I've been pondering over whether I should bring this up, but at the risk of offending some of the various local church leadership groups around the country that read this blog, I'm going to state a very important observation that I think needs to be corrected:
Stop moving during corporate prayer.
When the church body bows its head to pray, this does not mean that a mental curtain has fallen upon the auditorium. It doesn't mean that a song group, acting troupe or usher crew should start darting about the place. It means that we as a church are coming humbly before God, and the attitude ought to be one of respect and awe. Stop moving. Please.
How many little kids become confused because they glance up and see a grown-up skittering offstage while a leader talked to Almighty God? I thought everyone was supposed to be still. We were all taught that prayer meant a quiet and solemn moment - and the adults were the examples. Remember the days whenever one of the family would cry out about another member keeping their eyes open during the meal's blessing? The usual response was: "How would you know? Were your eyes open?"
In other words, everybody is to join in.
Listen to me, music directors: we don't care if it takes another ten seconds for the choir to leave the stage area while our eyes are open... we'll wait.
Please, pastors: ushers should stand still during prayer, not slink about in quiet chores while a member of the church pleads before God. Believe me, we can hear the shuffling and we can feel the quiet breeze as someone brushes by. Distracting.
Hear me, church staff: we are not in that much awe when we raise our heads and see a skit or theatrical production all on stage, ready to start. Honest, we can wait for the lights to be dimmed and the props to be moved.
I ask you: if the church service is about worship and praise to God, then don't you think that "prayer shuffling" takes away the majesty of the service? Doesn't it relegate the prayer time to little more than a diversion so that the "show may go on?"
Just a thought.
I want my children to grow up seeing examples of church leadership showing the reverence for God that we see in the Bible.
