Prayer Is a Dialogue

   The discovery that Mildred Rice and I made that afternoon in Peiping, China, began to reach deep into our hearts. It was as though a shade had been raised and a fresh new day flooded our prayer lives. I don't know why we didn't go out and tell everyone what had happened. There was still a holy quietness about having met the Lord person to person. Perhaps we were afraid that those older than we might by some chance remark pull the shade down again.

   A great simplification had come, and although we didn't know it then, we were going to make more and more discoveries. Discoveries which would heal the rebellious places in both of us. New insights which would remove much of the traditionalism which cluttered our prayer habits. The simplification was: we had become conscious of His presence with us.

   Praying in a conversational tone, one of the first things we noticed was that unconsciously we were dropping some of the familiar prayer language. Especially the old Quaker forms, the beautiful old Quaker forms of thee, thou, and thy, together with the King James English, with its didst, dost, wouldst, hadst, walketh, sinneth and so on.

   We were speaking to the Lord with the simplicity of a child talking to its father in his own language. Was it right? Or was it wrong?

   We began to investigate. I was an English major in college, and remembered that when the King James Bible was translated, back in the time of Shakespeare, there were two general kinds of English spoken. A high and low English.

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The high English (you, me, yours) was used for the royal family, nobility and for special ceremonies. The low English (thou, thee, thy) was used in the home, intimately with the family, and in addressing God.

   As time went on this usage was reversed. The forms used for royalty became everyday family terms and today we all say you, me, yours. However, the old terms persisted with the Quakers at all times, and with the religious people at church and at prayer. The King James Bible was translated into English during the Shakespearean period, and so the low form, the familiar endearing family terms were used: thy, thou, thee. And they have come down to us today in our English Bible and in our religious services. The original languages from which our English Bible came to us make no such distinction.

   I realize that many sincerely feel they are being irreverent in God's presence if they address Him in any form but "Thou." A little of the language background and history will set their minds at rest, and help them relax and be in a more natural attitude for prayer, which is simply conversing with God.

   I, for one, love the poetry of the old terms, and always shall. I especially love to hear them used in a Sunday morning worship service. I understand perfectly that you may love them, too, and would rather not make any change. And you can be assured that God understands this also. After all, it isn't the words we say nor how we say them, it is the open heart attitude which God looks for. I don't believe it makes any difference to Him. He simply longs for us to speak person to person with Him without any obstacles between.

   If you are beginning to feel that there is a dullness when you pray, or a curtain through which you do not seem able to penetrate, why not deliberately and thoughtfully use everyday English in addressing God? A change, however temporary, usually brings freshness. He is there.

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He is there with you. He may slip your mind, but you never slip His mind. The different use of a pronoun may be the means through which a new consciousness of His presence will come to you.

   Prayer is the expression of the human heart in conversation with God. The more natural the prayer, the more real He becomes. It has all been simplified for me to this extent: prayer is a dialogue between two persons who love each other.

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