No religious function can properly begin unless someone leads in a quick word of prayer. This has always puzzled me. I mean, if it’s a word of prayer is it just one word? And if it’s a quick word of prayer does that mean it has to be said more quickly than usual?
Prayer is such an interesting subject. Its one of those things about which people love to talk but few have any time or tendency to participate. Books on prayer are fairly popular. Sermons about prayer are even well received.
And if you want to get a group of well fed sheep in a stampede! Just talk about how Madeline Murray O’Hare, “the spawn of Satan,” got prayer out of school! And if you have email, you realize that she must be still on the prowl! I get an email about her just about twice a year if not more. And I probably will not make it to heaven either because I don’t love Jesus enough to forward it to everyone in my contacts. Because according to the email my faith is in serous question if I do not forward it.
Did I say a sheep stampede? Boy that’s scary isn’t it? A hundred sheep trotting along, teeth bared, wool wafting in the wind. They run into each other and stop. A few of them see grass and give up walking altogether. They just stop and eat. Those that manage to keep going for a few moments keep going with furrowed brows as they bleat baaahhh! Baaaahhhh! I get goose-bumps just imagining the scary sight. Where was I? Oh yeah.
Doesn’t it seem that in most services prayer is kind of like a sprig of parsley on your dinner plate? It’s not really a part of the meal its just there to add color. So it is with prayer in many services. There is an obligatory prayer placed in the order of service so as to actually acknowledge that God is invited to what it is we are doing in His name.
Isn’t it odd that prayer remains a part of the official events in Washington?
I actually lead a prayer in the House of Representatives in Washington. That’s right. It was televised on CSPAN and everything. The funny thing was, was what did not get shown on CSPAN. There were not more than thirty people in the room. There might not have been twenty. That’s right, out of 435 representatives in the house; there were probably about thirty people in that historic hall. Prayer is a part of the form, but not a part of the function.
It’s not very different in some churches. Someone prays out loud, most present listen to what is being said. A few actually engage in the experience. We may grunt our consent every now and then and even say amen at the end of the prayer, but did we really pray?
In fact you want to save on the wear and tear of the carpet in your sanctuary, just announce a prayer meeting. The janitor won’t even need to vacuum. It’s true. Have you ever heard about a church that was really packing the pews, in multiple services, because of their prayer times? Their music, yes; the speaker, yes; because they spend large portions of their meeting time on their knees or in quiet contrition before the Lord, never. A service may be rocked deeply on a rare occasion as the people pray, but no one plans or expects to see God move because of their prayer times in the service.
That is one thing that the early church did. Prayer is far removed from the modern day entertainment venues. Yes I said it, Entertainment venues.
If Jesus drove the people out of the temple for the money madness, He would surely drive us out for our entertainment. A whole lot is entertainment. We don’t spend long portions of our time in prayer because prayer is boring. We work on our transitions between segments of the worship service. Why, because we want to look professional and polished. And well, we don’t want folks to lose interest. We must keep them, entertained. And there is nothing entertaining about listening to someone talk with their eyes closed.
In all four Gospels, the occasion of Jesus cleansing the Temple is recorded. In three of them Jesus declares that His Father’s house shall be called “a house of prayer.”
Indulging the fact that a church can be loosely referred as the house of God, it should be first known as a house of prayer.
If you will concede that the church officially began on the day of Pentecost you will note that it was not about singing, preaching or fellowship, it was prayer. When the church faced a challenge, like its leaders being in prison, they resorted first and only to prayer. They did not call the press, they did not form a steering team. They did not call their councilman or call in a favor! They prayed. Every time the early church got into a jam, they prayed their way out!
We are not giving glory to God if we are giving Him glory for something He did not do! We are merely trying to justify our actions and the ends we intended by saying that it was God who did it! You want to know why jail cells open and guards cannot see grown men walking out in plain view? Its because God is doing it in such a way that only God can get the glory! You want to know how an earthquake can tear down a jail and harm no one inside. Because God wants to do it in such a way that only He gets the glory! The reason we would rather picket than pray is because we are neither willing to wait or consider that it might not be God’s idea!
Can you imagine what the opinion of the council is of the church that came in and bullied them with numbers? Did someone ask, who cares what the bunch of bureaucrats think anyway? Well God does. Every member of every council in our nation came screaming from their mother’s loins on their way to a devil’s hell in desperation to run into someone who could show them that God and faith in Christ is more than political power and organizational will. The last thing they need to see and hear was that the church is just another self-willed and self-centered organization.
What if instead of showing up as sheep in wolves’ clothing, and only when there is something vital to the organization is involved, they showed up at every council meeting. And instead of intimidation, they simply communicated in some low-key way that while they meet there, the church group would be praying for the council or board to have God’s wisdom while they made decisions that were in the very best interest of people of their city.
What if the group of people who meet together on Sunday morning spent more of their time praying about the time when they were apart than trying to make their time together more entertaining.
Has it ever occurred to you that in theory, when the church is meeting together that it is at its least effective? Whatever size your church is, let’s say, 250 people. Most of them will sit silently during most of their time together. They will say little and do little, but, when they go their ways, there are 250 individuals who can go out and be Jesus every where they go. In everything they do they can do it as unto Jesus. You have to admit that sitting and listening does not take the power of the Holy Spirit…unless you are A.D.D. like me. But the point is that as a group, prayer is the greatest thing that can be done. Because when the church disperses, the potential is exponentially greater than any one service! The church that is exponential in its prayer time will be exponential in its power and effect on this hell bound world!
Next service, invite everyone to join in many slow words of prayer.
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