Congregational Prayer⤒🔗

That prayer is an important part of the worship service should be obvious to all Reformed Christians. But not all who claim to be heirs of the Reformation are as convinced about the importance of prayer in worship as they should be. This is partly due to the fact that the Reformation put all the emphasis on preaching the Word. Rejecting the Roman Catholic liturgy with its emphasis on the sacraments and the ritualistic and repetitive prayers associated with them, the Reformers made preaching the centerpiece of divine worship. The result was that at least among some of the heirs of the Reformation, prayer was not always given the priority it deserves. I'm afraid that also among us there is a tendency to view prayer as one of the preliminaries to the main event, namely the preaching.

Prayer's Priority←⤒🔗

This is not right. The Bible puts a great emphasis on prayer. One can make a good case for saying that prayer is the most important part of divine worship. In Isaiah 56:7, the Lord says, "Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." According to Calvin, "prayer is the highest and most excellent sacrifice which God demands; so that the holiness of the temple consists in prayers being there offered continually." This statement is proved by the history of worship. From Adam to Abraham and even to Moses, worship consisted primarily in prayers and sacrifices. Later, the faithful went up to the tabernacle and temple to pray. The law prescribed hours and seasons of prayer. Also in the New Testament much time was devoted to prayer (cf. Acts 1:14, 2:42; 1 Tim. 2:8, 1 Thess. 5:17; Eph. 6:18).

The Role of Form Prayers←⤒🔗

The early Reformers also emphasized the importance of prayer in the worship service. In their psalm books they included prayers for different occasions. In the Dutch Psalmboek, used in conservative Reformed denominations, one finds prayers of confession, prayers before and after the sermon, a prayer for the sick and for the opening of ecclesiastical assemblies. It is regrettable that these form prayers are absent from our Psalter while they are found in the old Psalter/Hymnal of the Christian Reformed Church and United Reformed Church and in the Canadian Reformed Book of Praise.

In the later history of the Reformed churches these form prayers fell into relative disuse, which is not so bad as long as the key elements contained in these well thought out prayers are incorporated into our so-called free or extemporaneous prayers. Like the Lord's Prayer, the prayers of our forefathers can serve us because they teach us what to include and exclude from our own prayers. At times, one hears congregational or long prayers that do not edify because they are repetitive and even didactic, i.e., they include, for instance, explanations of Scripture passages or the way of salvation. These are matters that should be dealt with in the sermon and not in the prayer.

Essential Elements in Prayer←⤒🔗

What then are the elements that belong in a congregational prayer? Basically, there are five ingredients: Adoration, Confession, Supplication, Intercession and Thanksgiving (ACTS).

Adoration←↰⤒🔗

Adoration means praising God by mentioning His perfections or attributes. Some examples from Scripture follow.

In the Old Testament we hear saints addressing God with words like these: "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exod. 15:11) "Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all ... Now therefore our God we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious Name" (1Chron. 29:11, 13).

In the New Testament we have similar adorations from the apostle Paul. "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be power and glory forever and ever. Amen" (1 Tim. 1:17). In the brief epistle of Jude we read: "To the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty and dominion and power, both now and forever" (Jude 25). These are some of the "organ" notes in which God's people have sought to express their admiration for their great God and Saviour.

I believe we are rather deficient in this part of our worship. So often our prayers from the pulpit and elsewhere are weak when it comes to praise and adoration. As a certain writer put it: "Oh! The selfishness of the thought that restricts prayer to mere petition! Shall nothing drive us to God but the pressure of want? Is there nothing attractive in the character of Jehovah himself to draw us with the power of a magnet?"

Confession←↰⤒🔗

The second element in prayer is confession. This element was absent from worship before the Fall. There was adoration but no confession because no sin had been committed. But since the Fall, sin separates God and man. Therefore sin must be acknowledged. That which separates has to be cleared away before man can draw near to God.

Therefore the minister must give an important place to this element in his public prayers. Every Lord's Day there are many sins to confess. Of course, not everyone's personal sins can be mentioned and confessed. It is a congregational or communal prayer, after all. Yet this need not exclude the personal element, for everyone in church should pray along with the minister so that he or she may add his or her individual sins to the general prayer of confession.

This is how God wants to meet His congregation each and every Lord's Day, as she confesses her guilt and pleads the cleansing power of the blood of His Son. But do we always pray with consciousness of our sin? We bow our head and close our eyes, but do we really pray? Do we not often draw near to God with our lips while keeping our hearts far from Him?

Back in the days when form prayers were often used, Reformed ministers would use phrases like these every week:

Heavenly Father, eternal and merciful God, we acknowledge and confess before Thy divine majesty that we are poor miserable sinners. We were conceived and born in utter wickedness and corruption and are prone to all manner of evil and incapable by nature of doing any good. By our sinful life we transgress Thy holy commandments without ceasing, and thereby incur Thy wrath and bring down upon ourselves eternal damnation according to Thy righteous judgments...

We do not need to use these exact words, but we must come to God with a similar confession. If we do, we will discover more and more how sinful we are and in this way we are prepared to receive the Gospel and God's gracious and complete pardon.

But confession of sin, essential as it is, is not enough. We also need to ask for forgiveness; hence the third ingredient of congregational prayer is supplication.

Supplication←↰⤒🔗

We come to God as sinners, but we may plead His mercy in Jesus Christ. We may do this confidently, trusting in His willingness to pardon, for He is a God ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy (Ps. 86:5). This fact is beautifully expressed in the prayer of confession mentioned above:

But we are penitent, Lord, and we grieve because of our sins whereby we provoked Thy wrath. We bring accusation against ourselves and lay transgression to our own charge. Yet we make bold to desire that Thou mayest in mercy regard our miseries. Have compassion on us, merciful God and Father, and be pleased to forgive all our sins for the sake of the passion of Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ.

Intercession←↰⤒🔗

The fourth ingredient of prayer is intercession. This is also a very important part of congregational prayer. Our fathers included in their psalm books a separate prayer for all the needs of Christendom. In such prayers the Lord is asked to bless the progress of the Gospel. The minister prays that the Lord may send forth labourers into the harvest of souls. Mission and evangelism outreach need God's blessing.

There must be prayer for the defense and preservation of the church and kingdom and the destruction of Satan and his evil works. The civil magistrates also need to be lifted up in prayer that they may govern us wisely and righteously according to God's Word and law. Our persecuted brothers and sisters need to be remembered at the throne of grace as well. There are the sick and afflicted, widows, widowers, lonely and others who have special needs.

Intercession is important because it helps us look away from ourselves and our concerns. In prayer we experience the communion of saints and fellowship with the church universal.

Thanksgiving←↰⤒🔗

Lastly, there is the element of thanksgiving. There is always so much to give thanks for! Think of the many blessings we receive every day. True, we have our annual Thanksgiving Day on which we lift up our hearts in gratitude for material and spiritual blessings. But it would be tragic if we did this only once a year. David was resolved to thank the Lord continuously:

I will extol Thee, O my God,
And praise Thee, O my King.
Yea, ev'ry day and ever more
Thy praises I will sing. Psalter 394:1

We must thank our gracious God for giving us life,health and opportunity to serve Him. He is to be praised for giving us the Gospel of salvation, for churches where the truth is preached, for ministers who devote their lives to the care of souls, for freedom of religion and worship and so many more blessings besides, none of which we deserve!

Congregational prayer, how important it is! How wonderful that in addition to our private and family devotions we may also draw near to God corporately, as His covenant people!

A word yet about our posture in prayer. There is no unanimity in Reformed Churches in this matter. Some kneel, others stand; we generally sit during prayer. In the Old Testament the worshippers prayed with uplifted hands. There is not any one prescribed way, but whatever our custom or tradition may be in this regard, there must be reverence.

We are in God's house. "The Lord is in His holy temple: Let all the earth keep silence before Him" (Hab. 2:20). Solomon cautions: "keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil" (Eccl. 5:1). Matthew Henry comments: "Address thyself to the worship of God with a solemn pause and take time to compose thyself for it, not going about it hurriedly. Rest not in the sign and the ceremony, and the outside of the performance, without regarding the sense and meaning of it, for that is the sacrifice of fools."

God is holy and we must worship Him in the spirit of holiness. That is certainly true when it comes to prayer. Solomon goes on to say, "Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few" (Eccl. 5:2). These are awesome requirements for the minister and the congregation he represents. Matthew Henry says, "lip labour, though ever so well laboured, if that be all, is lost labour in religion."

How we all need our Saviour's cleansing blood, also for our prayers! O blessed Lord, we need to ask what Thy disciples asked of Thee long ago: "Teach us to pray!"