As I was reading through the Agenda for Synod, a 425 page book, I came across an overture that synod is being asked to consider. (An overture is a request for a change in the way we do things in the Christian Reformed Church.) This overture is requesting that we include as the first item in the description of a pastor and elder is that they be devoted to prayer. Normally overtures address some lack or problem within the denomination, and this particular one made me ask, “Is someone concerned that pastors and other church leaders are not praying?” I had the opportunity to ask why this particular overture was being presented, and I discovered why: it wasn’t because church leaders weren’t praying; rather, it was because our official documents do not emphasize prayer as being a foundational aspect of the church.
As I read through the background of the overture, I began to understand this a little better. Citing 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and referencing a number of other statements in Paul’s letter, the overture says that Paul regularly prayed for the churches. In fact, New Testament scholar, Gordon Fee, says that before Paul engaged in any missionary work, before he taught the churches or wrote a letter, he prayed. Prayer was the foundation for his ministry.
A number of years ago, I attended a seminar about ministering effectively as a church, and the leader said that if the church is going to do its work well, it must first pray. Specifically, he said that councils who seek to lead the church must first spend time in reflection on God’s Word and in prayer. He noted that a 5-minute devotion was not really sufficient but that a council, if it is going to make good decisions, must first spend significant time in reflection on God’s Word and in prayer. He noted from his experience that a council which commits itself to at least 20 minutes of prayer and reflection on God’s Word will more likely make better decisions more quickly and be more focused on what is important. It has been my experience that he is right. Church councils change every year in their composition as elders and deacons come and go, and in one church, that particular year, the elders and deacons devoted themselves to prayer and reflection, and generally the decisions were made with greater ease and with a sense of comfort on the part of the council members. Things ran more smoothly and, often, the meeting was over much sooner than meetings that did not begin with a significant time of prayer.
I must confess that I have a lot to learn about prayer and how to pray well. Over the past 4 months I have been part of a cohort in which we learned a new way of praying, one that is based on a passage of Scripture. Leaders choose a passage from Scripture (a psalm, parable or paragraph from one of the epistles), and drawing upon the themes from that passage, they put together a prayer guide in which those themes become the foundation for the prayer. For example, if using Psalm 23, the leader would then give a few sentences to help those who are praying focus their prayers. He might use phrases such as “Lord, we experience you as a shepherd when. . .” and “Guide me in right paths as I . . .” Those who were in the group use those sentences to direct their thoughts as they prayed. Our sessions in that cohort would begin with prayer that lasted about half an hour or a little more, but because we were directed in our prayers, they never grew dull or seemed long. I learned a great deal about prayer by being part of this cohort, and I feel better equipped to both pray personally and to lead others in prayer.
Each session of the cohort focused on a different theme, and in the last session, we reflected on how prayer is experiencing the presence of God. The leader of the session, Jon, noted that as Christians we often feel that we need to be doing things in order to fulfill our calling. There is truth to that, of course, for if we are not active, nothing will get done. Before we do things, however, Jon suggested, we should first spend time acknowledging God’s presence with us. If the personal part is not there, the rest becomes tasks which can seem unfulfilling. One of the group commented that this should not surprise us because the same is true of our interactions with others.
A few years ago, the church I was part of joined together with other churches to help people with their spring yardwork. Some of those who received help had cancer, others had disabilities, and still others were elderly. Before we began to clean the yard, however, we spent a few moments talking to the homeowner, getting to know them and hearing their stories. As we talked together, we developed a relationship, and when we did begin our work, we did so with a stronger sense of commitment and a deeper compassion for the one we were helping. And the homeowner also experienced fulfilment as he/she watched the group rake the leaves, turn over the flower beds and clean up the litter. Serving is about relationship first, and the same holds true with God as it does with others.
As I reflect on the meetings I have attended in all the churches I have served, nearly all of them begin with prayer, and that is good. However, the prayer sometimes is little more than perfunctory, meaning that we sort of baptize the meeting with a brief Scripture reading and then praying “for a minute.” That does not seem to be what Paul meant when he spoke of himself and the church “being devoted to prayer.”
So, back to the overture: I began to understand why it is the Agenda for Synod. It may be true that churches and church leaders are not devoted to prayer but, rather, are merely baptizing their meetings in prayer without really experiencing the presence of God. If that is the case, then we do see the necessity of such an overture. It may also be the case that we simply need to be reminded that the foundation of all we do both as individual believers and as the church must be founded on the relationship we have with God, a relationship that is developed and strengthened through prayer. This is a most important reminder, one that we could do well to follow.