Transcript of lecture by Archangel —, professor of human prayer, Faculty of Human Behavior, Trinity University, author of heavenly best-seller Humans in Prayer: What They Say and What They Mean.

(Human prayer is a complex issue, and the subject is only available as a 300-level option for young cherubs who wish to graduate as seraphs and work for the Department of Prayer Transcription.)

In this lecture we will turn our attention to the subject of human public prayer, which is quite different from personal prayer or private prayer.

There are various kinds of public prayer: the main prayer during the church service, as well as the silent prayers, benedictions, and liturgical prayers; grace said before meals; and prayers to open administrative meetings of religious bodies (such as church board meetings).

Today’s lecture will focus on church prayers. Again there are various styles. They are usually three to five minutes long, although some human pray-ers have mastered the art of "Around the World in Eighty Minutes," touching on every part of the world in an extended monologue. Transcription of such prayers is easier than you may fear, as we have a master form that allows you to fill in the routine details quite quickly.

But first, you must remember that humans are more conscious of themselves and of each other than they are of God, even when praying. Humans perceive themselves as being more real than spiritual beings. Their concept of us is quite vague, because we are beyond their imagination.

For this reason, public prayers are ostensibly addressed to God the Father, or to God the Son, whom they call Jesus, but frequently their actual audience is the human congregation. For this reason, public prayers often tell God things he already knows. We angels can find the tone of these kind of public prayers quite condescending, as if the humans are informing God of something new. But we mustn’t misunderstand. The great details about someone who is ill, for example, or lengthy theological expositions, are not attempts to fill in God, but to inform the congregation, who may not know all the details. Do not mistranscribe their intent.

Perhaps if we look at one example, we may clarify some other mysteries of human public prayer. Here is one from this very weekend. It begins "Devenlyfa." Now, where on the planet does this prayer come from? Yes? Quite right, Australia. Because the introductory "Dear Heavenly Father" is used so habitually, they often forget that they are addressing the Almighty, and so the words are half swallowed in the characteristically Australian manner.

The next line of the prayer is, "We come before thee on bended knee." Now this is an interesting feature that you must understand if you are to pass on to God the true meaning of their prayer. Many humans still address God in seventeenth-century English, a habit that fortunately is slowly fading as the old King James Bible gives way to ones written in contemporary English.

But the language also reveals something else about human understanding. They frequently perceive God in old-fashioned terms. They portray him with a long white beard, wearing a long white robe. They think we write with quills on scrolls, and fly with wings! They have no idea how we actually record things, or travel. In their naïveté, they are quite proud of their own technology. Currently they use computers, which admittedly are superior to their earlier forms of writing. However, it is rather quixotic that they portray heaven as being technologically more backward than themselves. I mean, humans think that light is fast! It apparently hasn’t occurred to many of them that the Archangel Gabriel covered the enormous distance from heaven to earth in the space of a short prayer from the prophet Daniel, even though it is recorded in their own Scriptures.

The line that follows has caused confusion for many seraphs. "We thank thee for thy manifold blessings." Some commentators believe that humans are grateful that the exhaust system on their car has been fixed. In fact, this is really just a part of the ritual of prayer. Public prayer—and quite often private prayer—is marked by ritual phrases. These are often close to meaningless in themselves, but they make the humans feel as if it is a prayer. Hence the frequent reference to "thank thee for the lovely day," regardless of the weather, and to expressions such as "bless the sick and suffering," the "missionaries in the islands"—as if there are none on continents—the request for "traveling mercies," and the concluding "leave ourselves in your care and keeping."

Then come the orders, or commands, or instructions. Humans usually refer to them as "requests." For example, they often pray that God will encourage the backsliders, bless those not at church, comfort the sick, multiply the offering, bless the work in foreign lands, provide food for those who are hungry, and support the local minister in his work. It is important that we angels not be shocked by such demands. We recognize that these are, in fact, tasks that God has set for humans to carry out, but because humans have such limited understanding, they often offload their responsibilities onto God.

A question here, at the front? Did you all hear that? The comment is that it seems as if humans see themselves as the center, with God and us as their servants.

That is a good observation, for it is more true than we—and they—may realize at first. We are their servants. However, humans don’t understand servanthood. Their system is the opposite of ours. For them, servants are the bottom of the pile. Bizarre as it may seem, humans actually seek to be the master.

But it also points out another characteristic of human public prayer—and of their worship as a whole. They often see themselves as the objects of the prayer or worship. They may complain that it is boring, or irrelevant. They struggle to see worship as what they do for their Heavenly Father; rather they see it as what he does for them, or even more often, what the worship team, song leaders, and preacher do for them.

One of the key limitations of human prayer is their tendency to see prayer only in transactional terms, in terms of getting things. They may even keep a diary to see how many things they have prayed for have been given. In their interaction with each other, humans use language mainly for fellowship; very little of what they say is to get things done. However, when they pray, the proportions are reversed. Few see prayer in terms of fellowship, or communion. They limit "communion" to mean a bit of bread and wine.

Let’s now move to the closing part of prayer. In most public prayers, it is designed to warn the human audience that the prayer is ending. Again, it is composed of ritualistic phrases that mean something quite different from what the words seem to indicate. This is paralleled in other human behavior. For example, they greet each other with "How are you?" but this is not a serious question. The stock answer is "Fine, thank you," not a detailed description of their physical or emotional well-being. Similarly in prayer, stock phrases are used. Typically they terminate the prayer with a phrase like "in Jesus’ name," but they have little idea what this actually means. The phrase is tacked on to the end, comforting them with the idea that they have in fact prayed in Jesus’ name. But it is like the word "bless"—frequently used, rarely understood.

A question? Why do they pray so poorly? Here we must show compassion. Humans simply don’t understand the issues at stake. They are very limited in their perception. In fact, these kinds of prayers are often the best they can do, so we must be careful not to judge them too harshly. Remember, God adores their prayers—he adores any attention from them. As we know, there is nothing new in their prayers, for there is nothing they can tell God that he doesn’t already know. Prayer is for their benefit, not God’s. It helps them clarify their thinking, it offers them communion with God. Sometimes they even listen to him, if they can recognize his voice. It doesn’t put God in touch with them; it helps them stay in touch with God.

Another question? Well that has been tried already. We did send someone down there to show them what the Father is like. But if you remember your classes in human history; 33 A.D. shows that on the whole, they didn’t appreciate finding out. However, the experience of Jesus means that he truly understands them, because he has been one of them. He is very sympathetic to their plight, so we need to follow suit.

I see our time has run out. But if you forget all else from this lecture, please remember this overriding point: that however feeble human prayer appears, however foolish and small, it is still a source of great strength and comfort to humans, it is a joy to the Father, and it is the chief cause of distress to the evil one.

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