Prayer Meeting?

“Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne…”

I do not profess to be a mighty pray-er; I often struggle in prayer; but I do know that prayer is also intensely personal. It is when individually we come before the Father’s throne just as we are, to spend time and make space for conversation.

It is ironic that we sang “Sweet hour of prayer” at the start of the service, when the other events in the prayer meeting took 1 hour 45 minutes and the prayer 15 – 20 minutes per group. 20 minutes divided by 4 people, that is 5 minutes each in prayer. No wonder, many people in church say they do not really know how to pray. We learn prayer by praying, by spending time with the heart inclined to God and by listening. We learn to pray by exploring the myriad diversity of prayer forms and styles our Christian heritage has left us – learning from the Desert Fathers, the contemplative monks and the pious reformers and the puritans. By doing so, our prayer life grows richer, the roots of Faith grow deeper, and we become people of substance. This does not occur with 1 hr 45 minutes of teaching, sharing and congregational singing and 20 minutes in prayer.

I am for good teaching on prayer; for sharing to testify of God’s goodness and for encouragement; and for singing to praise God. They are good but on their own, they are incomplete for a prayer meeting. 25 minutes of singing hymns; 25 minutes of a person teaching on prayer; and 20 minutes of sharing of the goodness of God. These are good and edifying but impersonal. We engage with these events from a distance. There is a need to pray personal, participatory and experiential prayers; to draw close to the Father’s throne. This comes only when we make time and space to do so – 20 minutes per group or 5 minutes person is insufficient. I often need 10 – 15 minutes just to settle down from a busy day before I am disposed to praying. Having a same ritual or form of prayer allows people to be comfortable; but do we want people to be comfortable in prayer? Let us explore the riches of the prayer life of the saints who have gone before us; exploring the “Jesus” prayer; contemplative prayer, congregation praying aloud together aka “Korean or Indonesia Style” and prayer liturgy etc. Let’s be uncomfortable and be stretched for growth in our prayer life.

Are we as a church serious in prayer? I think the evidence at prayer meetings speaks for itself. Let us take prayer seriously – 7 days a week.

Ollie

January 2007