henribergius, Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves.<\/p>\n
The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying that we shouldn\u2019t call attention to our charity, but rather do it in secret, Jesus tells his disciples to pray the same way. \u201cAnd when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites,\u201d he says; \u201cfor they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. . . . But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you\u201d (Matt 6.5-6).<\/p>\n
Jesus directs his followers to pray in private, but he also assumes a certain togetherness, a community. Immediately after giving this correction, Jesus teaches us the Lord\u2019s Prayer, the first word of which (at least in English) is our<\/em>: \u201cOur Father, who art in Heaven.\u201d Not my<\/em>, but our<\/em>. That possessive pronoun indicates that we are not alone when we pray. The rest of the prayer follows suit, always using \u201cus,\u201d and never \u201cme.\u201d We call on God with others, even though we do it by ourselves in secret. <\/p>\nJohn Chrysostom draws out this point and elaborates it. We \u201cmake our prayer common, in behalf of our brethren also,\u201d he says. In praying the Lord\u2019s Prayer we take our brother and sister\u2019s needs upon our hearts and tongues and even assume their presence as we pray. The individual Christian \u201coffers up his supplications for the body [of Christ] in common, and nowhere look[s] to his own, but everywhere to his neighbor\u2019s good.\u201d The church is not divided. Rather, says Chrysostom, \u201cwe are all of us fellows . . . we are all of us knit together\u201d (Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew<\/em> 19.6).<\/p>\nThis strikes me as a powerful corrective to selfishness and ambition. Not only do we refrain from public spectacle that would amplify our apparent (but false) piety in the eyes of others, but even when we pray secretly we put others before ourselves. We may be alone in our living room in the early-morning hours, may be sitting in our car in traffic, may be out for a quiet walk, but we are invited, even directed, in those moments of solitude to hold up our brothers and sisters in Christ. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur<\/em> Father,\u201d we start, continuing with \u201cGive us<\/em> this day our daily bread; and forgive us<\/em> our debts, as we<\/em> also have forgiven our<\/em> debtors; and lead us<\/em> not into temptation, but deliver us<\/em> from evil.\u201d<\/p>\nThere is no room for conceit or ego here, nor pride or selfish concern. Christian prayer is a family affair and assumes the reality of the church, the reality of our togetherness, the reality of our being knit one to another, as Chrysostom says. Even in private, we come before God as a people. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying that we shouldn\u2019t call attention to our charity, but rather do it in secret, Jesus tells his disciples to pray the same way. \u201cAnd when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1270,"featured_media":3910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[133,365,671,678],"class_list":["post-3909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prayer-2","tag-community","tag-john-chrysostom","tag-the-church","tag-the-lords-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n
A community of prayer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A community of prayer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-30T12:09:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-11T11:45:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/276\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/\",\"name\":\"A community of prayer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-30T12:09:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-11T11:45:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c\"},\"description\":\"Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A community of prayer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/\",\"name\":\"Joel J. Miller\",\"description\":\"Where Christian Theology Meets Daily Life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c\",\"name\":\"Joel J. Miller\",\"description\":\"I'm the author of Lifted by Angels, a look at angels through the eyes of the early church. Click here for more about me or subscribe to my RSS here.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/author\/jmiller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A community of prayer","description":"Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A community of prayer","og_description":"Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/","og_site_name":"Joel J. Miller","article_published_time":"2012-05-30T12:09:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-11T11:45:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"240","height":"240","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/276\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joel J. Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joel J. Miller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/","name":"A community of prayer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-30T12:09:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-11T11:45:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c"},"description":"Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn\u2019t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A community of prayer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/","name":"Joel J. Miller","description":"Where Christian Theology Meets Daily Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c","name":"Joel J. Miller","description":"I'm the author of Lifted by Angels, a look at angels through the eyes of the early church. Click here for more about me or subscribe to my RSS here.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/author\/jmiller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Community](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/276\/2012\/05\/community-of-prayer.jpg\")
<\/a>