Prayer without formulas!

Decades ago, I learned from one of my teachers the principle of praying without formulas. I made an appointment, went to his office, and shared with him something that was bothering me. My teacher heard me for nearly an hour, the time allotted for our session. As it drew near to the end, I said, “Shouldn’t we pray now that our session is almost over?” He smiled and said, “We have been praying the whole hour – you have been pouring your heart to God, and I have been seconding your pleas.” I left his office confused and thrilled. Until that day, I thought we kneeled, cupped our hands, and closed our eyes to pray. We started the prayer with “Our Father in Heaven” and closed it with “In the name of Jesus, Amen.” I felt cheated that my teacher didn’t take me through those rituals. But I was elated! I learned I could pray without kneeling, cupping my hands, and closing my eyes. I could stand, sit, walk, or be on a bus. I didn’t have to have formulas, opening, closing, and long prayers.

Rabbis taught their disciples to pray like we teach our children to pray. Seeing Jesus pray, the disciples waited for him to finish his prayer and said to him,

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples to pray” (Luke 11:1)

We hardly think of John as a rabbi, i.e., a teacher. We think of him as a man with peculiar clothing, diet, washing rituals, and warnings: “An ax is placed at the root of the trees. Every tree that doesn’t bear tasty fruit will be chopped and tossed into a fire” (Luke 3:9). But he was a rabbi with disciples – to whom he taught how to pray.

As a reply to their request, Jesus said,

“When you pray, say this: Father – May your name be holy and your rule come among us. Please give us today the food we need for today. Forgive our sins as we forgive those who are obligated to us. Do not lead us into temptation.” (Luke 11:2–4)

Those disciples would have heard Pharisees standing on street corners and praying long prayers in flowery words. Jesus’s prayer, however, was very short – 38 words that would have taken 20 seconds to say.

The introduction is comical, just one word – “Father.” Not YHWH, Adonai, El Roi, Elohim, El Shaddai, El Olam, YHWH Yireh, YHWH Rapha, YHWH Nissi, El Kanna, YHWH Shalom, Qedosh Yisrael, YHWH Tsuri, El Elyon, etc. Just “Father.”

The first two requests were for his glory – no one would defame his holy name, especially the disciples, with their words or their actions, and his rule came and replaced every other rule that existed at that time, Hebrew, Greek, and Roman.

The next three requests were personal – food for the body, forgiveness for the soul, and safeguards for the mind so that it didn’t wander off into temptations. Two of those requests had limitations: food only for that day (not to horde for following days) and forgiveness in proportion to what one was willing to forgive others.

Jesus's prayer isn't a formula for prayer but a lifestyle – we seek to sanctify God’s name by living by his rule. We seek only what we need for body, soul, and mind.