There are so many things in Creation that revolve around the number three. We, ourselves, are tri-partite beings: body, soul, and spirit. We believe that God also is Trinitarian in that He is three “persons” (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) in One God. We are, of course, an ecclesiastical body that believes in Three Streams of Worship: the Evangelical, the Charismatic, and the Sacramental. It only makes sense that prayer itself could also be divided into three categories. Our beliefs on prayer embrace Three Streams of Worship. We embrace Evangelical prayer, Charismatic Prayer, and Sacramental (or Liturgical) Prayer.
Evangelical Prayer
To be “Evangelical” means that, among other things, you embrace the ευαγγελιον (evangelion). The word itself is a combination of the Greek words ev (“eu” in English, meaning “good” or “great,” as in eulogy, euphoria, euphemism, and, or course, Eucharist) and angelion (meaning “message” or “news”). To be Evangelical means that we subscribe to the “Good News.” It means that we believe the Gospel is the Truth. It means that we take Our Lord Jesus Christ quite seriously when he says:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (St. Matthew 7:7-12; See also St. Luke 11:9-13)
Or when Our Lord says,
“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (St. John 14:13-14)
And even when St. James, the brother of Our Lord, declares:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (St. James 1:5)
Evangelical prayer is prayer in which we embrace what Our Lord and His disciples have taught us about praying to God the Father. It means we may go into God’s presence and have dialogue with Him and petition Him on behalf of ourselves and others. We may communicate with Him as we would speak with our own Father because He, of course, is “Our Father.”
Charismatic Prayer
Springing from our Evangelical embrace of the truth of the Gospels, we also embrace the teachings of Saint Paul when he says,
“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Galatians 4:6)
And,
“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” (I Corinthians 14:2)
Saint Paul explains the benefit of praying in tongues when he states,
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)
The Apostles expands this by saying,
“Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” (I Corinthians 14:13-15)
The purpose of Charismatic prayer, also known as Spirit-led prayer or praying in tongues, is to allow the Holy Spirit, who is infinitely wiser than we are, to take over our prayers and intercede to the Father on our behalf.
Liturgical Prayer
Liturgical prayer is a stumbling block for some Christians. Many who steadfastly refuse to recite “(pre-)written prayers” cite Our Lord’s words in St. Matthew’s Gospel wherein Jesus states, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (6:7) Those who quote this verse typically fail to notice that in the next verses, Our Lord gives “The Lord’s Prayer” to His Apostles saying, “When you pray, pray like this…” (See St. Matthew 6:9-13) The problem with recited prayers is not that they are repeated, it is that they, on occasion, may lend themselves to being repeated in vain. If the heart is in the right place, liturgical prayers are tremendously valuable and Our Lord Himself prayed in that manner.
We know that Our Lord presided over the Passover with His Apostles (St. Matthew 26:17-19; St. Mark 14:14-16; St. Luke 22:7-15; and St. John 13). Saints Matthew and Mark state that, after they had celebrated the Passover, “when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (26:30; 14:26) This hymn of which the evangelists speak is most likely the “Hallel,” songs of praise that are taken from Psalms 113-118. These Psalms are used on various occasions but, on the Passover, Psalm 136 (which specifically mentions the Exodus) is included with the Hallel Psalms. Thus Our Lord not only taught His Apostles the first Christian liturgical prayer and participated in Jewish liturgical prayers, but also repeated multiple whole Psalms, most likely by memory! I challenge anyone to say that what Our Lord did, He did in vain.
Assuming that our heart is in the right place, our contemporary liturgical prayer can be a profound spiritual exercise. If we look at the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer we see that they are chock full of Scripture. Almost the entire Book of Psalms is repeated every seven weeks (seven times in a year), the Gospels and the Epistles each are repeated yearly, and the entire Old Testament is read every two years. All of the Canticles (except for two) are taken from passages in Holy Scripture (there are fourteen Canticles all together). The responsory suffrages and opening acclamations are all taken from the Psalms and even the infamous “May the Lord be with you” is taken from II Thessalonians 3:16 and Ruth 2:4.
The benefits of liturgical prayers are three-fold (appropriately enough). First, liturgical prayer is time spent in fellowship with God which is, in and of itself, beneficial. Secondly, it steeps and infuses the soul with the Word of God. Liturgical prayer is so much praying the Holy Scriptures that, when engaged in as a regular practice, Holy Scripture practically becomes part of one’s vocabulary. When you pick up the writings of the Early Church Fathers, you find every paragraph full of scriptural references. These were men who were so deep into the Scriptures through their rigorous participation in the liturgical prayer of the Early Church that Holy Scripture became their vocabulary. Thirdly, liturgical prayers build up and train the spirit. Just as an athlete or martial artist drills so repetitively that they may perform reflexively (this is sometimes called “muscle memory”), a Christian who regularly prays liturgical prayers is training their spirit that it might also react reflexively when called upon to do so (I refer to it as “spirit memory”). In a time of crisis, a Christian who has regularly practices liturgical prayer may fall back on a prayer they have prayed a thousand times without even thinking about them. It comes forth from their spirit as naturally and reflexively as the martial artist blocks a punch and the quarterback throws a pass.
The Holy Mystery of Prayer
“Liturgical” and “Sacramental” are not always interchangeable. Something is liturgical when it pertains to the “work of the people,” worship, which needs not always be sacramental. Responsive prayers at a Bible study may be liturgical but not sacramental. It could even be argued that Alcoholics Anonymous meetings have their own liturgies of sorts, although they are not sacramental. Sacramental refers to something involving a Holy Mystery, a work of God not truly or fully comprehensible to man. Thus, Sacraments are usually liturgical, but liturgies need not always be sacramental.
One could look at liturgical prayer and deem it non-sacramental, but this is not the case. Here is the Holy Mystery in liturgical prayer, practices to its fullest: Liturgical Prayer, when fully lived out, manifests all three streams of worship. When liturgical prayers are drawn from Holy Scripture and especially the Holy Gospels, a Christian is literally praying “the Good News.” He or she is speaking directly to the Father, interceding and using words taken, in some cases, directly from the Gospels themselves. This is evangelical prayer at its pinnacle. When prayers are prayed with a right heart so regularly that they become part of one’s spirit, then it may be that the Spirit prays even when one’s mind is elsewhere. If the Holy Spirit is praying through us using the words of the Holy Gospel then this is charismatic prayer in its finest. If liturgical prayer allows us to pray evangelically and charismatically, then what goes on in the context of those liturgical prayers may truly be considered a Holy Mystery encompassing all Three Streams of worship into a time of prayer.
Conclusion
One need not necessarily pray in all three modes in order to be saved. Just as one may worship God without worshipping in the fullness of the Three Streams, one may also pray without praying in all Three Streams. However, just as one who does not worship in all Three Streams is missing the fullness of the worship experience, one who neglects a stream of prayer is also missing the fullness of the prayer experience.
