Why pray with a book?

- The Rev. John Beddingfield

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Among the many ways of praying, one particularly Anglican way of praying is to use a Prayer Book.  But why would one want to use a book to pray?  If prayer is supposed to be natural, as natural as talking to a parent or a loved one, then why do we need a book to help us pray?  Wouldn’t it be better and more faithful simply to sit in a quiet place and say whatever words come into our mind?  Well, maybe.  The trouble is that for most of us, our minds tend to wander.  I don’t know about you, but for me, before long, I run out of words and then I get bored or discouraged and begin to think there’s something wrong with me because I can’t seem to come up with creative, interesting or beautiful prayers.  Sometimes when this happens, I begin to realize that I am spending more time worrying about prayer than I am actually praying! 

Using a prayer book, especially the Book of Common Prayer, helps me to focus.  It helps me to pray.  Because I do not have to create the prayers, or find the right words, I am freed up to pray as the Holy Spirit directs me to pray.  When I use the Prayer Book, I am reminded in a powerful way that other people are praying with me.  Whether they are praying at the exact time as I am does not really matter.  What matters and what feeds my spirit is the knowledge that generations of people have prayed the same words I am praying.  When my faith is strong, I am able to pray with great confidence that God is hearing my prayers.  When my faith is weak, I am still able to pray the words of the Prayer Book because I know that there are others whose faith is still strong who are praying these same words.  Their prayers lift me up and protect me until I am again in a better place.

Though we can pray and do pray anywhere and everywhere, there is a different quality to our prayer when we pray together.  There is a different quality to our prayers when they are lifted up before the altar, our prayers mingling with the prayers of those who have come before us and with those who will come after.