Corporate Prayer

[Marissa Lynn]

I'm not a fully registered user yet. Thus, I can't post on the Theology Forum, so I'm posting my response to the corporate prayer discussion on here.

That thread has made me think a lot about the value of corporate prayer, and I think one of the most important reasons for corporate prayer is as a safe place to learn how to talk to God--through listening to others and then practicing yourself. I have a kid in my Bible Study who prays for us sometimes. A lot of times he'll only say a couple sentences and then just kind of drift off, mumbling something like, "I don't really know what else to say..." That really makes me think about what I say as I pray because if this kid is basing the way he prays to God on the prayers he hears from the rest of us, we better take it seriously. I don't want to just be repeating cliche phrases that have no meaning. I want my prayers to be reflective of a person open to God, so he can see what that looks like.

I get really self-conscious about praying out loud sometimes, especially if I'm intimidated by the people around me, so I used to think, "God hears my prayer and he's really the main one who needs to, so I'll just pray silently." But I think another important purpose of corporate prayer is for people to hear the requests put before God on their behalf. It's huge to know that people are praying for you and even more huge to actually hear them really begging God for you. Especially when people pray for me for a difficult situation coming up, I really value the words those prayers have embedded into my mind and heart when it comes time to face the situation. That's also valuable for what we all face--to hear someone pray about the future of my church helps me know how to pray better for it too.

If someone with more power than me would like to move this to the theology forum and give me full registration, that'd be cool.......

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

If someone with more power than me would like to move this to the theology forum and give me full registration, that'd be cool.......

Ask and ye shall receive.:)

[Billy Cox]

I have a kid in my Bible Study who prays for us sometimes. A lot of times he'll only say a couple sentences and then just kind of drift off, mumbling something like, "I don't really know what else to say..." That really makes me think about what I say as I pray because if this kid is basing the way he prays to God on the prayers he hears from the rest of us, we better take it seriously. I don't want to just be repeating cliche phrases that have no meaning. I want my prayers to be reflective of a person open to God, so he can see what that looks like.


Stories like this make my heart hurt a little. I wonder how many people are turned off by the whole idea of corporate prayer because it has to be extemporaneous; improvised on the spot, because that is what God is most pleased by.

Sometimes I wonder if a well-written and heartfelt-read prayer could usher us into the presence of God in a way that an improv prayer having the word 'just' 20-30 times cannot.

[Bruce Carriker]

Stories like this make my heart hurt a little. I wonder how many people are turned off by the whole idea of corporate prayer because it has to be extemporaneous; improvised on the spot, because that is what God is most pleased by.

Sometimes I wonder if a well-written and heartfelt-read prayer could usher us into the presence of God in a way that an improv prayer having the word 'just' 20-30 times cannot.

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your Holy Name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thomas Cranmer wrote it over 400 years ago. Still works for me. Also partial to this one:

Our Father...(you know the rest)

[John Kennedy]

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your Holy Name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thomas Cranmer wrote it over 400 years ago. Still works for me. Also partial to this one:

Our Father...(you know the rest)

Two prayers that are at the heart of my daily time with God. I really can't think of any essential to Christian life and experience that isn't encompassed in those prayers.

[Gene Tatsch]

... the value of corporate prayer,
...I think another important purpose of corporate prayer is for people to hear the requests put before God on their behalf.
... Especially when people pray for me for a difficult situation coming up, I really value the words those prayers have embedded into my mind and heart when it comes time to face the situation. That's also valuable for what we all face--to hear someone pray about the future of my church helps me know how to pray better for it too.
.....
One aspect of corporate praying I see is that the pray-er:

waits for and is given "the mind of Christ", so that what is spoken/prayed literally speaks the Father's will (praise, thanksgiving, intercession, ...) to Him for the group,
the pray-er approaches the throne of the Father, representing the group and its needs (a priestly function) ... yet with the "daddy" (abba) perspective.
It may be different (as in another thread) than private or small-group praying, yet I perceive that there can be a majesty in this sort of corporate prayer that we need to properly focus us on Him.

Be careful what you wish for - you may get it!:basic03

gene --

[Marissa Lynn]

I've been thinking more about this, and maybe this analogy has already been made, but I think corporate prayer is like playing music. I was reading about good improvisational guitar solos the other day. The guy said that young players need to learn riffs and scales, but they also need to learn how to put them together in a way that the solo tells an ongoing story throughout the chord changes. He said he makes his students take a melody--Happy Birthday, for example--and keep that theme going as the chords change.

Like learning riffs, I like the idea of prepared prayers as a preparation for corporate prayer. The Thomas Cranmer prayer, for example, can provide a theme of openness that is continued but improvised upon over other "chords" or topics. And just like when your fingers know a riff really well and your ears are used to hearing it, you naturally draw upon it, as a prayer informs your private prayer life, when you pray publicly, it will probably emerge.

Like music, too, though, sometimes the performance is not improvisational, but simply playing someone else's piece note for note. That's totally valid for a musical performance, and I agree with you, Billy--it is too bad that reading prayers, reciting prayers, or drawing on prayers for inspiration is not more taught and practiced in congregations. We miss out a lot when we don't listen to the saints of the past.

[Bruce Carriker]

We miss out a lot when we don't listen to the saints of the past.

Or, as one of our seminary profs put it, "We Protestants like to talk bad about the Catholics, but any time we want to learn something about prayer or spiritual formation, we study their saints.":laughing