; surrender to the

Will of God; together with references to the economy of God and deliverance from evil. Eastman remarked that the Lord’s Prayer “expresses and confers a bifocal vision that simultaneously sees both the ‘near’ horizon of present and concrete human experience, and the ‘far’ horizon of the future reign of God” (Eastman 2013, 82). This prayer is full of metaphor and theological dynamics (cf. Pratt 1998). Eastman concluded that the meaning of the Prayer is found “in the shape and direction of Jesus’ own life, and in Jesus’ identity as Emmanuel, God with us”, and that it “expresses the central movement of his life: surrender to God’s will and deliverance from evil for all humanity” (Eastman 2013, 89). But the Lord’s Prayer, although taking pride of place, is not the only template, or guide, given in scripture. Philip Seddon (2013) identified, alongside the Lord’s Prayer, a number of other scriptural sources of Christian prayer including

Jesus’s own prayer (‘Abba, Father’), . . . his final prayer before his death in John 17 (the High-Priestly Prayer), and the hymns of praise in the book of Revelation, as well as many passages in the New Testament letters, quite apart from its immense debt to the Old Testament.

(Eastman 2013, 100)

Rkia Elraoui Cornell noted that al-Fatiha is both the Quranic “opener” and the validation of all Muslim prayer: omit it, and Islamic prayer is invalidated, for it is “through prayer that the believer’s commitment to God is validated” (Cornell 2013, 92). This prayer is focussed on three conceptual points: the divinity, lordship, and limitless mercy of God. It commences with the preliminary bis-mala (‘in the name of God’), so situating it in the context of honouring the deity. The prayer proper then continues with the motif of praise and honour and affirms, in verse 3, the motifs of mercy and beneficence as defining marks of deity, whose sovereignty is likewise affirmed and exalted. This highlights the rationale for the response of worship, and the utter dependency of the human upon the Divine. The prayer closes with a supplication for guidance in order to be in tune with, or to walk, the “straight way” or path of the Divine Will, in contrast to those who have been led astray and are now lost. For Cornell, prayer assists in making explicit and real “the contingent nature of the world and the realization that God is the ultimate Reality (al-Haqq)” (Cornell 2013, 92). In short, Al-Fatiha serves as a reminder and affirmation of the abundant mercy and absolute praiseworthiness of God; of the sovereignty and singular unity of God; and that it is to God first and foremost that the human being looks for guidance. It “sums up the message of the Qur’an, which embodies the Islamic faith as a whole” (Cornell 2013, 97).

Kenneth Cragg (2006) pointed out that, in the different languages of the two faiths, the words “call”, “name”, and “call upon” or “pray to”, are often used together. They point in the direction of a “guiding theology” of prayer and, in the context of scriptural references, indicate patterns and templates for prayer. So, for example, in Islam (Sura 2:186) the nearness of God is expressed in the context of assurance of divine presence accompanying the act of prayer. The issue is not dogmatic explanations such as a description of God; rather to know that God is nearby and will “hear” the prayers and needs expressed. Allied to this is the question about the language in which believers speak about God and about the extent of God’s mercy, which leads into the debate of human injustice and sin. Sin against God, sin against the other and sin against myself are three different sins that Islam distinguishes. These affect our prayer not only in confession but also in acknowledging what our sins evokes for the community. But before we can pray to God, we must find out how to ask for God. In the Bible, Job, for instance, asks where God can be found, not whether God exists (Job 23:3). If a prayer is something that can be “received” and understood, then there must be a recipient, who is able to be understood (God), and those who can understand (namely, those who pray). For Cragg, we cannot pray without any idea of to whom we pray or in whom we pray. The Qur’an sees God as a God who wants us to use the capacity of our brain and our hands. Does the prayer take our responsibility in the world given by God into account? This God-given but very human capacity must be the will to pray. Thus, the believer, the one at prayer, must pray for illumination and wisdom, but also include contrition about the mistakes that have been done. The act of prayer is not undertaken in order to get something, but to recognise ourselves as God’s subject: it is an exercise in proper humility.

Also present at the Theological Forum, Andreas Obermann (2006) explored different dimensions of prayer through the lens of biblical material. The Lord’s Prayer, as a leading template of prayer, has two important aspects: the use of “father” language to situate the act of prayer in trustful openness and transparency, and the structural move from a God-ward orientation to focussing upon the world within which the one at prayer exists. Prayer must take God seriously, for God already “knows” people’s needs, sorrows, wishes, and gratitude. Further, Obermann observed the contextual bidding, “your kingdom come” (113), opens the horizon for hope and leads to the perception of the present and an eschatological future. Prayer represents the intense relationship between God and people. Supplication and intercessory prayer have an impact on the self-understanding and the worldview of the praying person who is enabled thereby to see the world from the perspective of the just, merciful and gracious God. Hence Christians at prayer find the centre of their existence beyond themselves, namely in the God who requires an exercise of responsibility toward that which God has created - fellow humans and the world in which all live. From the biblical perspective, prayer is a special situation of communication.