Rowan Williams on Christian Prayer

What is the distinctive element of Christian prayer? Rowan Williams in his little book on the Christian life, called Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, contends it is calling God “Father” so that the distinctive element of Christian prayer becomes: “For the Christian, to pray — before all else — is to let Jesus’ prayer happen in you” (62). To call out “Abba, Father,” then, is the distinctive element of Christian prayer.

In praying the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father, is to learn to stand where Jesus stood and pray what he prayed. Here is a genuine theological insight: “Jesus speaks to God for us, but we speak to God in him” (62). He is perfectly attuned to the Father, so genuine prayer is to become conformed to his image and to speak what he speaks.

To pray in Christ is to utter the Lord’s prayer as the template. So Williams looks at three early Christian theologians who began with the Lord’s prayer in their reflections on prayer.

1. Origen: The whole of our life says Our Father. Origen’s little book on prayer was the first early Christian systematics of prayer. God has made us a part of how God works out the divine plan on earth. Begin with praise, end with thanksgiving and pray three times per day. The Lord’s Prayer assumes our adoption into God’s family as sons and daughters of God. As Jesus is the priest, so we enter his priesthood in prayer. Pray wherever you are, but collection of thoughts and heart is needed. Be at peace with God and others in prayer.

2. Gregory of Nyssa: prayer is about reconciliation. The Lord’s Prayer has that section on forgiveness and it is a focal point for Gregory. We ask for bread for everyone, not just ourselves. For Gregory prayer heals relations. Prayer is prompted because Christ is in us and in us Christ prompts us to pray as he prays.

3. John Cassan: he offers a desert fathers renewal perspective on prayer. Once the practical matters are taken care, prayer has four elements: supplication, commitment, intercession, and thanksgiving. When these things come together, we are on fire with the Holy Spirit. Prayer is letting God do in us what God wants done. He also taught to have a formula for undertaking prayer [mine is the Jesus Creed followed by the Lord’s Prayer].