I write this with a deep sigh and a careful tread. I don’t want to be misunderstood and yet I hope to be heard. Let me begin….
Paul left Timothy in Ephesus in order to get the work established there. And he wrote 1 Timothy so that if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:15
And part of this instruction on how to behave in church is:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
The key word is first of all. This means either “first” in order of things done or "first of all" as in the most important thing. No matter how you look at it, one of the chief purposes for the assembling of the saints, church, is prayer.
My lament? The contemporary church has forsaken prayer. I’m sure the leaders pray, but prayer is not part of the public service. There may be an opening prayer, but that’s it. They have a praise team, fine tuned and well groomed. The musical style is well thought out, the songs are carefully chosen and arranged and practiced. I’m also sure that the praise team prays. But not the congregation.
I have nothing against the praise team. We had a praise team, possibly the finest ever assembled. And we had our own music philosophy: “If the praise team can do it then let’s sing it!” What I am lamenting is the lack of public prayer.
We can see how the early believers understood this by reading the two earliest descriptions of church services written by Christians.
Justin Martyr (114-165 AD) wrote:
And on the day called Sunday…the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray…we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves, and for all others in every place…Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory…and offers thanks at considerable length…
And Tertullian (145-220 AD) wrote: “We meet together…that, offering up prayer to God as with united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications. This violence God delights in. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation. We assemble to read our sacred writings…In the same place also exhortations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are administered.”
It is interesting that both men mention reading of Scripture and prayer but not singing.
The earliest liturgies also have much time devoted to prayer. They prayed for:
“peace; the salvation of our souls; the unity of all the holy churches of God; deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, distress, from captivity, bitter death, and from our iniquities; the king, army, magistrates, councils, peoples, and neighborhoods; let no deadly sin prevail against us, or against all Your people; heal the sick among Your people; raise up those who have been long afflicted, and heal those who are vexed with unclean spirits; have mercy on all who are in prison, or in mines, or on trial, or condemned, or in exile, or crushed by cruel bondage or tribute; our brethren who have gone or who are about to go abroad. send down rich and copious showers on the dry and thirsty lands; make the waters of the river flow in full stream; the harvest; the widow, the orphan, and the stranger etc “
When I discovered this we changed the way we prayed on Sunday mornings to include those things listed above. I had skate boarders tell me, “We hate it when you pray for rain ‘cause we know we’re gonna get rained out.” Amen!
I know this kind of praying (in the liturgies) was a little different than what most evangelicals are used to. It is called a Litany. A leader makes the request, Lord we pray for those who are sick and afflicted and the people respond, Lord have mercy or God hear our prayer etc. Evangelicals have the “Pastoral prayer”. Charles Spurgeon suggested 10-15 minutes for this! Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of an Assemblies of God in Korea had a plan – they would ring a bell and everyone present would begin to pray; and after some time the bell would ring again signaling the end of the prayer time! While the bell is unusual, prayer time was not. We have a clear command for the church to pray and a rich heritage of time spent in prayer in the Sunday morning service.
Here is a challenging question, Is there a single verse in the New Testament instructing, guiding or exhorting anything about a praise team? (Hint, No.) Yet we devote time, energy and money to them and give them priority. We ignore “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men” – is it because that makes the service too much like church? – while we have books and seminars on how to build and use a praise team. Something is wrong with this picture.
Therefore my lament: “My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” And I repeat, this is not a criticism of the praise team. I don’t believe it is an either / or issue. We had a praise team AND public reading of the Scriptures AND prayer time. My lament springs out of the question, If God says we are to do something, shouldn’t we be doing it?
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