Aids to Prayer
The late Lutheran systematic theologian Robert Jenson was once asked what he, as a proponent of grace over works, thought of all the popular aids to prayer found in the burgeoning industry of spirituality (many from the more catholic side of the aisle): beads, icons, arrow prayers, repetition, silence, etc. He replied that he was for anything that helped to make him a better hearer of God’s Word. It is a great answer. He was at once open to many kinds of help - so long as all were understood only as means, and subordinated to the Word of God. There can be no technology of prayer. But we in our culture could use some quiet, some focus, some engagement of the senses, some accommodation to our personality type.