I want to pray but I never know what to say. It comes out clumsy and I give up before I have really started. How do I actually begin?

“Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.”

David opens this morning psalm without polish. He asks God to hear his words, and then, knowing words are not enough, asks God to consider what he cannot say. Hebrew prayer had room for groaning as well as sentences. For anyone who freezes over what to say, this is permission: one of the songs that shaped Israel's worship begins by simply asking to be heard.

“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.”

The disciples had watched Jesus pray for years before one of them admitted he did not know how. These were religious men, raised on synagogue prayer, and they still asked to be taught. Jesus did not tell them it should come naturally or reprimand them for asking. He handed them words to use. Learning a form is not a sign of thin faith, it is how he chose to start people off.