Lex Orandi Lex Credendi

The Latin phrase Lex Orandi Lex Credendi directly translates to mean law is prayer law is belief. In other words, we pray what we believe. If a person believes that one must die in battle to enter heaven he or she will pray that he or she dies in battle. Likewise if a person believes that their god is a protector he or she will pray for their god’s protection. While a child’s, or a person young in faith, prayers may start out basic and recited, the concepts behind the basic prayers are learned. Alex Sider pointed out that often times as a person matures in his or her faith the concepts stay a part of his or her prayers, even though he or she may or may not recite the same prayers he or she recited as a child or as a person young in his or her faith.

Prayer is a work of Christ, and as “Martin Luther said wherever the work of Christ occurs, demons move into action…” (Hauerwas and Willimon 14). This may be one reason basic ritualistic prayers, such as the prayer of blessing over food that many are taught known as “God is great and God is good,” may be taught is so that a person has prayers to rely on while the demons move. While young in faith a person may not have enough background to know what else to say besides a previously learned prayer. If the person is able to remember “God is great, God is good,” he or she can hold onto that concept. Later in that prayer the line is “by His hands we all are fed, give us Lord our daily bread,” the concept here is that God is a provider who will supply the peoples’ needs. Some religions teach the people to pray other more “personalized” prayers, still the basic concepts can often be pulled out of the prayers. If a person prays a prayer of thanksgiving for his or her new job, car, family member, or peace of mind, that person believes that God cares about his or her situations in life such as the person’s new job, car, family member, or peace of mind. If a person prays a prayer in frustration asking God to help him or her overcome an obstacle that is before him or her in life, this person believes that God is a god who will bring justice into his or her life, and that God is a god who guides his or her footsteps in life helping him or her make the correct choices.

Most prayers I hear begin with a call out to God in some form and end with “amen.” What does this mean? First the call out to God can also be considered as an introduction to who we are calling out to. If a person begins a prayer with “Father” he or she believes that God is like a heavenly father who cares, listens, and protects. “Dear Jesus” is an introduction that suggests that the person believes that Jesus is the son of God, and now dwells with God in heaven, or as part of the trinity. When a person begins a prayer by simply saying “God,” he or she is recognizing that God is higher and holds authority and deserves respect. When a prayer is ended the word most often used is “amen.” I was taught by my parents that amen means “Let it be,” or “and so it is.” Thus by ending a prayer with amen a person is handing their prayer to God almost as a sacrifice, as a way of saying “take this prayer.”

We pray what we believe. When taught to pray a person learns concepts that stick with him or her, as he or she matures in his or her faith. The difference may lie in the exact words spoken, some may retain the exact prayers taught, while others may form individualized prayers. Still, the concepts of the beginning prayers will remain. As a person begins a prayer he or she addresses the party with whom he or she is praying to as a way of recognizing and honoring the party. At the end of a prayer a person offers the prayer as a sacrifice saying “amen,” offering the prayer that he or she just spoke as a sacrifice to his or her god. The Latin phrase holds true “Lex Orandi Lex Credendi, the prayers spoken give voice to the beliefs held within the soul.



Bibliography
Hauerwas, Stanley and William H. Willimon. Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996. Pages 13-33.
Lash, Nicholas. Believing Three Ways in One God: A Reading of the Apostles’ Creed. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993. Pages 42-49.
Saint Augustine. Confessions. Trans. Henry Chadwick. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1991. Pages 3-23.
The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocryphal/Deutercanonical Books. Ed. Wayne A. Meeks. Rev. ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006.





~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Writen for Biblical World View: Theology: Professor Alex Sider