Do We Need Built-in Prayer

Sometimes I get alone and start looking at how things are going and sometimes I wonder about where we are going.  We can blame the world, the politicians, the business men, but when it comes down to it, we as Christians need to get off the blame game and look in a mirror. When things are broke at work we almost always ask, “Who messed with it?”  because too often the problem was  caused by someone changing something.  

The church is to be the salt and light in the world.  But look at this.

Luk 14:34  Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

Luk 14:35  It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Are we the salt and light?  We can either cry “woe is me” or we can cry to Him for help.  One has no value, the other is valuable.

I worked with an IBM system some time back that had something called Built-in Functions.  They were a part of the system, provided help to the programmer and were efficient.  They were built-in, not an add-on.  They were designed to be a part of the product.  I was thinking about these some time ago and noted that maybe prayer should be built-in to our services. 

I’m the perennial mathematician.  I play with numbers for fun.  Some time ago I was looking at how time is spent in church services and then how it was spent historically.  My background goes back to Tent Meetings in the late 1940’s but I have also spent time in a historic church (Methodist) and now in the Contemporary Church – whatever that means. 

Back in those days prayer was a part of every service.  I’m not talking about a quick prayer to start the service or one to lead off the message, those were usually there.  But there were two prayer times that were observed in nearly every service.  There was a time of prayer somewhere in the middle where we prayed for things that were on the heart of the members.  And after the message the altar was open for those to come and pray.  There wasn’t a press to get out of there fast.  If you had to leave, you left.  I can remember staying and praying after most services.  Prayer was built-in.  It was a part of the church life.  The prayer in the middle of the service often lasted for more than five minutes.  Not long, certainly, but enough to set a tone.  The church designated prayer as important, it was important.

Even the historic churches have some semblance of this. 

But the contemporary church has moved prayer out of the service.  They have moved it to the back room where the “intercessors” pray.  The general thought here is, “I’m not an intercessor so I am not welcome.”  We have by our action excluded many from prayer.  There is generally no prayer time in the service other than the quick open prayer, message prayer, and benediction.  And they are kept short to prevent boring people!  We have told the congregation, “Prayer is boring.”

What is modeled is followed.  I can remember sitting on a chair as my dad knelt in front of me to pray.  He could watch (me) and pray.  I didn’t get into trouble.  And my kids had the same experience.  Kids need to see their parents pray.  

Some years ago IBM took the built-in functions out of CICS and we had to do a lot of coding to replace it. None of that ever did the job as well without a lot of work.  Maybe we need built-in prayer back in the church?

Other Articles by Ralph Brandt

• Casting Out Demons
• Black Hawk Down
• Being Criticed For The Gospel
• I Count All Of This As Dung
• Slicing And Dicing The Word Of God
• Blind, Bound And Going In Circles
• Because He Lives
• Academia Glossary
• Tearing A Page Out Of The Bible
• Taking A Stand Takes Courage – Even In The Church
• God Is Doing A New Thing?