To Whom Do You Pray?

I've a nagging question that I can't seem to figure out on my own. The more I read Scripture or books that discuss the Trinity, I haven't found an answer. Maybe that itself is the answer.

However, let me begin with a quote I found to be true within my own heart. It is found off the pages of my current book:

"Today's American Evangelicals may be quick to speak of their love for Jesus, even wearing their devotion on their sleeve, literally in the case of WWJD bracelets. But they may not be so quick to articulate an orthodox view of the object of their devotion. Their devotion is commendable, but the lack of a rigorous theology behind it means that a generation of contemporary evangelicals is living off borrowed capital...." AND

"American Evangelicals do indeed like Jesus: we just don't always like Him straight."" :)

For months and months, well, maybe years...I've thought. To whom should I pray, in regards to the Trinity? I think the most common is God the Father or Jesus the Christ. I have yet to hear someone address the Spirit in prayer. (at least that I can remember, it's just not common) Why is that? If you hold to a trinitarian view, which I do, the trinity is three persons yet one God. Complex yes. Confusing to most, even those who lives have been redeemed by that one God. Yes. But....how do you address all three? Or should you? Should it be different each time?

I began a book called, Jesus, Made in America. A Cultural History from the Puritans to The Passion of the Christ

It's not been an easy book for me. Not that I don't agree with almost everything Mr. Nichols has stated: I do. It's phrases like this, that make me go, "huh?" and I have to read and re-read it.

"The Puritans brought together theological precision and piety. They stressed both conversion and the Bible, but both within the confines of creedal and ecclesiastical traditions, viewing themselves as participants with the Reformation traditions and the Augustinian and creedal lineage of the early church.....finally the Puritans located their Christology within a sound framework of trinitarianism and biblically informed view of the human condition.....Aligning theological precision and piety w/o making a Faustian bargain is the legacy of Edward Taylor (a Puritan I just learned about) and Jonathan Edwards and these other puritans; it is also the legacy of Athanasius, Leo the Great, Augustine, Anselm and the Reformers. All of these parties applied that method to their Christology in particular, resulting in not only the orthodox statements of the person and work of Christ as handed down in the creeds, but also in a rich legacy of sermons and meditations---even poems---- of the beauty of Christ, the wonder of Christ's work and the rapturous nature of our union with Christ."

Anyway, I am having to read and re-read many portions of this book and analyze as I go. I am having to look up words and see who is behind the phrase "Faustian". I assumed Faust. But I didn't know. Well, it was a man named Goethe. (whom I vaguely remember touching on in our study of the 19th century last year) Anyway, this book has been a challenge to my mind. But I'm enjoying it immensely.

All that to say....it has me thinking about the trinity. As this book cases the view of Jesus (The Redeemer) throughout American History, it begins with the Puritan view of Jesus and from there finds itself in a 3 stage decline.
Quote:
1. When in the early 19th century, "evangelicals liberated Jesus first from Calvanism and then from Creeds
2. After the Civil War, sola scriptura (Bible Alone) from the Reformation was replaced with solus Jesus: Jesus Alone.
3. Finally, when Thomas Jefferson dream of religious diversity came to fulfillment when Jesus was liberated from Christianity itself

The break from the Puritan view of theology, gave way to the emphasis on experience and emotionalism--and---altar calls. The break from Puritan views of strong Theology, to experience, opened the gates for alternate views of the trinity to be openly accepted at once altering the future of the views which had led these Puritans to America to begin with.

As I looked up Arius again, (which I vaguely remembered from our study of the early church) He was a early theologian who contradicted those who upheld the Nicene Creed. You know the one:
"I believe in God the Father; Maker of heaven and Earth and of Jesus Christ his only son, I believe in the Virgin Birth...ect..." (paraphrased by me through Petra's song 'Creed')

I remembered that these alternate views of the trinity are 'nothing new under the sun' it's the same ole' same ole. Way back at the foundations of the early church in the 4th century, the trinity was being attacked and dismantled. I know there is a danger in those who love to read and love to study theology and books about the topic, (myself here) have to stop at some point and just let Scripture speak itself w/o looking any deeper. But what should our view on the trinity be? Should we address each part distinctly? God as our Father and Creator? Jesus as our Redeemer and King? The Spirit as our intercessor and constant abider?

I'd appreciate any thoughts.