I mentioned last week (6th) that a Church of England resource offered three interesting and valid points about intercessory prayer: worship leaders are not just praying in public, they are leading others in prayer; this means that the language used in prayer should match that used in each church; intercessions are not just a ‘shopping list’ of concerns, a news report, a chance to nag or offer a personal opinion – they are appeals to God who already knows our concerns.
While this is effective advice, when we put the three points together we discover this: a worship leader knows that Mr Jones died yesterday, therefore wants to lead the other church members in praying for Mrs Jones and the rest of the family. However, unless the church has a failsafe method of ensuring that all members receive news before the Sunday service or unless the notices are early in the service, the leader is in danger of passing on news during the intercessions. This will not happen, of course, in a church where a death in the church family is announced at the beginning of the service.
The middle suggestion, about the language used in public prayer, is the one which interests me most. At the funeral of a close family member, it was obvious to me when the vicar was reading from her own script and when she was using published litany – the tone and style of her words changed. Similarly, a retired minister had a different voice and language for prayers to that of the rest of the service. These make no sense. God is listening whether we are directly addressing him or not. Our normal voice should be our best voice, and our worst.
Many people think that prayer language changed in the twentieth century in two simple ways: thee and thou gave way to you (sometimes with a capital Y) and the Holy Ghost was replaced by the Holy Spirit. In my childhood and teens we constantly asked God to “grant” us things. As a minister, I don’t think I ever used that word, as I never use it in everyday life except as a noun. Beseeching was another stalwart of prayers; why did people think God needed to be asked, or even begged, using difficult to understand language?
God our Heavenly Father, talking to you should come as naturally to us as breathing, yet when leading others in prayer we are aware that our accents and verbal tics may cause barriers, as may the language we use.
Jesus our Saviour, you taught your first disciples to approach our Loving Father with reverence, but also to be bold in asking for our needs to be met.
Holy Spirit, guide us as we pray, both alone and when leading worship, that the words we use express clearly our needs and those of the world around us.
Trinitarian God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, persuade us to weave together our ordinary and our spiritual lives, that our words and deeds are always for your glory. Amen.
Elaine Kinchin