Praying like an Evangelical

I realised last night that I really can't pray like an evangelical. Not that I often attempt to - but when in the company of evangelical Christians, it's nice to show you're willing to fit in in ways that seem ok. But small group prayers in which different subjects are picked out and God is asked this way or that? It's not a team sport and God is not a lord of the manner who needs to be persuaded this way or that. Thus, the exercise has its limitations.

My stumbling and mumbling prayers which I offer in silence, and which are complemented by the bold liturgical prayers of church services and by the Lord's Prayer, offer what is for me the most comfortable point of reference. Persuasion doesn't come into it: humility and the chance to profit from centuries of wisdom and tradition does. Which is not to say that other kinds of praying are necessarily bad or wrong. Just that when it comes to praying like an evangelical, something feels wrong, skindeep, out of order - merely touching the surface - or, at worst, profoundly missing the depth of the possibilities of prayer. This is not to disavow the wonderful possibilities of charismatic worship or experience. But it is to warn against its potential to misconstrue a relationship with God.