敬拜仪式中的祈祷：丰富教会心声的话语
Liturgical Prayer: Words That Enrich the Heart of the Church
作者：Rev. John J. Bambaro   译者：王一
https://modernreformation.org/resource-library/articles/liturgical-prayer-words-that-enrich-the-heart-of-the-church/
http://www.reformedbeginner.net/%e6%95%ac%e6%8b%9c%e4%bb%aa%e5%bc%8f%e4%b8%ad%e7%9a%84%e7%a5%88%e7%a5%b7%ef%bc%9a%e4%b8%b0%e5%af%8c%e6%95%99%e4%bc%9a%e5%bf%83%e5%a3%b0%e7%9a%84%e8%af%9d%e8%af%ad/
 
在整个福音派中持续存在的一种现象，是将个人私下的祷告与敬拜仪式中的祷告（Liturgical prayers）对立起来，仿佛两者之间的关系就像油和水不相容。前者被认为是活泼的、认真的、由圣灵推动的，而后者则经常被描述为死板的、敷衍的、做作的。凡是如此思考的人往往会把“自由、发自内心的”（ex corde）祷告说成是圣经祷告的典范，而把“死记硬背的”祷告 说成是被“传统”俘虏的结果，通常缺乏与上帝丰富的个人关系。
Aphenomenon that continues throughout evangelicalism is the juxtaposing of unaided, private, individual prayer with liturgical prayer, as if the two related like oil and water. The former is seen as lively, earnest, and Holy Spirit-prompted, whereas the latter is frequently depicted as dead, perfunctory, and contrived. Wherever this contrasts exists, “free, from the heart” (ex corde) prayers are said to exemplify biblical prayer, whereas “rote” prayers, as they might be unfavorably denominated, are the product of hearts held captive to “tradition,” hearts usually devoid of a rich, personal relationship with God.
 
可以肯定的是，健康的、敬畏基督的祷告生活与圣经的教导是密不可分的，并且与教会从使徒时代起如何运用圣经教导的知识紧密相关。我们发现，圣经中不只提到一种祷告的方式（发自内心的自由祷告），圣经规定了各种各样的祷告方式，圣经包括许多在不同背景下对祷告的劝告，其中包括私下个人的祈祷和礼仪中的祈祷。事实上，人们甚至发现，这两种类型的祷告并不像油和水那样相互排斥。尽管它们在基督徒生活中的看起来、听起来、操作起来的方式不同，但二者常常紧密联合在一起。更重要的是，从圣经和神学的角度来看，所有真正的基督徒祷告的基础，无论是私下的还是团体的，实际上都来自于礼仪性的概念（liturgical concepts）——这些概念有意识产生三一性和以基督为中心的形式，这些形式会产生对父、子、圣灵丰富的理解、欣赏和爱。
To be sure, a healthy Christ-honoring prayer life is inseparable from what Holy Scripture teaches and how the church, from apostolic times, has appropriated such knowledge. What one finds is not one kind (that is, only ex corde prayer) but a wide variety of prayers set forth in the Bible, as well as many exhortations to pray in different contexts that include both private, individual prayer and liturgical form prayer. Indeed, one even discovers that these two types of prayers are not repellant like oil and water but often deeply connected, even though they look, sound, and operate differently in the Christian life. What is more, a biblical and theological approach to prayer evidences that the foundation of all true Christian prayer, be it private or corporate, actually derives from liturgical concepts—concepts set to forms consciously Trinitarian and christological and poised to yield a rich understanding, appreciation, and love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 
虽然这可能看起来令人惊讶，也许是反直觉的，但其实并非如此。在圣侍敬拜的仪式中（Divine Service，或称为神圣礼仪或弥撒等），我们使用上帝在圣经中所说的话语，以最确定和真实的内容来回应上帝。当主说我们是罪人时，我们承认“我们在思想、言语和行为上得罪了你。”[1]当主说我们在基督里被赦免时，我们说耶稣是“上帝的羔羊，除去世人的罪孽”[2]，我们说“阿门”进一步肯定了这神圣的真理。同样，在礼仪性的祈祷中，在精心设计的对上帝的讲话中，采用了恰当的经文、经文含量高的用词和短语，以便我们可以正确地、真实地、诚实地、深情地对他讲话。他在圣经中给我们的话语是最可靠的形式。
While that may seem surprising or perhaps counterintuitive, it shouldn’t be. In the liturgy of the Divine Service (or Divine Liturgy or Mass, and so on), we say back to God what is most certain and true by using his words from Holy Scripture. When the Lord says that we are sinners, we confess that “we have sinned against [him] in thought, word and deed.”1 When the Lord says that we are forgiven in Christ, we say Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,”2 and we further affirm such divine truths by saying, “Amen.” Likewise, in liturgical prayer, Scripture-appropriate, Scripture-saturated words, clauses, and phrases are employed in carefully crafted speech to God so that we may speak to him rightly, truly, honestly, and affectionately. The words he has given us in Holy Scripture are the surest form.
 
例如，《路德会礼仪手册》（Lutheran Service Book），在礼仪的每个元素旁边进行注释，帮助敬拜者理解祈祷文、圣经引用或（改编时）灵感的来源。把圣经加入到仪式中把礼仪的表现形式转化为通过“圣灵的宝剑”——即真理的道——与主相交。在公共敬拜之后，基督徒家庭和个人可以把这礼仪带回家，用真实的话语自信地、全心全意地祈祷。
The Lutheran Service Book, for example (used by approximately 90 percent of Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod parishes), aids worshipers by annotating beside each element of the liturgy, including all of its prayers, scriptural citation, or (when adapted) inspiration. Adding the biblical referent transforms this particular presentation of the liturgy into a purposeful engagement with the Lord through “the sword of the Spirit”—namely, the word of truth. Families and individual Christians can then take the liturgy home with them and pray confidently with truthful words, with all their heart.
 
《路德会礼仪手册》的制定者们传承了这样一个基本认知：祈祷是对上帝我们的君王说话，因此我们必须反思我们对君王所使用的语言，尤其是在集体场合下，但也包括在家庭餐桌上。这自然也会促使我们反思在个人的祷告中对神说的话。这样的反思突出了礼仪祈祷的巨大价值：它是一种有目的的教导工具，注入基督教的正统教义（orthodoxy，即圣经的教导），并通过那些严格审查和时间考验的正统实践（orthopraxy，即蒙神悦纳的敬拜）来体现它。
The framers of the Lutheran Service Book have simply traditioned the basic understanding that to pray is to speak to God our king, and therefore it behooves us to reflect on the actual words we use, especially in a corporate setting but also around the family table. This naturally prompts reflection on what we say to God in private, individual prayer. Such a reflection highlights the great value of liturgical prayer: it is purposefully didactic, inculcating Christian orthodoxy (the teaching of Holy Scripture) and manifesting it through orthopraxy (acceptable worship) that has been scrutinized and time tested.
 
因此，礼仪性祈祷可以帮助我们，指导我们，教导我们，使我们所有的祈祷——包括我们私下个人的祈祷——都是既定的习惯模式（这就是正统实践）的结果，使我们的情感、爱和欲望以一种真实的、正确的方式（这就是正统教义）向神靠拢，与新约的敬拜产生共鸣（参约4:23）。这是值得我们认真思考的问题，那就是礼仪性祈祷可以既有深刻的敬虔感受（devotional），深刻的个人性，但也同时是团体性的，符合圣经真理的，神学上精确的；此外，礼仪性祈祷不应被视为与上帝的丰富个人关系的反义词，而实际上它是我们个人对上帝的经验不断走向成熟的一个途径。
Liturgical prayer can therefore help us, guide us, and teach us, so that all of our prayer—including our private, individual prayer—is the result of established patterns of habit (orthopraxy) that conform our passions, loves, and desires toward God in a truthful, rightly ordered way (orthodoxy) that resonates with new covenant worship (John 4:23). This is a thought worth considering—namely, that liturgical prayer can be profoundly devotional, deeply personal, and yet corporate, biblically truthful, and theologically precise; further, that liturgical prayer may be seen not as repellant to a rich relationship with God but actually an avenue by which our personal experience of God may be said to mature.
 
祈祷是经过学习产生的敬拜行为（learned worship）
Prayer Is Learned Worship
 
改革家菲利普·莫兰顿在《奥格斯堡信条》（1530年）中提出了一句名言，指出敬拜的最高形式是信心，信心抓住了上帝的应许，承认他的神圣临在。最重要的是，信心相信上帝就像它相信上帝的话语，相信上帝的性情和本性一样。因此，没有什么比相信那位立约的上帝在基督耶稣里被证明也是守约的上帝，更荣耀上帝的事了。因为“上帝的一切应许在基督里都是确实的，所以我们也是借着基督说‘阿们’（祷告），将荣耀归于上帝。”（林后1:20，当代译本）
Reformer Philipp Melanchthon set forth a maxim in the Augsburg Confession (1530), stating that the highest form of worship is faith, which lays hold of God’s promises and acknowledges his holy presence. Above all, faith trusts that God is as his word and his word is as his character and nature. Nothing, therefore, could be more God-honoring than trusting that the promise-making God has proven to be the promise-keeping God in and through Christ Jesus. For “all of God’s promises find their Yes in [Christ Jesus]. That is why it is through him that we utter our [prayerful] Amen to God for his glory” (2 Cor. 1:20).
 
使徒保罗在这里说的是敬拜——作为敬拜的祷告。上帝的真理塑造了受洗归主者的心、思想和行为：这就是我们之前所说的正统教义和正统实践。然而，这两者是相互影响的，所以古老的智慧说lex orandi, lex credendi（“祈祷的规则就是信心的规则”），反过来也是对的。关键是，祈祷是学来的，它塑造了我们对上帝、世界和人类的思考方式。反过来说，我们学到的关于上帝、人类和世界的思想也深刻地影响着我们祷告和敬拜的方式。就像敬拜活动的每一个方面都体现了神学一样（以及人论和救恩论），我们的祈祷也实际表明了我们对上帝的理解。这就是为什么祷告中把话说对了——即内容——其实是很重要的。礼仪性祈祷就是对圣经真理的成熟、合理的的运用，并优美的从信徒的口中阐述出来。
The apostle Paul here speaks of worship— prayer as worship. God’s truth gives shape to the heart, mind, and acts of the baptized: what we have already identified as orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The two, however, are in a reciprocal relationship so that the old dictum lex orandi, lex credendi (“the rule of prayer establishes the rule of belief”) also works the opposite way. The point being that prayer is learned and shapes the way we think about God, the world, and humanity. Conversely, what we are taught about God, humanity, and the world also profoundly influences the manner of our prayers and worship. Just as every aspect of the worship event bespeaks a theology (as well as an anthropology and soteriology), so too prayers actually say something about our understanding of God. This is why getting the words—the content—right actually matters. Liturgical prayer is all about a mature, scriptural employment of the truths of Holy Scripture and setting them artistically in the mouths of the faithful.
 
当然，敬拜可以在私下进行，也可以在公共场合进行，可以是个人行为也可以是集体活动。然而，所有的敬拜方式都是通过某种学习而得来的；甚至敬虔生活中的习惯，也是通过某种辅导或教导形成的，不管这种学习方式是通过模仿还是口头建议。即使祈祷——作为一种敬拜行为——有时可能像婴儿脱口而出的第一句话那样是本能的（instinctive），但它最终也是被教导和学习而产生，就像站着颂读福音书，做十字手势，以及诗班合唱一样。因此，即使我们可能认为私人的、个别的祈祷是一种独特的个人敬拜或与上帝接触的行为，它也是通过某种正式或非正式的教育过程形成的。那么，个人性祈祷与礼仪性祈祷在这一点上是一样的。它也是一种通过学习获得的敬拜行为，借此对上帝的信心通过个人性祷告得到必要的表达。
Worship, of course, can take place in both personal and public settings, individually and corporately. Yet all worship is learned one way or another; even habits of devotional life are imbibed by way of some sort of tutelage or pedagogy, whether through imitation or advice. And even though prayer—as an act of worship—may be as instinctive as a child’s first words, it too is taught and learned, just like standing for the reading of the gospel, making the sign of the cross, and choral singing. So even while we might think that private, individual prayer is a uniquely personalized act of worship or engagement with God, it is formed through some sort of formal or informal educational process. Individual prayer, then, shares this in common with liturgical prayer: It is a learned act of worship by which faith in God finds requisite expression.
 
然而，将私人、个人的祈祷保持在正统教义的范围内，可能挑战不小。有时，个人祷告会仓促、不周全，或者神学上缺乏深度，甚至有教义错误的可能（我们听到教义上有错误的祈祷时都会感到害怕！），这些错误特别是祷告的人处在精力疲乏，或情绪高涨，或有紧迫需求时会发声。另一方面，礼仪性祈祷已经被教会的伟大思想家、仪式家和神学家耐心的处理和审查，所以在祈祷中向上帝说的话语，准确反映了圣经的内容和教导。在个人私下的祈祷中利用公共礼仪上的祈祷，可以帮助我们在圣灵和真理中向上帝说出我们所希望的祈祷。
Keeping private, personal prayer within the boundaries of orthodoxy, however, can be a challenging matter. Sometimes it can be hasty, ill-conceived, and/or theologically gaunt or suspect (we’ve all cringed at the hearing of doctrinally incorrect prayers!), especially where fatigue, high emotions, or pressing needs may be a factor. On the other hand, liturgical prayer has been slowly processed and scrutinized by the church’s great minds, liturgists, and theologians, so that what is offered to God in prayer accurately reflects the content and teaching of Holy Scripture. Utilizing liturgical prayers in one’s private, individual prayers can help us say to God—in Spirit and in truth—what we hope to pray.
 
几乎所有其他宗教甚至没有宗教的人都会祈祷，因此，基督徒的祈祷需要在神学上保持纯正，因为 “上帝不听罪人”（约9:31）；也就是说，他不接受在新约之外的人的祈求，那些祈祷是没有基督作为中保的祷告（来8:6），是没有圣灵代求的祈祷（罗8:26-27）。这也是需要学习来获取的。保罗指导提摩太，因此也指导所有教会未来的神职人员，要坚持，作为敬拜和信心的行为，祈祷必须在从神学上和救恩论上扎根在基督耶稣身上。
Since nearly all other religions and even the irreligious world pray, Christian prayer needs to be theologically correct, for “God does not listen to sinners” (John 9:31); that is, he does not countenance the petitions of those outside the new covenant, prayers unmediated by Christ (Heb. 8:6), or prayers without intercession of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26–27). This, too, is learned. Paul instructs Timothy, and therefore all the church’s future clergy, by insisting that prayer as an act of worship and faith must be theologically and soteriologically grounded in Christ Jesus.
 
我劝你第一要为万人恳求，祷告，代求，祝谢， …… 这是好的，在神我们救主面前可蒙悦纳； 他愿意万人得救，明白真道。 因为只有一位神，在神和人中间只有一位中保，乃是降世为人的基督耶稣， 他舍自己做万人的赎价。（提前2:1-6）
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all men. . . . This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. (1 Tim. 2:1–6).
 
向上帝的祈祷必须在基督里进行，他是唯一的中保，只有通过他，我们才能接触到活着的上帝。耶稣将教会和每个受洗的基督徒与自己结合在一起，因此在基督的祈祷和教会的祈祷之间存在着一种亲密的联系。因此，只有在基督里，基督徒通过祷告的敬拜才可以说是有信心的，有价值的，并达到其指定的目的。但这不能是异想天开。它并不是自发的。相反地，基督徒被教导祈祷的界限，祈祷的内容，以及与教会一起祈祷和在教会中祈祷的意义。
Prayers directed to God must be ensconced within Christ, the one Mediator, through whom we alone have access to the living God. Jesus unites to himself the church and therefore each baptized Christian in such a way that there is an intimate bond between the prayer of Christ and the prayer of the church. And so it is in Christ alone that Christian worship through prayer may be said to be of faith, have value, and attain its appointed end. But this cannot be whimsical. It does not happen of its own accord. Rather, the Christian is taught the boundaries of prayer, the content of prayer, and the point of praying with and in the church.
 
因此，虽然个人私下的祈祷可以正确地以“奉耶稣的名”结束，但是比起私人祈祷相对非正式性和神学上的极简化，礼仪性祈祷更加深入。这样一来，礼仪性祷告大大丰富了我们的私人祷告，这些祷告根据圣经的教导，加入了更大的上帝之国的元素，以及与世界更广泛的需求相呼应的元素。
So while private, individual prayers may rightly conclude “in Jesus’ name,” liturgical prayers go several steps beyond the comparative informality and theological minimalism of private, individual prayers. In this way they enrich our private prayers a great deal, adding to them elements that resonate with the larger kingdom-of-God agenda of Christ and the wider needs of the world, according to the Scriptures.
 
个人私下的祈祷和礼仪性的祈祷
Private, Personal Prayer and Liturgical Prayer
 
在确定了圣经中的祈祷是“在基督里”的，与圣灵一起进行的，经过学习而掌握的，用信心敬拜的行为之后，我们现在注意到，个人私下的祈祷和礼仪性的祈祷属于彼此的共生关系，是一枚硬币的两面。
Having established that biblical prayer is a learned worshipful act of faith that takes place “in Christ” with the Spirit, we now note that both private, individual prayer and liturgical prayer properly belong in a symbiotic relationship to each other as complementary sides of a single coin.
 
个人私下的祷告被公认为是一种更主观的祷告，日常生活中的迫切需要通常决定了祷告的议程。这种祷告可以高度适应个人的需要和愿望。几乎所有的祷告事项都是这种类型的。受苦的人祈求解脱；悲伤的人要求得到安慰；有身体、物质或就业需要的人要求供应；破裂的关系寻求恢复；破碎的心渴望得到修补。我们的主在客西马尼园的祷告就是这样的，他祷告说：”父啊，你若愿意，就把这杯从我这里撤去”（路22:42；重点在此）。新约和旧约圣经都鼓励这种祷告。“在患难的日子求告我，我必搭救你，你也必荣耀我”（诗50:15）；“凡事藉着祷告，祈求，感谢，将你们所要的告诉神”（腓4:6）。
Private, personal prayer is fairly recognized as a more subjective kind of prayer where the pressing needs of daily life usually set the agenda. Such prayers are highly adaptable to individual needs and wants. Virtually all prayer requests are of this sort. Persons suffering pray for relief. Those who are grieving ask for comfort. Those with physical, material, or employment needs ask for provision. Broken relationships seek restoration. Broken hearts desire mending. Our Lord’s prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane were of this sort as he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me” (Luke 22:42; emphasis added). Both testaments encourage this kind of prayer: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver, you, and you shall glorify me” (Ps. 50:15); “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6).
 
这些祷告提供了一个非正式的机会，让我们与我们的好牧人，我们的蒙福的灵魂的医生相遇，他是提供我们所需、保护我们和预备万事的主。因此，个人性的祷告透过耶稣基督在圣灵的帮助下加强了个人与上帝之间的关系。虔诚的祈祷是为了在我们作为今世的“客旅、寄居的”（彼得前书2:11；罗马书8:18）时，帮助维系我们，特别是在我们“不住祷告”时，正如圣保罗所敦促的（帖前5:17）。此外，这也是我们在任何时候自己可以做的事，这使我们可以单独与上帝相交，并向我们的创造主和救赎主传达我们个人的爱、需求和感谢，这些都是出于以上帝为乐的心而不是被迫而为之。我们可以用例如《祷告之门》（Portals of Prayer），《我心所愿》（My Utmost for His Highest），《每日天粮》（Our Daily Bread）等一些灵修祷告的手册，来加深我们私人的祈祷，使之更加习惯化，甚至拓宽我们的视野。
These prayers offer an informal opportunity to encounter our Good Shepherd, our Blessed Physician, the Sovereign Lord who provides, protects, and prepares. As such, personal prayer strengthens the bond between individuals and God through Jesus Christ with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Devotional prayer is meant to help sustain each believer as we sojourn as “strangers and aliens in this present age” (1 Pet. 2:11; Rom. 8:18), especially in our quest to “pray continually,” as urged by Saint Paul (1 Thess. 5:17). Moreover, it is also something we can do on our own, at any time, which allows us to individually engage God and convey our personal love, needs, and thanks to our Creator and Redeemer, which flow out of enjoyment of God rather than compunction. Devotional practices that utilize Portals of Prayer, My Utmost for His Highest, Our Daily Bread, Give Us This Day, and the like can deepen our private, individual prayer and render it more habitual, even broadening our horizons.
 
礼仪性祈祷，则是教会作为基督的身体对上帝有序的公开敬拜。它比较正式，有规定的、通常有可预测的结构，会用一些启应、固定的模式，甚至手势，有时还有服装、符号和材料，如面包和酒、蜡烛、灰、手和油，通常由上帝的圣道和圣礼的仆人来带领。
Liturgical prayer, on the other hand, is the orderly public worship of God by the church as the body of Christ. It is more formal with prescribed, usually predictable structure, employing rubrics, ritual formulas, even gestures, sometimes garments, symbols, and materials such as bread and wine, candles, ashes, palms, and oils, and is usually led by an ordained minister of God’s word and sacraments.
 
An example of liturgical prayer is the Litany, a series of entreaties and responses cantillated or spoken. It possesses the feel of the petitions of the importunate friend in Luke 11:5–10. The Litany includes both the
 
礼仪性祈祷的一个例子是“连祷”（Litany），它是一系列的祈求和回应，以颂词或口述方式进行。它具有《路加福音》11:5-10中那位恳求朋友之人的祈求的感觉。连祷包括“谴责”（Deprecation）和“奉献”（Obsecrations），前者恳求上帝在领餐成员心中驱除邪恶，后者则恳求上帝，回顾信仰的奥秘和耶稣的道成身、出生、受洗、禁食、受试探、在十字架上的痛苦和汗水、死亡和埋葬、复活和升天以及圣灵的降临等历史事实。这些都是“藉着”耶稣所成就的事进行的祷告。只有藉着基督，基督徒才能接近天父（约翰福音16:23）。还有“祈求”（Supplications），这是为生活中的各种情况作一般性的祈祷。最后，“代求”（Intercessions）是为他人或代表他人的祈祷。它们可以被完整地背诵，也可以在整个过程中得到补充。这表现出灵活性，同时在神学和基督论的内容方面保持了灵活性，使其成为私人、个人祈祷的重要辅助工具，也是团体背景下最合适的教导性祷告。
“Deprecations,” which entreat God to ward off evil from among his communicants, and the “Obsecrations” that implore God on theological grounds, recalling the mystery of faith and the historical facts of Jesus’ incarnation, nativity, baptism, fasting, temptation, agony and sweat on the cross, death and burial, resurrection and ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. These are prayers “by” Jesus’ accomplishments. Only through Christ can the Christian approach the Father (John 16:23). There are also the “Supplications,” which are prayers for a variety of situations in life in general terms. And finally, the “Intercessions” are prayers for others and on behalf of others. They can be recited intact or augmented throughout. This exhibits flexibility while retaining inflexibility with regard to its theological and christological content, making it a great aid to private, individual prayer and also a most appropriate didactic prayer in a corporate context.
 
然而，在现代，有一种趋势是将个人私下的祈祷和礼仪性祈祷视为不重叠的两个领域，强调前者而不是后者，特别是在福音派教会中对个人的强调，这种强调被当代文化和意识形态里的个人主义强化。然而，这是一个明显的现代主义现象，与古代闪米特文化和早期基督教整个一千年的文化都格格不入。
In the modern era, however, there is a tendency to view private, individual prayer and liturgical prayer as nonoverlapping spheres, emphasizing the former rather than the latter, especially given evangelical emphasis on the individual, reinforced by cultural and ideological individualism. This, however, would be a distinctly modern phenomenon, alien to ancient Semitic cultures and early Christianity throughout the first millennium and beyond.
 
对这两个团体来说，公共和私人祈祷之间没有割裂，或者说，公共读经和私人读经之间也没有割裂。无论是在会堂还是在街角（太6:5），在圣殿里（路18:1），还是在家里，犹太人都大声的祈祷。思想的内化（构成了我们所经历的大部分个人默祷）在五世纪的圣奥古斯丁之后才成为规范，尽管它在旧约和新约时代并非完全没有，如尼希米的祷告（尼2:4）或卑微的税吏的祷告（路18:6）。私人生活只是以某些方式模仿公共生活。
For both communities, there was no clear division between public and private prayer or, for that matter, public and private reading. Whether in the synagogue or on street corners (Matt. 6:5), the temple itself (Luke 18:1), or their homes, Jews tended to offer their prayers aloud. Internalization of thoughts (what constitutes much of what we experience as personal silent prayer) became normative only well after Saint Augustine in the fifth century, although it was not entirely absent in Old or New Testament times, as we find with Nehemiah’s instant prayer (Neh. 2:4) or the breathy prayer of the humble tax collector (Luke 18:6). Private life simply imitated public life in substantive ways.
 
这有两个重要原因。首先，犹太人认为自己不是个体，而是在一个二元体框架内（dyadic framework），其中他们最不可减少的身份是家庭，而家庭本身是民族宗教认同的衍生品，这个身份是以色列，上帝的子民。因此，没有任何祈祷被认为是完全私人的，因为它总是有一种作为以色列人的意识在里面。其次，犹太人的时间概念注入了神圣的永恒概念，这有利于抵抗个人主义和自述式的祷告生活。
There are two significant reasons for this. First, the way Jews considered themselves not as individuals, but within a dyadic framework in which their most irreducible identity was the family and which itself was derivative of ethnic-religious identification as Israel, the people of God. Consequently, no prayer was considered totally private, since it always had within it a consciousness of being Israel. Second, there was the Jewish concept of time that was infused with the divine notion of the eternal, which militated against individualism and a self-referential prayer life.
 
在基督教内部，这两个因素——以社群身份（即教会）为基础的自我认同，以及时间的圣化——极大地影响了早期基督教的祈祷方式，使其更具有礼仪性而不是个人性，但同时也为个人虔诚的祈祷打开了新的途径。
Within Christianity, these two factors—self-identity grounded in community identity (i.e., the church) and the consecration of time—profoundly influenced early Christian approaches to prayer, rendering them far more liturgical than individual, yet at the same time opening fresh avenues for personal devotional prayer.
 
例如，最早的基督徒将生命视为 “活祭”，其中每个方面都有上帝活跃的临在，即使是在日常生活中的平凡琐事。事实上，犹太教的情况就是如此，以至于基督教对时间的概念本身被带入了生活的节奏中，将季节性的日历与基督的生活事件结合起来，后来又将圣徒的生活与之结合，活着的信徒继续与他们进行圣礼性的沟通。在这个意义上，整个生活都致力于祈祷，并通过遵守祈祷时间（canonical hours），即每天准时的祈祷礼拜，也被称为时辰礼仪（Liturgy of the Hours）。由于承认圣餐是教会生活的中心，并强调洗礼是门徒的典范，与早课（Matins）、晚课（Vespers）、晚祷（Compline）等礼拜相关的祈祷越来越被视为这些塑造社群的圣礼的延伸，这些祷告贯穿了一天、一周，乃至整个基督徒生活。
For instance, carried over from the Jewish tradition and seen acutely in the life of Christ, the earliest Christians viewed life as “a living sacrifice,” in which every aspect is informed by the active presence of God, even amid the mundane routines of daily life. Indeed, this was so much the case in Judaism that the Christian concept of time itself was brought into the rhythm of life by melding the seasonal calendar with the events of Christ’s life and, later, the lives of the saints with whom sacramental union and communion continue. In this sense, the whole of life was committed to prayer, and it was exemplified through the observance of the canonical hours, services of praying Scripture that punctuated the day, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours. With an acknowledgment of the Eucharist as the center of the church’s life, and a highlighting of baptism as a model for discipleship, prayers associated with the services of Matins, Vespers, Compline, and the like were increasingly seen as extensions of these monumental community-forming sacraments that stretched throughout the day, week, and indeed the entire Christian life.
 
把神圣的救赎和新创造工作的永恒时刻（kairotic）注入到历史性的时间里的做法又得到强化，这种强化就是教会本身所体现的天与地的重叠。耶稣的道成肉身、一生、死亡、复活和升天，弥合了一个现实的两个维度之间的差距，因此基督徒“个人”总是以从在天上的、历史中的和在家里的那个巨大的如云彩般的见证者们的角度来理解自己的身份。与今天人们对个人性祷告的理解不同，早期基督徒的祷告总是在基督的身体里，正如前面解释的那样，这使得基督徒不可能完全私下的祷告，因为他们的基本世界观是他们参与了基督的拯救事件和基督的有机体，和他的身体，就是他神圣的教会。这种思想在希伯来书15:15中体现出来：“我们应当靠着耶稣，常常不断以颂赞为祭献给神”“不断”的意思是，大公教会包括天上和地上的圣徒，共同形成一个连续的存在。上帝的国度超越了时间和空间，并彻底地使个人身份黯然失色。
This view of chronological time infused by kairotic (eternal) moments of divine redemptive and re-creative activity was reinforced by the overlap of heaven and earth manifest in the church itself. Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension bridged the gap between the two dimensions of our one reality, so that “individual” Christians always understood themselves in terms of the great cloud of witnesses in heaven, throughout history, and at home. Different from the way private, individual prayer is conceived today, early Christian prayer was always in the body of Christ, as explained earlier, making it impossible for a Christian to pray entirely privately, for their basic worldview understood that they ever participated in the saving events and organism of Christ and his body, the holy church. This idea finds early expression in Hebrews 15:15: “Through [Christ Jesus] let’s offer to God an unceasing sacrifice of praise”—unceasing in the sense that the catholic church with saints in heaven and on earth form a contiguous existence. The kingdom of God transcends time and space and thoroughly eclipses individuality.
 
这最后一点值得进一步解释。礼仪性的祈祷有利于与天上的圣徒一起祈祷和赞美上帝。这里的意思是，祈祷是新娘对新郎说话的声音，新娘是一体的，无论是在地上还是在天上。当教会在礼仪环境中向上帝祈祷和赞美时，它就与约翰在《启示录》中描述的天国大厅中历代传唱的赞美诗结合起来。通过参与这样的礼仪，基督徒预先品尝了这种祈祷之歌。当我们这些“从各族、各口、各民、各国中被基督的血所救赎的”（启示录5:9），聚集在一个教会中，恳求、接受并荣耀三一上帝时，我们与天上的教会紧密结合才得到了最有效的表达。在这里，敬拜仪式将祷告的基督徒从他们的私人世界中带出来，并将他们连接到更宏大、宽广的世界里，上帝的国度和祂国度里的子民。
This last point warrants further explanation. Liturgical prayer facilitates praying and praising God with the saints in heaven. The idea here is that prayer is the voice of the bride addressing her bridegroom, where the bride is one, whether on earth or in heaven. When the church offers prayer and praise to God in a liturgical setting, it unites itself with that hymn of praise sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven, as described by John in the book of Revelation. By participating in such liturgies, Christians receive a foretaste of this prayerful song. Our close union with the portion of the church in heaven is given effective voice when we all, “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation redeemed by Christ’s blood” (Rev. 5:9), gather together into the one church to entreat, receive, and glorify the Triune God. Here, the liturgy moves praying Christians out of their private world and connects them to the grand, wider world of God’s kingdom and kingdom people.
 
独一、圣洁、大公、使徒所立之教会的礼仪也起源于第一世纪犹太人的礼仪实践。路加在使徒行传2:42中告诉我们，耶路撒冷最早的基督犹太信徒“专心听从使徒的教训、擘饼、彼此相交和祷告”，这种“擘饼相交”不仅是对逾越节的圣餐改编，而且他们还从会堂的祷告仪式中提取格式——因此，路加承认他们做的是那些祷告（译注：这里原文有定冠词，意思指有固定格式的祷告）；也就是会堂和圣殿敬拜中既定的礼仪性祷告。一般来说，公元100年至313年的礼仪祈祷文只有一个来源——诗篇——这些诗篇被耶稣的教导彻底基督化了，基督自己是诗篇的主体（路24:44），他们并在每首诗篇的结尾加入了颂歌。这种从犹太教借用来的敬拜方式很快就进入了基督徒家庭，成为虔诚的祈祷文集。基督徒在教会和家里都用诗篇来祷告，在教会的祷告以模范坐拥或问答学习的方式产生在家里的祷告。
The liturgy of that one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church also has its origins in the liturgical practices of the Jews in the first century. When Luke tells us in Acts 2:42 that the earliest Jewish followers of Christ in Jerusalem “devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, to the communion in the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers” (emphasis added), not only is this “communion in the breaking of the bread” the Eucharistic adaptation of the Passover Haggadah, but they also drew their formulas from the synagogue services for prayer—hence, Luke’s recognition of the prayers; that is, the established, liturgical prayers of synagogue and temple worship. Generally speaking, the liturgical prayers of the years AD 100 to 313 knew only one source—the psalter—and even these were thoroughly Christianized by Jesus’ teaching that he was their subject (Luke 24:44) and by adding the doxology at the conclusion of each psalm. This Jewish carry-over into Christian worship quickly found its way into Christian homes as devotional prayer books. Christians prayed the psalms in church and at home, the former yielding the latter by way of example and established catechesis.
 
同样，尽管最早的礼仪祷告版本借鉴了犹太教的格式Berakah（我们发现这种格式贯穿了以弗所书1-3章），但它们很快就与基于耶稣的一生、死亡、复活和升天等基督教主题融为一体，并作为祷告的模式渗入基督徒家庭。因此，在家庭中礼仪祈祷是规范性的，是彻底以基督为中心式的，其中包含了来自集体敬拜的祷告形式，以及由教会认可的正典文本。它是与上帝进行口头交流的安全而神圣的场所，信徒以此更加期望上帝会听教会的祷告并为它行事。
Likewise, although the earliest versions of liturgical prayers drew upon the Jewish berakah formulas (which we find stretched throughout Ephesians 1–3), they quickly became enmeshed with Christian themes based on the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and leached into Christian homes as models of prayer. Thus domestic liturgical prayer was normative and thoroughly christocentric, incorporating Christianized Jewish prayer forms from the corporate gathering of believers, with canonical texts sanctioned by the church. It was safe and hallowed ground by which to verbally commune with God, heightening the expectation of God hearing the church and acting on its behalf.
 
信徒的聚集最重要的特征是以神的国度的核心特征为中心：（1）承认圣餐是教会生活、合一和祷告的中心；（2）圣洗礼是基督徒门徒的典范，其主题是死和复活；（3）圣经的教义学习；（4）背负十字架的服侍；（5）为拯救世界和维护基督的国度而进行的宣教工作。恰恰是这些特点，这些教会在其礼仪中所教导和实践的显著标志，被带入了家庭、虔诚的祈祷中[3]。以至于建立信仰和实践一致性的身体姿态——划十字架、屈膝跪下、鞠躬、亲吻——也成为个人私下祷告的习惯，从而与基督的身体建立起一种具象的、有意识的联系，促使人们代表教会进行祈祷，与上帝的意志产生共鸣，例如在主祷文中那样。
The most important features of the corporate gatherings—the assembly of believers—centered on the core features of the kingdom of God: (1) an acknowledgement of the Eucharist as the center of the church’s life, unity, and prayer; (2) holy baptism as the model for Christian discipleship with its themes of death and resurrection; (3) scriptural catechesis; (4) cross-bearing servitude; and (5) prayerful missional engagement for the salvation of the world and the preservation of Christ’s kingdom. It was precisely these features, these distinguishing marks of the church it taught and practiced in its liturgy, that were brought into domestic, devotional prayer.3 Liturgical prayer was at home in the believer’s home. So much so that the physical gestures that established conformity of belief and practice—signing the cross, kneeling, bowing, kissing—also became habituated in private, individual prayer, thereby establishing a graphic, conscious connection with the body of Christ and so prompting prayers on its behalf, resonating with the will of God found, for example, in the Lord’s Prayer.
 
反对礼仪性的祈祷
Objecting to Liturgical Prayer
 
有些人不愿意采用礼仪性的祈祷文：例如，背诵主祷文（更不用说其他礼仪祈祷，如三圣颂、荣耀颂 等）和既定圣餐礼仪的部分，因为人们认为马太福音6:7中有这样的禁令。“你们祷告，不可像外邦人用许多重复话，他们以为话多了必蒙垂听”。这条禁令涉及到“徒劳的重复”，因此，那些习惯性地，甚至每天都在用主祷文祷告的人，是在做徒劳无益的事，而这是被基督亲自谴责的。因此，礼仪性的祈祷是不符合圣经的，等同于外邦异教。
Some demur at employing liturgical prayers: for example, reciting the Lord’s Prayer (much less other liturgical prayers such as “The Jesus Prayer,” “Angelic Trisagion,” “Gloria,” and so on) and other parts of the established Eucharist Liturgy, because of what has been perceived as an injunction in Matthew 6:7: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (KJV). The prohibition concerns “vain repetition,” such that those who customarily, even daily, pray the Our Father are engaged in the empty practice of heathens, which was condemned by Christ himself. Consequently, liturgical prayer is unbiblical, tantamount to paganism—or so it is thought.
 
“重复话”的希腊语单词battalogein（在KJV中是 “徒劳的重复”），只在新约圣经中出现，在所有其他同时代的手稿证据中都不找不到，表明要么是“无意义的”话语，要么是大量的话语，或者两者都是。在其历史背景下，异教徒使用咒语祈祷来安抚神灵，在交易神学中要求准确的背诵，类似于在霍格沃茨图书馆中说出《咒语书》中的咒语。在接下来的经文中，耶稣说：“不要像他们那样，”因为（1）你不需要徒劳地重复，因为你向活着的上帝祈祷，他听得见，而不是向一个听不见的东西重复祈祷；（2）基督自己在上帝和人类之间进行代求，所以这种重复的安抚是徒劳的（也就是说，没有用）；（3）耶稣给我们提供了无误的话语，实际上符合上帝的意志和方式。
The ESV gives a better rendering of the verse, offering the following: “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” The Greek word in question, battalogein (“vain repetition” in the KJV), found only here in the New Testament and nonextant in all other contemporary manuscript evidence, suggests either “nonsensical” words or a large quantity of words, or both. In its historical context, pagans used incantational prayer to appease the gods within a transactional theology that required exactitude in recitation, similar to uttering a conjuration from The Book of Spells within the Hogwarts Library. In the very next verse, Jesus says, “Do not be like them,” because (1) you need not repeat in vain since you pray to the living God who hears, as opposed to having to repeat prayers to a non-hearing nothing; (2) Christ himself mediates between God and humanity, and so such repetitious appeasement is in vain (that is, to no avail); and (3) Jesus gives us infallible words that actually comport with the will and ways of God.
 
此外，由于耶稣在这个问题上的做法与他自己并不矛盾。例如，耶稣在客西马尼重复了三次祷告（可14:32-39；参考太26:44）。他还采用了成套的祈祷，一次又一次地祈祷，引用诗篇（例如，可15:34中引用诗22:1；路23:46中引用诗31:5）。除了他的榜样，他当然也赐给了教会主祷文，用“你们祷告的时候要这样说”来指导他们（路11:2；太6:9）。在路加福音18:1-14，他提供了一个比喻，鼓励用相同的祈祷文不停恳切地祷告，期望我们的天父回应这样的与他的国度和他的国度人民的旨意一致的祷告。
Further, since Jesus does not contradict himself on this subject by his own practice, the interpretation derived from the KJV is incorrect. Jesus, for example, repeats a prayer three times in Gethsemane (Mark 14:32–39; cf. Matt. 26:44). He also employs set prayers, time and again, by prayerfully invoking psalms (e.g., Ps. 22:1 in Mark 15:34; Ps. 31:5 in Luke 23:46). In addition to his example, he of course gave the church the gift of the Lord’s Prayer, directing them with “When you pray say [this]” (Luke 11:2; Matt.6:9). In Luke 18:1–14, he furnishes a parable extolling the importunate representing of the same prayer with earnest expectation of our heavenly Father to answer such prayers consistent with his good will for the kingdom of God and his kingdom people.
 
更重要的是，圣经提供了许多被认可的祈祷形式的例子，这些祈祷都是重复性的。请看启示录4:8中天使的祷告：
What is more, Scripture provides numerous examples of sanctioned prayer forms that are repeated. Consider the prayers of the angels in Revelation 4:8:
 
四活物各有六个翅膀，遍体内外都满了眼睛。他们昼夜不住地说：“圣哉，圣哉，圣哉，主神是昔在、今在、以后永在的全能者！”
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
 
这 “四活物”指的是以赛亚书6:1-3中的撒拉弗，他们一遍又一遍地重复同样的祈祷之歌。同样，诗篇136篇是一个高度重复性的回应性祷告的典型例子，在26节经文中重复了“因他的慈爱永远长存！”
These “four living creatures” refer back to the Seraphim of Isaiah 6:1–3 who repeated the same song of prayer over and over. Likewise, Psalm 136 is a classic example of a highly repetitious responsive prayer, repeating the words “for his steadfast love endures forever” twenty-six times over twenty-six verses.
 
因此，说礼仪性祷告不符合圣经的观点无法成立。相反，基督徒可以通过圣经本身提供的祷告，“坦然无惧地来到施恩的宝座前，为要得怜恤，蒙恩惠，做随时的帮助”（来4:16）。
The idea, then, that liturgical prayers are unbiblical cannot be established. Instead, Christians can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16) through prayers that Scripture itself offers.
 
耶稣教导礼仪性的祈祷
Jesus Teaches Liturgical Prayer
 
前面我们指出，所有的祷告，不论是个人性的和礼仪性的，都是被教导和通过学习而产生的。当然，最符合圣经、神学上最正确的、最讨神喜悦的祷告老师是耶稣基督本人。在登山宝训中，耶稣不仅鼓励门徒祷告（太6:1-18；7:7-11），而且还教他们如何祷告（路11:1-3），给他们一个示范祷告：主祷文，也称为“我们的父”或拉丁文Pater Noster（太6:9-13）。事实上，它可以被看作是犹太教传统的礼仪性祈祷中的一种形式祷告或祷告格式。路加记录的主祷文是要人直接重复背诵的话。
Earlier we noted that all prayer, individual and liturgical prayer, is taught and learned. The teacher par excellence for biblically sound, theologically correct, God-pleasing prayer is, of course, Christ himself. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus not only encouraged his disciples to pray (Matt. 6:1–18; 7:7–11), but he also taught them how to pray (Luke 11:1–3) by giving them a model prayer: the Lord’s prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater Noster (Matt. 6:9–13). In fact, it may be seen as both a form prayer or prayer formula set in the Jewish tradition of liturgical prayers. Luke records the Our Father as something to be straightforwardly repeated:
 
耶稣在一个地方祷告，祷告完了，有个门徒对他说：“求主教导我们祷告，像约翰教导他的门徒。” 耶稣说：“你们祷告的时候，要说：”
He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say…”
 
然而，在马太福音中，主祷文更加像个样板，既允许抄袭，也允许创新：你们要像这样祷告（6:9）。“你们要像这样祷告”而不是“你们要说”。在这两方面，都是来自基督的礼物：一个是来自完美者的完美话语，我们可以用这话对上帝说话，另一个是符合主的最高优先事项和我们最大需求的完美祈祷模式。
In Matthew, however, the Pater Noster is more formulaic, allowing for both plagiarism and innovation, saying: “This is how you are to pray” (6:9; emphasis added), rather than “this is what you are to pray.” In both ways, we have received a gift from Christ: perfect words from the perfect One to speak to God, and a perfect model for prayers that comport with the Lord’s highest priorities and our greatest needs.
 
从基督的例子中也可以知道，他也祈祷诗篇，并且是背诵下来的（例如，太27:46[诗22]；路23:46[诗31]；太21:16[诗8:2]；约10[诗23，95]），延续了古老的犹太教习俗，可以追溯到大卫。注意以斯拉的例子，他通过9:6（诗106:6）和9:8（诗13:3）中的诗篇进行祈祷。耶稣和他的门徒在逾越节结束时祷告唱的“赞美诗”（太26:30）是诗篇115-118篇中的大哈勒尔（Hallel，赞美的意思）。随即，早期教会遵循了这种祈祷诗篇的模式，如使徒行传4:23-31所见，教会祈祷的是第二篇诗篇。同样，保罗描述早期教会的敬拜生活涉及“唱诗篇”（西3:16），因为在诗篇中，我们的祷告也有神圣的内容，可以说、可以诵、可以唱。而且，这也是礼仪性的祈祷可以补充个人祈祷的地方：用祈祷文向上帝歌唱的美感和情感，特别是用诗篇。这样的祈祷之歌扩展并表达了祈祷作为敬拜的信仰行为，并延续了犹太教-基督教最早的韵律祷告和读经的传统。
It is also important to know from the example of Christ that he also prayed the psalms and knew them from memory (e.g., Matt. 27:46 [Ps. 22]; Luke 23:46 [Ps. 31]; Matt 21:16 [Ps. 8:2]; John 10 [Pss. 23, 95]), continuing an ancient Jewish practice that reaches back to David. Note the example of Ezra, who prays by means of the psalms in 9:6 (Ps. 106:6) and 9:8 (Ps. 13:3). The “hymn” Jesus and his disciples prayerfully sang at the conclusion of the Passover (Matt. 26:30) was the Great Hallel from Psalms 115–118. Immediately, the early church followed this pattern of praying the psalms as seen in Acts 4:23–31, where the church prays the second psalm. Paul, likewise, describes the worship life of the early church as involving “singing psalms” (Col. 3:16), for in the psalter we also have divine content for our prayers that can be spoken, chanted, or sung. And that, too, is something liturgical prayer can add to private, individual prayer: the beauty and affectation of prayerfully singing to God, especially with the psalms. Such prayer songs expand and emote prayer as a faith act of worship and continue the earliest of Jewish-Christian traditions of tunefully praying and reading.
 
对基督徒来说，祷告诗篇是奉耶稣的名祷告，因为诗篇中的声音是基督自己的声音；他是诗篇的中心（路24:44）。这一点也可以从礼仪中得知，每首诗的结尾都会有三一颂：基督在马太福音28:19中赐给我们配得称颂的三一上帝的名字。
 
For the Christian, to pray the psalms is to pray them in Jesus’ name, because the voice in the psalter is Christ’s own voice; he is their referential center (Luke 24:44). This is also learned from the liturgical practice of punctuating the end of each psalm with the doxology: the name of the blessed Trinity given to us by Christ in Matthew 28:19.
 
更大的视角
A Bigger Picture
 
重要的是，礼仪性的祈祷的目的是为了世界的救赎。为人类的救赎祈祷，在过去和现在都被认为是教会的主要职责之一。根据神学家蒂莫西·马斯克（Timothy Maschke）的说法，这标志着 “个人祈祷和礼仪祈祷之间的巨大差异，尽管经常不被承认。”[4] 马斯克引用罗马天神父、礼仪运动的领军人物皮乌斯·帕施（Pius Parsch, 1884-1954）的话来解释：
Significantly, liturgical prayer was purposed for the salvation of the world. Praying for the salvation of humanity was and is considered to be among the primary duties of the church. According to theologian Timothy Maschke, this marks “a vast, albeit frequently unrecognized, difference between personal prayer and liturgical prayer.”4 Maschke cites Pius Parsch (1884–1954), a Roman Catholic priest and leading figure in the Liturgical Movement, to explain:
 
“在私下祷告中，我主要是为自己和自己的事祈祷。站在行动中心的是孤立的人，祈祷或多或少是个人化的。但在礼仪性的祈祷中……主要不是我在祈祷，而是教会，基督的新妇在祈祷。她祈祷的对象也更广泛：上帝的国度在全地上的所有需要。在礼仪性的祈祷中，我觉得自己更像一个伟大团体的成员，像教会这棵伟大的活树上的一片小叶子。”[5]
“In private prayer I pray, mostly for myself and my own affairs. It is the isolated person who stands in the center of the action, and the prayer is more or less individualized. But in liturgical prayer . . . it is not primarily I who am praying, but the Church, the Bride of Christ. The object of her prayer is broader, too: all the needs of God’s kingdom here on earth. In liturgical prayer, I feel more like a member of a great community, like a little leaf on the great living tree of the Church.”5
 
礼仪祈祷的内容是由教会发现的神的旨意决定的，而不是由牧师甚至个别敬拜者认为重要的内容。它从圣经中获取其使命，并以整个教会为着眼点。这样的祷告与我们私下对上帝说的个人祷告一样重要，因为这样我们的心向整个上帝的子民和他们的需要敞开，这是上帝自己放在我们祷告中的。
The content of liturgical prayer is determined by what the church has found to be God’s will, rather than what the minister or even individual worshippers consider to be important. It takes its missional agenda from Scripture and has the entire church in view. Such praying is every bit as important as the personal prayers we speak privately to God, for in this way our hearts are open to the whole of God’s people and their needs and to the concerns God himself places into our prayers.
 
这就是为什么圣餐前的“教会祈祷”有意识地模仿耶稣的大祭司祈祷（约17:1-26），因此也是上帝在祈祷中的意愿。犹太大祭司的一个职能是为所有以色列人献上年度祭物（利未记15）。为了履行这一职责，在最后的晚餐上，耶稣在门徒面前向父神为他自己替众人所献的祭祷告（见1-2，19节）。在“教会祈祷”中，在主礼人或主持牧师的带领下，每个基督徒都作为祭司而聚集在一起，履行他们的祭司职责，其中一个人，即牧师，用所有人的声音说话，而所有人也用一个人的声音回应，向上帝的天国宝座发出祈求（太18:19）。他们是为万人代求（提前2:1-4），遵循基督和圣保罗的教导，但也有历代志下6:12-42中的所罗门，在那里他以一种庄严、重复的方式为国家和不信的人祈祷。保罗继续这一传统，提出了上帝的旨意。“我劝你首先要为万人代求，为君王和一切身居高位的，祈求、祷告、代祷、感谢”（提摩太前书2:30）。
This is why the “Prayer of the Church” before Holy Communion in the Divine Liturgy consciously resembles Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer (John 17:1–26) and therefore the will of God in prayer. One function of the Jewish high priest was to offer the annual sacrifice for all the people of Israel (Lev. 15). In fulfillment, at the Last Supper Jesus prayed to God the Father in the presence of his disciples about his own sacrifice of himself for all people (see esp. vv. 1–2, 19). In the “Prayer of the Church,” led by the celebrant or presiding minister, individual Christians are assembled as a priesthood of believers and engage in their priestly duty where one, the pastor, speaks with the voice of all, and responsively all speak with the voice of one, bringing requests and petitions to God’s heavenly throne (Matt. 18:19). Their concern is for all people (1 Tim. 2:1–4), following the teaching of Christ and Saint Paul, but also Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6:12-42, where in a stately, repetitive manner he prays for the nation and unbelievers. Paul continues that tradition and sets forth God’s will: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions” of authority (1 Tim. 2:30).
 
礼仪祈祷贯穿整个公共敬拜，为基督徒的生活设定了一个大画面，其中礼仪的每个元素都可以适当地带入到个人的祈祷中。然后，它可以按比例扩展，并且提供给个人化的请求、祈求、忏悔、代祷和赞美提供正统的途径，特别是当我们无法找到我们恰当的话语时。更多的时候，礼仪祈祷词已经提供这些话语了。
Liturgical prayers are found throughout the Divine Service and set a big picture view of the Christian life, in which each element of the liturgy can be suitably brought into one’s private, individual prayer. It can then be expanded proportionally and offered as a doctrinally correct pathway to personalized requests, petitions, contrition, intercessions, and praise—especially when we fail as individuals to find the words we want or need. More often than not, the liturgical prayers have already provided them. [See the sidebar on page 43, “Using Liturgy for Private Prayer”—Ed.]
 
礼仪性的祈祷和灵修性的祈祷本来就是一起工作的，把我们的思想和心灵提升到上帝面前。私人的祈祷使我们能够按照最适合我们每个人的方式来发展我们与主的个人关系。这就是为什么一个人选择的虔诚祷告的类型是主观的；甚至同一形式的祷告方式也可能因人而异。但是，一旦我们在灵修祈祷生活中建立了与主的个人关系，我们就把它带到礼仪祈祷中，特别是当我们找不到恰当的语言时，它会与教会中的其他人结合起来，被纳入到圣餐中、对洗礼的回忆中，和世界的需求中。
Liturgical prayer and devotional prayer are meant to work together to lift our minds and hearts to God. Private, individual prayer allows us to develop our personal relationship with the Lord according to the way that best suits each of us. That is why the type of devotional prayer one chooses is subjective; even the manner of praying the same form may vary from one person to the next. But once we have established that personal relationship with the Lord in our devotional prayer life, we bring it to liturgical prayer, especially when words fail us, where it is then united with the others in the church and incorporated into the celebration of Holy Communion, the remembrance of baptism, and the needs of the world.
 
将个人的祈祷与礼仪性的祈祷如此搭配在一起，将体现出信徒的互补性，通过承担上帝对教会和世界的关怀来提升他们的属灵生活。
Commingling private, individual prayer with liturgical prayer will manifest believers’ complementarity, elevating their spiritual life by bearing the cares of God for the church and the world.
 
总结
Conclusion
 
我们需要上帝不停的看顾和供应，这意味着我们的祈祷永远不会停止，因此我们总是需要加强和扩大我们的祈祷，并在祈祷中成熟起来——这包括增加我们对礼仪祈祷的欣赏和使用。
Our endless need of God’s care and provision means that our prayers never cease, and so we always need to enhance and expand our prayers and to mature in prayer—which includes increasing our appreciation and use of liturgical or form prayers.
 
这就是为什么我们仰望基督，他是我们信仰的创造和成终者。敬拜是一种通过祈祷表达的信心行为，实际上是我们的主耶稣所教导、鼓励和颂扬的，是基督徒生活的核心方面——事实上，是基督徒个人和整个教会的主要职责之一。在这样做的时候，耶稣推进了已经建立起来的犹太教祈祷教导的传统，并提供了祈祷的固定形式和可改变的样板。他的教导有意将我们的心思集中在上帝的事情上——关于上帝国度的成长、供应和保护的神圣旨意（约17）——因此它激发了受洗信徒的信心。我们信奉的是在基督里信守承诺的上帝，他唤起了曾经由水和圣道所赐下的信心。
This is why we look to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. Worship as an act of faith expressed through prayer is in fact something our Lord Jesus taught, encouraged, and extolled as a central aspect of Christian life—indeed, as one of the primary duties of the individual Christian and the church as a whole. In doing so, Jesus advanced an already well-established Jewish tradition of teaching prayer and providing set forms and alterable formulas of prayer. His teaching intentionally focuses our hearts and minds on the things of God—the divine will and ways concerning the growth, provision, and protection of his kingdom (John 17)—and so it elicits faith from the baptized. It is the God who keeps his promises in Christ whom we trust, who evokes faith once bestowed by the water and the word.
 
因此，个人虔诚的祈祷和礼仪祈祷远不是对立的，而是相辅相成的——前者在礼仪内容和形式中得到扩展和丰富，有目的地参与到与上帝的明确旨意、教会的使命和世界的需要相呼应的祈求中，而不仅仅是个人的。采用或模仿精心制作的礼仪祈祷，有助于保障我们个人祈祷是圣经性和神学准确性，使其成为符合正统的三一论，基督论和救赎论的颂赞。
Therefore, far from being antithetical, personal devotional prayer and liturgical prayer are complementary—with the former being particularly expanded and enriched by the generally Scripture-determined content and form of the liturgy, purposely engaging in petitions that resonate with the expressed will of God, the mission of the church, and the needs of the world, as opposed to the private individual. Employing or mimicking carefully crafted liturgical prayer helps safeguard the biblical soundness and theological accuracy of our personal prayers, keeping them within the God-honoring boundaries of Trinitarianism and orthodox Christology and soteriology.
 
我们在礼仪中的祈祷可能是客观的、物理的，反映了我们与周围世界接触的复杂性，包括我们的感知、直觉和记忆。当这种情况下，礼仪的精彩内容被带入我们个人的祈祷生活中时，我们开始发现，礼仪祈祷将我们纳入上帝子民的联合声音中，从而改变了我们，因为它不属于任何个人，而是属于普世教会。
Our prayer in the liturgy may be objective and physical in nature, reflecting the complexity of our engagement with the world around us, including our sense of perception, intuition, and memory. When this is the case, and the liturgy’s wonderful content is brought into our private, personal prayer lives, we begin to find that liturgical prayer incorporates us into the united voice of God’s people and thus transforms us, since it belongs not to any individual but to the church universal.
 
 
[1] Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 2006), 151.
 
[2] 羔羊颂（Angus Dei）的歌词，取自约翰福音1:29。
 
[3] 值得注意的是，这一时期的家庭生活与我们的生活有很大的不同。很少有人独居或有个人时间。家庭通常是扩大的概念，并作为一个宗族在一生中居住在一起，而监护人的行业则集中在一起。
 
[4] Timothy Maschke, Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 2003), 365.
 
[5] Pius Parsch, The Hours of the Divine Office in English and Latin (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1963–64), 1, cited in Maschke, Gathered Guests, 365.
 
作者：约翰·邦巴罗牧师（Rev. John J. Bambaro），博士（伦敦大学国王学院）是圣地亚哥恩典路德教会的主任牧师，也是在海军陆战队服务的美国海军牧师。