In my home church (and I believe this is the more "normal" way) the opening prayer is just that - the approach to God or, more formally, adoration and supplication. The positioning is the same in my placement church and I can see the merit of that. The church is opening itself to worship and God, so that prayer should be at the beginning of the service.
During the service at my placement church all the prayers (adoration and supplication; thanksgiving and intercession) are prayed prior to the sermon. At my home church and my previous placement the intercessionary prayer came after the sermon.
My assessor had briefly touched on why she has all the prayers before the sermon a while back - so all the congregations approach to God is done, their confession is done and any worries they may have are handed over to God. Thus, they will (hopefully) not have any distractions during the sermon - everything has been handed over to God.
So, until I came to prepare the prayers for Sunday, the significance of this way of praying during a service hadn't really occurred to me. In my placement there is a focus on the entire service centring around a theme. I appreciate the merits of this and really don't understand when services aren't like this. So, if the intercessionary prayer is before the sermon, how have the congregation's hearts been opened up to the issues or people in the intercession prayer? Having the intercession prayer after the sermon shows the link between the issues in the sermon and the prayer. I'd imagine that potentially makes the congregation more receptive(?) to that prayer?
I'm not sure if I'm missing something or I'm just questioning it because the order is a little different from what I am used to. I must remember to discuss this at my next meeting with my assessor.
And another thing, which again only occurred to me today. There are only 2 formal prayers in the service at my placement church. My assessor says a dedication of the offering prayer, but it's ad-libbed and not listed on the order of service. I'm used to 3 prayers, but I don't feel I'm missing out on prayer having fewer during the service. Perhaps quality is better than quantity?
So, again, more learning going on. Is this a sign of openness to learning that I enquire about how things are done rather than just accept it "because it's always been done like that", or I'm a pain in the proverbial? Time will tell!
These are good questions and worthwhile asking a supervisor. My practice is usually to have the intercessory prayer after the sermon for precisly the reasons you give. It allows the congregation to pick up on some of the concerns and issues found within a sermon. It is also handy if the sermon hasn't quite finished where you hoped to have somewhere to complete it. However for a bit of fun during the summer I move all the prayers to before the sermon. For some this reflects the reformation tradition of the sermon as sacrament/ high point of the sermon. I do it for a challenge but it does't always feel very comfortable.
ReplyDeleteSometimes questions are helpful even for those with experience as they can make you think again about why you do something.
and for what it's worth... the practice in my home church many years ago was very much this: the liturgy was leading up to the 'high point' - the hearing of the Word. Everything else in the service geared up to gettting us prepared to hearing the Word... then final hymn and 'get out there and live it' aka blessing/ benediction :)
ReplyDeleteThe use of the word 'normal' - mate, there's no such thing, lol!! :)
Hi Nik
ReplyDeleteYeah, normal is such an undefinable thing as everyone has their own normality. I think reasoon for the normality you had many years ago is the same reason my placement church has it.
Often what I post here are my random thoughts and discussion points. I'm always interested in why things are done or nor done certain ways. And I don't just take "becuase it's always been done like that" for an answer, which can be a bit of a double-edged sword I've discovered to my cost.
New normailties are always good as they get us thinking about why we're really at worship in the first place or - in my case - following a call to ministry.