Reflecting on Our Habits⤒🔗

Our lives are filled with routines we do without giving them much thought. We call them habits. This is a good thing, as long as they are good habits. Many of these habits will be passed on to the next generation without much conscious thought, unless one is suddenly asked, "Why do you do it that way?" Then you are forced to reflect on why you do what you do and explain it. Such reflection is good for oneself, as it should renew appreciation for what one does, and it good for the one asking the question as they understand the reason for various habits. Even if not asked, it is good to be proactive and explain various habits, lest the next generation simply does things out of custom or superstition.

This is true also when it comes to the manner of our worship. We will have familiar patterns of worship. We are forced to reflect on why we do what we do when someone, be it a visitor or one of our children, suddenly asks, "Why do you do it that way?"

The element of worship I will address in this article is the element of prayer. The purpose is to reflect on why we do what we do, so we might be involved in congregational prayer with renewed fervor and be able to answer anyone who asks us. We will consider the three prayer times during the worship service. I will work with the assumption that most congregations use the B Form of Worship, as found on page 596 in the Book of Praise.

The Prayer Before the Sermon←⤒🔗

The first prayer time we consider is the prayer before the reading of the Word of God. If you listen carefully, you will notice it usually begins with praise to God. It is only fitting to praise his great and glorious name. This will be accompanied by thanksgiving for his Fatherly care experienced during the past week, his nearness in times of trouble as well as joy. There is also reason to give thanks for the opportunity to worship him in freedom. This is truly a gift when we consider the hostility and persecution experienced by many fellow believers throughout the world, particularly those in countries with Muslim majorities, such as in the Middle East and Africa, as well as in countries where authorities are very suspicious of any religion, such as in China.

Praise and thanksgiving will be followed by the key components of this prayer, namely, prayer of confession, prayer for forgiveness, and prayer of illumination. This prayer prepares the way for fruitful listening to the Word of God as read and proclaimed. Our sins and sinful inclinations are an obstacle to fruitful listening. The past week will have been filled with sins indeed, word, and thought. We need to humbly confess those sins and ask for forgiveness. Further, we need the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit. Without that illumination, we will not have the proper frame of mind to listen. Instead, we will be prone to listen as we listen to a speech or a lecture, ready to challenge the speaker, expecting the speaker to keep our interest, and perhaps drifting off into sleep or various distracting thoughts. The awareness of our sin­ful inclination, our short attention span and our desire for entertainment, make the prayer for illumination es­sential. With our sins forgiven for the sake of Christ's blood and our mind illumined by the Spirit of Christ, we are ready to listen to God's Word. Listen carefully next Sunday, and you should find these elements in the prayer before the sermon.

The Prayer After the Sermon←⤒🔗

The second prayer we consider is the prayer after the sermon. This is sometimes called the "long prayer," or the "congregational prayer." In the order of worship for the morning service on page 596 of the Book of Praise, it indicates that this is a prayer of "thanksgiving, and prayer for all the needs of Christendom." If you listen carefully, the thanksgiving will usually begin with thanksgiving for the Word of God as it has just been heard. Many ministers will include what might be called a prayer of application, where it is asked that the sermon may bear fruit in the lives of the hearers.

A significant part of this prayer will be devoted to the needs of the local congregation. It will include thanksgiving for births, birthdays, anniversaries, and other special events. It will also include petitions for various needs in the lives of the members. A helpful place to look to get a sense of the variety of topics to be covered is the "Prayer for the Needs of All Christendom," found on pages 635-637 of the Book of Praise. This prayer can include prayer for mission, the preservation of the church, Christian instruction, those who suffer for the sake of their faith, those who are being chastened with poverty, imprisonment, physical illness, expectant mothers, and our daily work. The topics for this prayer are so numerous, ministers will tend to divide them up between the morning and afternoon services. Further, while some aspects will be mentioned weekly, others may be remembered in prayer over the course of different Sundays. Everything need not be mentioned each Sunday.

With respect to this prayer, three points merit elaboration. First, it should be remembered that this is a congregational prayer, not a personal prayer. There will be matters that a family or an individual may remember in prayer, but that does not necessarily make it a matter of congregational prayer. We can think of events in one's extended family, which are reason for thanksgiving or petition. There may be the birth of a grandchild, or the health concern of an uncle or aunt on the other side of the country. Congregational prayer should focus on matters that pertain to life in the congregation and that are understandable to the members of the congregation.

In connection with this, there is a need to exercise dis­cretion in praying about events happening in the world. If an area on the other side of the world has been affected by an earthquake, or there has been another mass shooting some place in the USA, it may be trendy to pray about it, but the key question to consider about inclusion is how it is relevant in terms of the needs of all Christendom.

Second, congregational prayer requires preparation. As was mentioned earlier, there are so many matters to be included that ministers will divide various matters over the two services each Sunday, as well as over several weeks. This means that it is not really appropriate to give the minister a list of various items to include in prayer just before the start of a service and expect them to be included. There are so many means of communication that there is really no need to give items at the last minute. A minister should know before the Sunday, so that he can meaningfully incorporate the various items. He also will have opportunity to consider whether an item should be included. Last minute items have the effect of requiring the minister to mention them before the prayer and give some explanation, to avoid the prayer from becoming a newscast.

Third, and perhaps this is more a point for the one leading in prayer, prayer should remain prayer. There is a danger to preach in prayer. This forgets that prayer is speaking to God on behalf of the congregation, not speaking to the congregation.

As you can tell from the various points mentioned, especially this second prayer requires preparation. Just as a minister will not deliver a sermon without careful thought as to what he will say, so a minister needs to give thought to what he will bring before the Lord in prayer.

A Third Way of Praying←⤒🔗

It would seem that we have covered all of the times of prayer during a worship service. Yet, in the introduction, it was said there are three times of prayer. This third time is actually multiple times, perhaps, as many as five or six times. In contrast to the previous two times of praying, where the minister speaks on behalf of the congregation, in the prayer we are now considering, the congregation prays communally, in unison. This takes place when we sing. Indeed, singing is praying. There is the interesting line at the end of Psalm 72, which concludes Book Two of the Book of Psalm, "The prayers of David, the Son of Jesse, are ended." This shows us how psalms are seen as prayers. This makes sense when we recall how prayers include praise, thanksgiving, confession, intercession, and petitions. We find all these in the psalms, as well as scriptural hymns, that have been composed over the centuries. When we sing in worship, we, in effect, are praying in unison.

This is an important point to remember. As there is the danger to tune out when the minister leads in prayer, so there is the danger to tune out when we sing. As singing is praying to God, it impresses upon us that, just as in every element of worship, we should be fully engaged, paying attention to what we are singing.

A House of Prayer←⤒🔗

We began by speaking of the habit of prayer. By now, you will have been reminded of what to expect in the various prayers offered during a worship service. It should be evident that much thought has to go into prayer in preparation for the worship service. It is good to know this so that you can meaningfully follow the ministers as he leads in prayer and pray along. When we further see singing as sung prayer, we will begin to understand how much time in worship is actually devoted to prayer. In this respect, a church building can rightfully be called a house of prayer.