In his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, my medieval friend, Ludolph of Saxony, brings to our attention the Lord’s Prayer, beginning by commending it to us as the prayer that “excels all other prayers” and that which “enshrines an immense number of mysteries.” I’m not sure that opinion is widely shared in the evangelical world today. Protestantism’s dread of written prayers—rote, droned over, mechanical, and magical recitations of ancient formulae—has led to its widespread abandonment of the Lord’s... Read more