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Wanting Real Prayer – Br. James Koester
Br. James Koester
Esther 14:1-6, 12-14
Matthew 7:7-12
I’ll tell you a secret! This passage from Esther appears nowhere in the Hebrew scriptures. It is only found in the Greek Septuagint. That means it is not part of the Jewish canonical scriptures, and is only included in Christian scriptures as part of the Apocrypha. Because of that, this portion of Esther (indeed the whole of Esther) is only included in Scripture by Roman Catholics and Orthodox. As Anglicans we read it (and other parts of the Apocrypha) as an “example of life and instruction of manners, yet [we do] not apply them to establish doctrine.”[1]
Curiously, despite their negative regard for the Apocrypha, the Protestant Reformers loved Esther. She was frequently the subject of various forms of art during the Reformation period. This was because they admired, among other things, her determination and resistance to tyranny. They regarded her as a model for themselves as they struggled against the tyranny of Rome, and especially of the “Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities.”[2] It was the example of her prayer, asking God to “put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion, and turn [the king’s] heart to hate the man who is fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him” (Esther 14:13). Her courage, indeed willingness to die if she must – “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16) – also appealed to them. As tempting as her prayer for the destruction of her enemy may be, that’s not why we are reading this passage today. (Although, it seems to me to be a good reason!)
Paired with Jesus’ teaching on prayer in today’s gospel – “if you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask” (Matthew 7:11) – we begin to get a picture of what we might call real prayer.
We remind ourselves in our Rule of Life what this real prayer looks like:
“The life of prayer calls for the courage to bring into our communion with Christ the fullness of our humanity and the concrete realities of our daily existence, which he redeemed by his incarnation. . . . We are to bring [God] our sufferings and poverty, our passion and sexuality, our fears and resistances, our desires and our dreams, our losses and grief. We must spread before [God] our cares about the world and its peoples, our friends and families, our enemies and those from whom we are estranged. Our successes and failures, our gifts and shortcomings, are equally the stuff of our prayer.”[3]
This kind of prayer, the kind of prayer offered by Esther, expounded by Jesus, and taught in our Rule is far from polite. It is gritty. It is passionate. It is demanding. It is even, at times angry.
Different ages demand different kinds of prayer. In today’s world, Esther and her gritty, passionate, demanding, and even angry prayer, may be a model for us, as we spread before God our cares about the world and its peoples. It’s not polite, but it is certainly real, true, and honest.
[1] The Book of Common Prayer, 868.
[2] The Church of England, “Great Litany,” The Book of Common Prayer (1549), available online, http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/Litany_1549.htm, accessed February 26, 2026.
[3] The Rule of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Lanham, MD, 1997), 45.
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By Prayer – SSJEBr. James Koester
Esther 14:1-6, 12-14
Matthew 7:7-12
I’ll tell you a secret! This passage from Esther appears nowhere in the Hebrew scriptures. It is only found in the Greek Septuagint. That means it is not part of the Jewish canonical scriptures, and is only included in Christian scriptures as part of the Apocrypha. Because of that, this portion of Esther (indeed the whole of Esther) is only included in Scripture by Roman Catholics and Orthodox. As Anglicans we read it (and other parts of the Apocrypha) as an “example of life and instruction of manners, yet [we do] not apply them to establish doctrine.”[1]
Curiously, despite their negative regard for the Apocrypha, the Protestant Reformers loved Esther. She was frequently the subject of various forms of art during the Reformation period. This was because they admired, among other things, her determination and resistance to tyranny. They regarded her as a model for themselves as they struggled against the tyranny of Rome, and especially of the “Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities.”[2] It was the example of her prayer, asking God to “put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion, and turn [the king’s] heart to hate the man who is fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him” (Esther 14:13). Her courage, indeed willingness to die if she must – “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16) – also appealed to them. As tempting as her prayer for the destruction of her enemy may be, that’s not why we are reading this passage today. (Although, it seems to me to be a good reason!)
Paired with Jesus’ teaching on prayer in today’s gospel – “if you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask” (Matthew 7:11) – we begin to get a picture of what we might call real prayer.
We remind ourselves in our Rule of Life what this real prayer looks like:
“The life of prayer calls for the courage to bring into our communion with Christ the fullness of our humanity and the concrete realities of our daily existence, which he redeemed by his incarnation. . . . We are to bring [God] our sufferings and poverty, our passion and sexuality, our fears and resistances, our desires and our dreams, our losses and grief. We must spread before [God] our cares about the world and its peoples, our friends and families, our enemies and those from whom we are estranged. Our successes and failures, our gifts and shortcomings, are equally the stuff of our prayer.”[3]
This kind of prayer, the kind of prayer offered by Esther, expounded by Jesus, and taught in our Rule is far from polite. It is gritty. It is passionate. It is demanding. It is even, at times angry.
Different ages demand different kinds of prayer. In today’s world, Esther and her gritty, passionate, demanding, and even angry prayer, may be a model for us, as we spread before God our cares about the world and its peoples. It’s not polite, but it is certainly real, true, and honest.
[1] The Book of Common Prayer, 868.
[2] The Church of England, “Great Litany,” The Book of Common Prayer (1549), available online, http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/Litany_1549.htm, accessed February 26, 2026.
[3] The Rule of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Lanham, MD, 1997), 45.