In Defense of Scripted Prayer

I’ve always thought of scripted prayers as something one step above a magical incantation: a particular set of words, designed to control a stronger force (in this case, a deity), and bend it to your will.

Facebook is full of posts that begin, “This is a Powerful Prayer.” When I see that, I keep scrolling, rolling my eyes along with the wheel of the mouse. Even the phrase, “There’s power in prayer,” sets my teeth on edge. Certainly, I’ve experienced the power of God in response to prayer, but to assign power to a specific recipe of pious words is just hocus-pocus. Right?