“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
- Matthew 6:5-6, KJV
Roger Ebert should probably stick to movie reviews but maybe he was also right about horizontal prayer.
As I understand that, it is in no way an admonition against public prayer.
Christ prayed publically. So did the disciples. Public prayer has been a vital part of Christianity from the beginning.
Christ said not to pray as the hypocrites do, in publically, with the only goal in mind to be seen of men.
He is talking about the Pharisees and the like.
It is possible to pray publically without such hypocritical motives.
That’s my understanding anyway.
And also I understand Ebert is a liberal scumbag, politicizing prayer for his own liberal motives. Truly disgusting.
Your interpretation of what you are reading requires counsel ~