Private Prayer and Home Worship

I was working on a devotional yesterday and I ended up getting completely sidetracked and thinking about private prayer and home worship. I started thinking about the fact that the corporate worship that we gather for on Sundays was developed with the assumption that those who attend spend some amount of time in personal prayer. In the Didache, believed to be one of the earliest set of written instructions on Christianity, Christians were instructed to prayer the Lord’s prayer three times a day. There are still Christians who follow this practice. There are other Christians who, while not being that rigorous or specific, take time for daily prayer. There are also Christians who are even more rigorous in their prayer life than those original instructions specify. Some pray for extended periods several times a day.

However, I know from experience dealing with Christians of different ages and at different stages of the journey that there are a quite a few people for whom personal prayer is not a part of their life. I have heard on more than one occasion from people who are faithful church members, people who come to worship nearly every week and who even have leadership roles in the church, statements like, “I only really pray when I need something.”

Now I am not writing this in an attempt to tell people to pray more (though that is a good idea). I was thinking about this in the context of the assumptions under which our model of corporate worship was developed. The things that we do on Sunday morning, the prayers, the music, the sermon, and the order of the whole thing are based in the historical tradition of the church. The way we worship was developed based on the assumption that most people had a serious prayer life.

Let me add something else to the mix. I was looking at my copy of the 1965 version of The Methodist Book of Worship, the predecessor to The United Methodist Book of Worship on which we base our worship services. The thing that was most noticeable was that the full name of the ’65 book is actually The Book of Worship for Church and Home. What is a little less noticeable is that within the pages of this book are resources for families to worship together, including “A Form for Family Prayer or Worship in a Small Group” and “Table Graces”. This book assumed not only private prayer, but family prayer and worship. Think about standing in a congregation and asking three questions. First, a show of hands for those who pray privately outside of worship. I bet there would be a lot of hands for that one. Second, a show of hands for those who pray as a couple or as a family. I guarantee there would be fewer hands for that one (especially if the pastor promised to close her eyes.) Third, a show of hands for those who worship as a family (as in read scripture, sings hymns and pray together.) Of course there might be some, but not a lot of hands for that one.

There may be a problem with the fact that since we still do worship basically the same way we have for years, we still assume that most people are doing those things. I think that this puts and awful lot of pressure on worship. Think about it. If Sunday is the only time that many people are worshipping and praying alone and as families, Sunday worship carries the whole weight and responsibility for the development of people’s relationship with God. All of that in one hour. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that worship issues are so emotionally charged. Large arguments and even church splits happen over the specifics of worship, which makes a lot of sense if people consider that time their only time with God. If Sunday morning were my only time with God, I would want it to be perfect too!

Well that is more than I have to say in my average blog post. But I hope it will get you thinking about your own personal and family prayer and worship life. Perhaps it will get me thinking about more ways to help people be more intentional about their relationship with God the other six days a week.

peace,

will