Sermon or prayer, or prayer or sermon?

This afternoon's sermon was encouraging:Psalm 16! Too little content for the number of words used, but that is often the case. My general view is this: if you can't land your major points in 20 minutes, your calling may be elsewhere.

As usual we ended with prayer, but unusually, the prayer included a mini-sermon. This is not the role of prayer. God does not need preaching to, nor does one take time out for an excursus addressing the imagined hearer/s.

Noting that God is not hard of hearing, needs no explanations nor excessive detail, public prayers can be brief, to the point and non-begging. Our Father in Heaven is only too ready, willing and able to provide for us.

Reminds me of a friend may years ago who observed the way of prayer in our then circle, where the word 'just' was used more than any other word, and, I might add, pleonastically, and thus tediously. Please stop!