Many of us have been to multiple churches in our lives. Among evangelical/fundamental churches, services range from the highly formal (reformed denominations) to highly informal (charismatic denominations). One element of the service that can slide notably from one end of the formality range to the other is that of a pastoral or (for lack of a better term) main prayer offered during the service. In the informal services, the person praying may have thought little of preparation and be "winging" it based on whatever thought may emerge at the moment. A prayer leader in more formal services may be reading the prayer from a prepared manuscript.
I'm sure we can all think of good points and bad points for each practice. Leading a congregation through stumbling, potentially heretical mistakes of doctrine, and disjointed thought structure surely isn't the ideal. Yet prepared prayers often sound prepared which may war against the purpose and even desire for a united cry to the Lord.
What do you think is the best way for a church to conduct corporate prayer?
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Some preparation is often better than none. If chosen well, prayers from a book of prayer can guide our thoughts. Anyway, who says we can't add a bit of our own as the prayer is read?
ReplyDeleteOh, I have a high-church soul, and I like the formal pattern of services. The Gloria Patri, the Doxology, the Lord's Prayer--all wonderful expressions of praise. Anyone can go through motions without heart--REGARDLESS of whether the prayers are patterned or spontaneous. Singing prayers (psalms, hymns, songs) and responsive readings help guide our thoughts, as Rob notes the prayer book can.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you said you like the formal pattern of services. Why do you suppose that is? Is it a "should" for you or just a preference? Is there an inference that we can draw from the Bible on the level of formality in a gathering?
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I can't think of a particular inference that points to formality in a worship service other than the rituals from the Old Testament. I believe the formality promotes a solemn attitude toward worship. That is not to say that all gatherings must be solemn. I must say, however, that in a very formal setting I enjoy the connection to past generations of believers who followed the same rituals, read the same prayers, and sang the same hymns.
ReplyDeleteJust a preference, for the most part. There are times, though, for formality and times for being less formal--to follow the pattern of Ecclesiastes. There were times when the believers met to hear the apostles speak or to read out their letters. What does the Bible say??--except for Paul's reminder that "things" should be done in an orderly fashion and that women (or anyone, I think) should not raise a whole lot of questions in church to disrupt the proceedings. So, "orderly" doesn't have to mean "formal," but "formal" is a way of being orderly. (Bring back the Book of Common Prayer!! Just a thought.)
ReplyDeleteAll good comments. I appreciate the fact that we can see good points for doing something a certain way without having to conclude that it is therefore a mandated requirement.
ReplyDeleteSome churches have a Sunday morning service that is more formal and a Sunday evening service that is more relaxed. I would push this semblance of variety even farther and decide on the level of formality per service based on the planned discussion and focus. Since there are good points to formality and to informality, we don't have to force a style to every service, but rather adapt as appropriate for the emphasis.
I don't have a problem with formalities in worship, but I can't say that I'm a huge fan of scripted prayers. I get distracted when I know a prayer is being read. When the Catholics at my legal fellowship would close the day in prayer, they would almost always read their prayers; these were prayers written by the church fathers, past popes, etc.
ReplyDeleteScripted prayers sound beautiful, but something about them strikes me as less than genuine -- as though the prayers are not the desires, feelings, etc. of the speakers' hearts. I don't know about you, but I don't speak in parallel lists; thus, when people pray as they would never talk, I get distracted. Worse is when those who read scripted prayers stumble over their words or misread a sentence. Yes, we misspeak all the time, but misspeaking sounds entirely different from misreading.
Don't get me wrong. The lyric and substance of scripted prayers is often phenomenal, beautiful prose and poetry. Yet in prayer, personal or congregational, I think God asks only that we talk to Him as we would talk to a friend. I don't think He's all that impressed by the big words or fancy syntaxes I employed in my prayers as a kid in Sunday school.
God demands our best, but I'd say that our "best" in prayer is honesty -- an honest heart. If you pray using "thee"s and "thou"s, then knock yourself out, so long as it's normal for you. And if it's normal for you, it will likely sound normal to others, and even the archaic verbiage won't be distracting.
One final point: I'd say that prayers such as the Doxology or Lord's Prayer are worthwhile only to the extent that they express the desires of our hearts. In addition, those prayers have become so engrained in our memories that recitation of them comes off sounding as though they are our own words.