Wendell Hawley

I like old prayers. This shouldn’t come as any surprise, given that most Prayers from the Cloud originate from the distant past. I’m drawn to ancient prayers for their exalted language, full-throttled praise, and fearless candor in confession. Modern prayers, by contrast, seem breezy and overly chummy. Praise has been curtailed, and confession is glossed over. We assume the main business at hand is to request things from God and get on with living. I came upon a collection of prayers that recasts classic prayers in contemporary verbiage. After Wendell Hawley (1930-) retired from pastoral ministry and as a chaplain in the Army Reserves, he joined the pastoral staff of a large Chicago church to conduct home and hospital visitation. His primary worship assignment was to offer pastoral prayer each Sunday. In the preface to his book, A Pastor Prays for His People, Wendell expressed a desire to follow the Puritan’s example in prayer. This must be why I like his prayers so much since Puritan prayers are among my favorites. Two distinctives stand out in Puritan prayers. First, Puritan prayers are biblical. As people saturated in Scripture, the Puritans drew heavily upon the Psalms and the language of Scripture. Often it is difficult to know where their words begin and Scripture ends. Puritans offer God’s promises back to God in prayer. Second, Puritan prayers hold together in creative tension God’s transcendence and God’s immanence. God is both far away and incredibly near. Puritan prayers revere God as holy yet are also bold to draw upon God’s intimate nearness. You will recognize these Puritan tendencies in one of Wendell’s prayers that follows here: