In Prayer, Structure Serves Spontaneity

Regular readers of this column are aware that I’m finishing up a year-long liturgy for daily prayer, built on the same pattern and structure as my 30 Days Series. Newcomers to this way of structured prayer sometimes tell me they struggle at first to make the words of other Christians their own—to pray someone else’s words as if they came from the heart. Incorporating written prayers can feel inauthentic or forced, especially for those who’ve grown up in traditions where spontaneity is the sign o