|
Church at Prayer
Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE touches on the centrality of prayer in Christian life and worship. THE CHURCH AT PRAYER Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing. If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, "God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired . . . I’m so busy . . . It’s just not convenient now . . ." When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away . . . God often uses something external to bring the Church to her knees. We ought to see it as the kindness of God when he allows trouble to drive us to prayer. . . . I long for the Christian Church to give more time to disciplined prayer. It is not always exciting, but without it, there will be no spiritual life and no worship of any kind. — R. T. Kendall. WORSHIPPING GOD: REDISCOVERING THE FULL DIMENSION OF WORSHIP. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999 edition with new forward by Darlene Zschech, p. 88-89. ISBN 0 340 74588 6 [If you don’t seem to have time to pray, then pray.] Have a great week. Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky carlstam@aol.com www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu |