Public prayer is sometimes boring to hear and it often does not seem to bring hearings into a worshipful frame of mind. Here are some thoughts:

Public Prayer: Bringing God up to Date on Current Events? | Gentle Reformation

Do you all think that public prayer has devolved in the reformed church?

I can relate to Steinbeck's view of prayer. Jewish prayers are much more appropriate, it seems, than most evangelical/reformed prayers. Public prayers at times of trial would be interesting, if they were recorded. When Holland was threatened with the Nazi invasion, I wonder if any of the public prayers were written down, even in summary? My own prayers took on a different dimension when, in rural Ethiopia, we hit a kid on a bike and then were chased by a gang of men with guns. Under non-crisis conditions, it seems to me that acknowledgement of lordship, thanks for what is going right, pleas concerning what is going wrong, and petitions regarding future events and needs are most appropriate. These elements were all part of the Lord's prayer.