I realize how scattered my themed postings seem to appear. It's because I have to reconnect the theological/philosophical/psychological dots in mind almost daily. Which is also the most substantial reason I still use blogger as an outlet. It remembers for me. Anyway...
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"In an attempt to avoid using prayer as a means to impress others (a practice Jesus warns against in the verses right before the Lord's Prayer), Amish individuals do not compose their own spoken prayers, as worshipers in many other religious traditions do. Even Amish Ministers do not compose their own prayers for church services. In a typical Amish worship service, which includes two sermons and two prayers, the first prayer is a silent one. When we asked Amish people what they pray during the time of silent prayer, without exception the answered, "The Lord's Prayer"...
...We don't think we can improve on Jesus' prayer. Why would we need to? We think it's a good, well rounded prayer. It has all the key points in it." From an Amish perspective, trying to improve on the Lord's Prayer would reflect a proud heart. This simple, ancient prayer is therefore the key to Amish spirituality." - from the Chapter, The Root of Forgiveness in "Amish Grace". Kraybill, Nolt, Weaver-Zercher
I do understand that this is not wholly true in every Amish community, for some orders do apparently say other prayers in addition to the Lord's Prayer. Neither do I want to romanticize it, but I question if some of us intentionally avoid the Lord's Prayer when we seek to persuade God to conform to our will and our desires, rather than the other way around? And the prayer obviously asks something of us, like forgiveness of others, every time we say it - which may be a phrase we would rather ignore for one reason or another.
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