'Ere You Left Your Room This Morning, Did You Think To Pray?

Word of the Post
Today's word is: expiation
/ex'pi*a"tion/ noun
The act of making satisfaction or atonement for a crime or fault by suffering or a penalty; compensation for wrong; sacrifice or offering for removal of sin; blanketing the bad things with the good. When Jesus died to take our punishment for sin from us onto himself, it was expiation for you and me. He's got it covered.
~~~~~~~~~~
A word of warning, this will be a monster post, longer than I have done so far. I know that some will disagree with me, and that is OK. Please do not hesitate to post a comment here. I want to hear what you have to say about my pondering. I will reserve the right to delete any comment that is foul in word or nature, but I won't delete you just for debate. Also note, I am not as negative as this all seems to sound.

Maybe I am a bit jaded, but sometimes public prayers are not saying what I want to say to God. I find it hard to say "Amen" when someone prays like God is human. There are several little things that bug me about the prayers I hear. Not to say that I am against public prayer, because I am not. I am also not saying that this happens all the time where I am. Each worship service is different for me. I could hear the same prayer three weeks in a row, and take something different home each week. It can depend on my mood, my health, my humor, my attention span of the moment, or my sleep or lack of it the night before. These are just things I have thought about over the last 15 years or so, and I thought I might compile a list, and see if you have heard these same prayers, and what you thought of them.

First, I despise the "salesman" prayers: "Oh, Father God, we ask you, Father, to be with, Father, the sick, Father, the tired, Father, the oppressed, Father. Father, we plead with you, Father, to heal them, Father." and on, and on, for fifteen minutes of rambling and dramatic pauses. I have to try not to giggle. Do you suppose the guy up there even realizes what he is doing? How does he like it when people speak to HIM that way? "Hey, Joe, I am so glad to see you Joe, how are the wife and kids, Joe? Have you, Joe, been to see the latest movie, Joe, and did you, Joe, like it, Joe?" It makes me wonder if God gets irritated by it, or just thinks we are silly.

Second, I like to think of these as the "faithless" prayers: "Oh, God, heal the affliction of this child, and give his family peace, if it be Your will." Now this one is very subtle. I know that people want to pray in the will of God. I know that people do not want to effectively jump on God's toes and tell Him what to do. Except that this prayer is a sneaky way of saying to the family, basically this: "If your kid does not get better, then it is the will of God. We can do nothing about it." God said in the Bible that where two or more are gathered, He is there. He also said that whatever we asked in faith would be granted us. Now, I know that asking God for the winning ticket to the $240 Million Lottery this week is really stretching it. God also said that the one who actively seeks riches will fall. But when two or more are gathered, and a child is hurting, we feel we need to add the "if it be your will" so that we save face in the face of death or harm. I would rather we rephrase that. "God, we love this child and can't stand to see him hurt. We know that you can heal. We want you to heal this child." Adding later that we will honor what happens as God's will is fine. I don't know how to correctly pray for these things. It just feels mean to say it so flippantly in a public prayer.

Third, are the "lecture" prayers: "God, we know you said 'Thou Shalt Not Lie', and little Joe here lied to his daddy today. God, teach little Joe here to be a good boy and not to lie to me, because when he lies to me, he lies to You." If you feel you have to teach your lying child a lesson, please do not make it a prayer over dinner. Take the child out back, spank his bum if you feel it necessary, and then discuss with little Joe the importance and God-given direction of telling the truth. Make sure, while you are at it, to tell little Joe how much you love him, how much God loves him, how much easier it is to tell the truth, and don't forget to hug him! Verily, I say unto you, ye shall have a better child, and happier dinners.

Fourth, are the "scripture" prayers: "God, we know that You said in (Book, Chapter, Verse) that..." If you really feel that the congregation needs to hear the Word of God, please read it to US, don't quote it back to God. He knows what He said, and depending on whom you talk to, you might be quoting it wrong. (little poking fun here at the King James ONLY EVER crowd, which I am not) I mean, you really can't speak Hebrew, can you? Greek? Maybe Latin? These are very close cousins to the "lecture" prayers.

Fifth, and this was pointed out to me by a friend, are the "announcement" prayers: "Dear God, please be with...(basically read the bulletin that was already read to the church in the Announcements time of the service, both at the beginning, and at the end)" Depending on the size of your church, this prayer can be two minutes, or twenty.

Sixth, with the cute little segue, are the "marathon" prayers: These prayers, while they may employ any number of the other irritants, seem to drag on for 15 or 20 minutes. However, they lose their focus and pace after about 2 minutes. These people seem to forget that there are small children in the audience, who have an attention span the length of a grain of rice. They never took speech and debate classes, or they would know that you lose more than half your audience after only 5 minutes, especially if you don't include the slide show. I was in a service one time that the Opening prayer took almost 42 minutes. I was timing it, so you see where my mind was focused. (Mind you, the Sermon was usually only 20 or 25 minutes) The late arrivals were piling up at the door to the auditorium. When he finally quit, a visitor I knew wanted to leave. He felt he had acquired enough church for one month, thank-you-very-much.

Seventh, and the last picking for this post, are the "pattern" prayers. In the church of Christ, there is a phrase that is overused from ages past: "Guide, guard, and direct us." This has actually become one word to some people. It sounds odd when people change the order, but still use all three. I pick on this one because of Matthew 6:7, describing God not liking the vain and repetitious prayers of the heathens. Every time I hear that, I think of the rosary prayers of the Catholic church, and people reciting the "Lord's Prayer".

Prayer is to be a conversation with God. Public prayer should be focused on God. Praise, glory, honor, and humility. Requests can be made, but the main point should not be, "gimme what I want, God". These prayers need to be taking the individual thoughts and combining them, and sending them to God as a group. Care needs to be taken in what the collective is saying.

The words are not nearly so important as the relationship we should have with God. God is listening, and will answer, if we take the time in quiet places to listen to what He has to say.