When I was a few years younger, it was very common for prayers uttered in public to use King James Version English replete with "Thee," and "Thou," and phrases such as "We know that Thou has not asked us what Thou wilt not enable us to do, by Thy grace!"  And a lot more. For the past thirty to forty years we can at least use modern  forms of pronouns and we talk to God without having to use the English of four or five hundred years ago!

By the way, your picture of the little boy and his dog 'praying' together at bedtime is classic! 

Hahaha!! Thanks for the entry. This post gave me so much laughs because I know I've done them all. I can so agree on the "prayer voice". Oooh, Christian culture... what are we gonna do without it?

Personally when I pray, I tend to talk to God as I would casually talk to someone. Maybe not exactly like, "Yo wassup G-dog? How's mah homeboy Jesus doing up there?" But I try not to embellish what I say.

As for the "Falling Asleep", me and some of my buddies in my old youth group tried to counter that by running around while praying. It was in a big conference room, maybe about 2 in the morning. We wanted to "stay faithful and pray up all night for the lost souls", so we ran around the conference room, shouting, singing, praying, whatever. I don't know if there was a security cam in the conference room because if there was... we probably looked reaaally stupid.

I have been around a lot of people who say "Father God" to start the prayer, after every sentence, and sometimes in the middle of a sentence. I think that essentially that is the same as taking the Lord's name in vain - we use it as a filler word either to look spiritual or when we don't know what else to say - and takes away from the meaning of his name.

oh, sometimes i look up with my eyes shut though...like i'm feeling God look down on me or something...i don't know, it's just my natural inclination to look up, i suppose.

In terms of praying over meals... Watch this. Lol...

I went to my friends house a few months go for sunday lunch and her pa sang the grace, it was an old song he made up when we were kids.  She and I looked at each other over the table at each other and burst into hysterics.  It was like we were five again.  Oh and we had to hold hands, another old tradition in her household.  Holding hands and singing the grace. 

I tend not to throw in the big words (because I don't know them haha), or the repetitive varied names for 'God' etc etc.  If we have prayer at church everyone usually sits whereas I always want to stand up.  I'm not a 'gusher' as a rule, I like to pray simple, relevant and keep it short.

Sometimes, depending on whos company I'm in, ie people who have sense of humors, i may add in a little quirkiness at the end, like 'and please, keep us safe from stomach ache when such and such offers us some of their home baking'

I always have my eyes open, not looking around but staring intently at something to stay focused and keep my mind from wandering.  I don't here much if my eyes are closed.

If someone else is praying, I like to repeat the words in my mind, saying them to God as if they were my own words. That way, when I say amen, I am really agreeing.

I can completely relate to the last one--the praying at meals one. I'm also from a Christian Korean family, and I always wondered how they said, "AMEN" at the same time. I used to think that there were rehearsals.

My dad once joked, "the one who takes a long time to pray aloud before a meal is the worst sinner."

Hahaha,
The first one made me laugh out loud.

When people really get to praying, I can't help buy open my eyes.
They just won't stay shut.

my quirks?  The prayer language thing.  If I'm leading a group, I try to talk in a way understood by the group I'm leading.  If there are newer Christians in the room, I'll say something like, "God, I know that the words we use aren't important.  You just want us to say anything to you."  I like to use every-day language, because God wants us to come to Him as we are -- everyday, ordinary people. 

My thinking is that others who see me as an example/role model  using Harvard PhD words, they'll think that they can't do that because they don't know any Harvard BS words (much less PhD), and end up being reluctant to pray.  (not putting down Harvard ... it's a wonderful place; it's just that most people don't hang out with someone who has a PhD from Harvard ... )

If I'm leading a group - especially if it's a youth group - and I invite the group to lift up any prayer concerns, I don't allow "passes" ... EVERYONE says something - anything, even if it's just one word - before the next person goes.  Otherwise, no one says anything, and how can we pray for each other if we don't know the concerns?  (I guess I'm just really mean with the kids in that respect.)

thank you! Talking about prayer is always funny... and you usually hear the funniest stories from the people you would least expect!

The wife of a former pastor told me a story about RC Sproul-- when he was a young minister, an older pastor gave him the tip to keep his prayer written on a piece of paper in his hat for graveside services at funerals. His first prayer began, "Dear Lord.... this is not my hat!"

Another favorite story is a friend of my family, who called someone and had to leave an answering machine message. He wasn't ready, got very flustered, and closed the message with "In Jesus' name, amen!" Everyone in my family also has stories about calling someone and then accidentally beginning "Dear Father in Heaven" when the other person answers.

A VERY funny joke to play at a Bible study or any religious meeting is to nudge someone who's fallen asleep and whisper-- "Hey, they just asked you to pray."

On a more serious note, my church has had a lot of discussion lately about what is the proper physical attitude for prayer... what is the significance in folding our hands? And who prays sitting down in the Bible? And why do we have to close our eyes? What we are beginning to realize is that a lot of the things we learn that are probably good for us as little kids are things that are not necessarily reverent when we get older. I always remember what CS Lewis said in the Screwtape Letters about how our physical bodies are important--- and kneeling when you pray is a big deal.

great post. :)