Prayer: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
Anne Bradstreet


I have been a believing Christian since 1948. That makes 56 years of attending church, prayer meetings and so forth. I must be nearing a record in pew sitting. In fact, my parents took me to church, Sunday school, Wednesday night services and revivals since birth.

This means that I have seen a lot of attempts to get God to help us through prayer. Some attempts have been beautiful and some much less than that.

In 1983 I visited a residential college at Oxford, England and attended Anglican services with students from the house. The leader was Lesslie Newbigin, a famous retired missionary whose classical English made the beautiful Shakespearian liturgy a wonder to behold. The Eucharist (Holy Communion)filled me with awe of God and of His word.


There are, however, some prayers that leave us with more stress than peace. Some preachers equate beauty and planning with a lack of passion and adopt the belief that "Anything is good enough for God".

Some prayers have been written during duress or pain and drag us deeper into pessimism rather than lighten our load.

I have a proposal. Send me your nominations for "The Worst Prayers Ever". I will report them to readers as a way to avoid bad prose. I will put the offending intercessions on this blog for all the world to see.

I will some day entertain nominations for the best prayers but not yet. I have several great prayers in my files but I want to hear the bad ones first so we can experience winter before we enjoy spring.

David sometimes prayed some that evil would befall bad people when he was angry about his enemies. Jesus straightened us out on that score by saying we need to "Bless those who curse us and pray for those who despitefully use us". Jesus thought it was time to stop all that "Eye for an eye" thinking.

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What is a bad prayer?

He is not only dull in himself, but the cause of dullness in others. Samuel Foote, from the Cathedral of Lubeck, Germany

It violates faith, hope and love.
It drains rather than builds.