I went for a walk tonight in the hot late evening air and as is my custom when walking listened to a sermon that I had downloaded on iTunes. This evening I was listening to a message by Bishop William Willimon (Methodist preacher from Alabama) about keeping preaching fresh. The message was excellent and I'm putting it on file for future use whenever we get around to reviving the "preachers from the bleachers" program. The Bishop must have been preaching/lecturing at some sort of college chapel because after he concluded he engaged in a lengthy Q&A session with the congregation. It was unfortunate that the recording did not capture the questions from the floor so I was left to piece together the questions from the answers he offered, but one thing he said in passing caught my attention. He was telling an anecdotal story (about his son I believe, but I'm not sure on this part) where a young couple were judging churches they visited by how the congregational prayer time went.
The essence of the illustration was that this couple was looking for a church and they were trying to find one that fit with the values and priorities they held about what a church should be, and rather than rate the church on the preaching, or how friendly the greeters were, or whether there was childcare, or well marked exits - they evaluated the church on a singular criteria - what did they pray for?
My first reaction was "how odd and unorthodox" but as it sank in while I walked the idea made more and more sense to me. When a church comes together for congregational prayer what is prayed for, either on a prepared list that is researched and vetted by the pastors before the service, or in a model like ours where every Sunday the floor is opened to requests, says a lot about what the priorities of the church and it's leadership are. Are all the prayer requests of the same type? Are all the situations being prayed for dire? When we pray for the sick to we ask for healing, or simply comfort to endure? Is our prayer time marked by expressions of praise? Do the same people share every week or is there a diversity across generations, cultures, ethnicities, socio-economic strata, established members vs. newcomers and the like? What does our prayer say about Estevan Alliance Church?
There are things I absolutely love about our prayer times as a pastor. I love it when people have the courage to stand up and share something publicly that they have until that point been struggling with privately - to me that makes a statement that at Estevan Alliance Church we value authenticity, even when it's raw and painful. It also says that we believe in the power of a praying church more than we value our privacy, pride and dignity as individuals. That's something that gets me excited.
I love when people stand up and give thanks for answered prayer. Not only is it an encouragement that God is listening and powerful enough to do the things we ask for, but it causes us to pause and evaluate in our lives where God may have answered our prayers and we have neglected (as the brave person standing is doing) to acknowledge his goodness and faithfulness.
I love when people acknowledge God's goodness and faithfulness through the difficult seasons. I have told this story already to countless people already because it so moved me - but many of you may remember during what should have been the peak of seeding time this spring when the waters were keeping seemingly every farmer off the fields and every week we would be praying for warm dry weather, one of our farmers (if you were there you will undoubtedly remember who) stood up and gave God unconditional thanks for the many good years of farming that we in the Southeast of Saskatchewan have enjoyed over the last while. It wasn't in the sense that "God you always find a way to give us a good year so show up now and keep the streak running" it was in the vein of God has always taken care of us through years of plenty and years of little and no matter what we trust that he'll take care of us this year too. That single prayer request has continued to inspire me for a couple months now, and I believe says volumes about the character of this man, but also the culture of our church to invite and nurture that type of prayer.
There are also things that can happen in a congregational prayer that make a pastor cringe. I get disappointed on Sundays when there is absolutely nothing redeeming to share during the prayer time - because in a congregation with an average attendance of somewhere around 200 I find it implausible bordering on impossible that all of our lives are that bad. Either we are a depressingly pessimistic and ungrateful people, or someone is to timid to share what God is calling them to share.
It also troubles me when people stand up and share an "unspoken request". It's not that I lack faith in God to answer such requests but I lack a belief in how the public sharing of something like that can build up the body of Christ. As much as I love it when we can share real, raw truths with each other while fostering a culture of authenticity where our christian "masks" come off on a Sunday morning, I'm mature enough to realize that some things may be too private for some people to share. If that is the nature of such a prayer request then I suggest it be shared with a smaller group rather than in a public forum. Sharing mysterious requests only serves to focus attention on the mystery rather than God and often leads to speculation far more embarrassing than the truth of the matter to begin with. Moreover what it says about our church is that we are not a safe place and highlights the fact that a small number of people are entitled to special knowledge of circumstances that others are not - and we're rubbing in their faces.
What does our pattern of prayer say about our church? I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask for feedback on this matter. I've had a lousy track record on this blog of getting genuine interaction from anyone - even when the stats say I'm generating a lot of traffic - but I'll take the chance at rejection and ask anyways? What does our congregational prayer time say about Estevan Alliance Church. Hit up the comment button below and share your thoughts.
Until next time,
Chris
Well, I've stood up once or twice. It makes you really nervous, that's for sure. Thoughts go through your head like, "Does my issue really deserve this attention? Maybe I should just keep quiet. Person X over there is dealing with cancer, or loss of a loved one, or loss of a job, or some other thing. Maybe I should just sit here and not say anything..."
ReplyDeleteI was actually quite glad to see our church start doing this. I think it's a strong thing to do. Now if we would just sing the doxology after offering to give thanks from whom all blessings flow, and maybe once in a rare blue moon sing an old style song like The Old Rugged Cross, I'd be a happy camper. :). But then again, I should be getting my but to church on Sundays more frequently, too.
So in answer to the question of the blog, how does our church pray? I would say this: well.