Praying at the Baptism

That was such an amazing experience!

As I got up and went to the back of the church to pray, I felt such an open-ness to join in. Then when I got to the part for the sick, I didn’t add any names, but just left a space for each person to name sick friends or relatives silently in their heart before God. I was nearly overwhelmed with the feeling of floods of prayer going up.

These entirely subjective feelings could be pure imagination, so it is interesting what people said. One father, who came with a five year-old and a three year-old said thank you for the prayers, because the children really tuned in to them. (Praise the Lord for these little ones who love him!)

Then at the party afterwards several people commented what a “lively church” we had, obviously meaning it as a compliment.

The interesting thing about these comments is that they seem to indicate that these people wanted and expected a “cathedral” style of worship, and were pleased when it was offered to them.

I am using the term “cathedral” style here to refer particularly to the communal aspects of prayer and worship, their embedding in a structured liturgy, led from the front, and the inclusion of lots of praise and adoration.

In contrast, other members of the congregation have met people who only like to have a Prayer Book service (1662 and al that) and the traditional hymns. Bradshaw is right that these people become very upset if their expectations are disappointed, and it may indeed be the case that they wanted to be wrapped in their own very private cocoon of prayer, in a style that he would term “monastic” prayer.

Here indeed is a recipe for conflict, with some clergy, who take the “Body Church” teaching very seriously, seeing this as theologically unacceptable.

A view which is not necessarily opposed to this emphasis on “the gathered church”, but which seeks to understand the traditionalists, offers the thought that these different styles of prayer and worship may correspond to personality differences between extroverts and introverts.

The key point for the rural Anglican Church is to recognise that their church may be the only local church and as such, must seek to minister to people with different styles and traditions of worship – ideally by offering different kinds of service on different occasions, rather than making each service a ragbag of styles.

Thank you, God, for helping me to think through that difficult reading from Bradshaw in a context that was so happy and meaningful to me.