How to pray: rote or freestyle?

On Sunday I read a prayer from a  prayer book before we participated in the Lord's Supper. In the church I grew up in, prayers that were read were considered to be "not as spiritual" as prayers a person prayed, to borrow a phrase from the music industry, freestyle. The freestyle prayer (a prayer prayed spontaneously) was considered to be "from the heart" and thus more spiritual (and more effective). The rote prayer (a prayer read from a prayer book) was considered not as spiritual because it was being read and didn't come from the Holy Spirit.

I never thought much about it till I was about 28 years old. I really wasn't an opponent of rote prayers but at the same time I also hadn't truly embraced them. They were something that I knew existed but I never really thought much about. While visiting a friend who was stationed with the US Army in England I stumbled across a copy of the English Book of Common Prayer (BCP) in a book store. It was about 30 years old at the time. I purchased it and still have it today. The Book of Common Prayer is the prayer book the Church of England uses. Now certainly, I was not and am not in agreement with all the doctrine/practices of the Church of England. However, the book made an impact on my views on prayer. Specifically what is and isn't proper regarding how Christians pray. After reading the BCP I searched on the Internet for more about rote prayers and found many rote prayers at this site: www.ccel.org/

As I read the rote prayers in the BCP on on the ccel.org  I was astonished to find that I had been misled by some in the church of my youth. Contrary to what I had been led to believe, the written prayers I read were Biblical, powerful, and heartfelt. I began to pray some of these written prayers and found them helpful in reminding me of things I wanted to pray for and helping me to pray without saying "um" a million times in the space of ten minutes of prayer.

Back in church I started listening to the prayers prayed from the pulpit and by church members. Despite the fact that my fellow parishioners were praying "freestyle" prayers which were supposed to be more "Spirit-filled" I noticed that many of the prayers I heard (prayer to open the service, prayer for offering, prayer for the sermon, prayer for healing, etc) sounded nearly exactly the same each week. So I thought, How different is that than reading a rote prayer?" The answer of course was there is no difference! A meaningful prayer is not defined by it being rote or freestyle. It is defined in part as a true prayer by being Bible based, showing a clear love for God by the petitioner in the prayer, and clearly demonstrating the the dependence of the petitioner on God for the answer. When we read one of the original "prayer books" we see a shepherd boy who later became a king demonstrating these qualities in his prayers. We call that prayer book Psalms today.

Here is a copy of the prayer I read on Sunday:

I bless thee for the means of grace;
   teach me to see in them thy loving purposes
    and the joy and strength of my soul.
Thou hast prepared for me a feast;
   and though I am unworthy to sit down as guest,
     I wholly rest on the merits of Jesus,
   and hide myself beneath his righteousness;
When I hear his tender invitation
   and see his wondrous grace,
I cannot hesitate, but must come to thee in love. By thy spirit enliven my faith rightly to discern
   and spiritually to apprehend the Saviour.
While I gaze upon the emblems of
     my Saviour’s death,
   may I ponder why he died, and hear him say,
     ‘I gave my life to purchase yours,
      presented myself an offering to expiate your sin,
      shed my blood to blot out your guilt,
      opened my side to make you clean,
      endured your curses to set you free,
      bore your condemnation to satisfy divine justice.’
Oh may I rightly grasp the breadth and length
     of this design,
   draw near, obey, extend the hand,
   take the bread, receive the cup,
   eat and drink, testify before all men
     that I do for myself, gladly, in faith,
       reverence and love, receive my Lord,
     to be my life, strength, nourishment, joy, delight.
In the supper I remember his eternal love,
     boundless grace, infinite compassion,
     agony, cross, redemption,
    and receive assurance of pardon, adoption, life, glory.
As the outward elements nourish my body,
    so may thy indwelling Spirit invigorate
       my soul,
    until that day when I hunger and thirst
       no more,
    and sit with Jesus at his heavenly feast.

(Taken from ‘The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers,’ edited by Arthur Bennett)