Q. I have a very difficult time praying.  I'm easily distracted, and my mind quickly jumps to other things.  Lately I've read some books by Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating on the practice of centering (or contemplative) prayer.  Is this type of prayer compatible with the Christian faith?  Does the LCMS have a position on this type of prayer?
 
A.  I am not aware of any "LCMS position" on "contemplative prayer." 
 
A Lutheran understanding of what the Scriptures teach concerning prayer would not rule out suggestions for a more focused and disciplined prayer life. In fact, this ought to be encouraged. Any suggestion, however, that the human actions themselves cause God to answer prayer or make prayer more effectual, or that we may enter into an altered state of consciousness in order to find God (as in contemplative techniques as found Eastern mysticism, for example) would be contrary to the Scriptures. The Scriptures encourage us to reach out in prayer to God as He has revealed Himself to us, from outside of us, in His Word. Moreover, the constitutive element of God-pleasing prayer is trust in our gracious God who hears us, not human works. As Luther put it so eloquently in the Small Catechism, the words of the Lord's Prayer "Our Father" mean that "with these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we ask Him as dear children ask their dear father."

Toward the end of his life Thomas Merton became greatly influenced by Eastern spirituality, especially Zen Buddhism. Christian readers will therefore need to read especially his later works with careful discernment.