One of the best things I’ve ever heard on prayer comes from Eugene Peterson’s new book, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ . 

“But here’s the thing: prayer is personal language or it is nothing. 

God is personal, emphatically personal: three-personed personal.

When we use impersonal language in this most personal of all relations, the language doesn’t work” (156).

Think about it. The Psalms is a collection of personal prayers, sometimes so deeply personal these prayers make us squirm or wonder if they should be said aloud. But isn’t that the whole point of prayer?

Impersonal prayer is prayer shaped to say the right thing to the ears who are listening in the congregation; personal prayer opens the heart to God.