Entries in Calvin (2)
Continuity with the historic Christian church
Another reason for praying the Lord's Prayer in public worship every week is that it gives us continuity with the historic Christian church. As we look at the liturgies (orders of worship) of the historic Christian church, we find that the Lord’s Prayer has almost always been a regular part of the worship service in the patristic, medieval, and Reformation eras.
For some, the weekly practice of praying the Lord’s Prayer evokes frightening images of Roman Catholic ritualism. But we should remember that this is an historically Protestant practice. In all of the liturgies of the Reformation – the liturgies drafted by Martin Bucer (1539), John Calvin (1542), Thomas Cramner (1552), John Knox (1556) as well as others – the practice of praying the Lord’s Prayer was included as a regular part of the divine service. Like the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer was not deleted from the service by the reformers. In reforming worship, they sought to remove superstition and idolatry, but they held fast to those things that they believed were biblical and useful, not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Instead, they sought to maintain the biblical practice and instruct Christians on the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer through useful catechisms which were written, published and used for the benefit of the people.
Prayer: A Means of Grace?
Michael Brown
in Creeds & Confessions, Prayer, Calvin
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3 Comments
Whether or not prayer is a means of grace is matter that is sometimes debated in Reformed circles, often along so-called "Continental" and "British" lines. On the one hand, there is the Heidelberg Catechism (HC) with its clear statement about prayer being the "chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us" in Q.116. The HC defines prayer as part of our gratitude to God, not a means of sanctifying grace for our faith. For earlier in the Catechism, in Q.65, it specifically asks about the means of grace: "Since, then, we are made partakers of Christ and all His benefits by faith only, where does this faith come from?" A: "The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments."
There is nothing about prayer in Q.65. The HC deliberately locates prayer in the "gratitude" section of the Catechism (QQ.86-129), which follows the "guilt" (QQ.3-11) and "grace" (QQ.12-85) sections. Now, this should in no way give us the impression that the HC takes prayer lightly or regards it as unimportant for the Christian.