Which prayer is best: spontaneous prayer or prepared prayer? Which prayer is most effective: the deeply-felt utterance, sent like an arrow directly from the heart? Or a carefully prepared, thought-filled, written prayer? Which is more meaningful?

I feel the tension between these polarized perspectives when I listen to Christians around me. In a previous blog, I suggested that prayer is primarily a matter of showing up—that’s all. Whereas Eugene Peterson argues persuasively that the bedrock of praying is praying the Psalms through every month (p. 105 in Under the Unpredictable Plant). A person recently told me, “I’m petrified to pray extemporaneously. I only pray when Continue reading →