An Update on Prayers of the People During Worship

Since the earliest days of the church in the New Testament, the people of God have prayed for each other when they gather for worship. Scripture tells us that these prayers took many different forms and this variety continued as the church grew and adapted to the communities to which it spread. This is also confirmed by ancient documents and church historians who describe the worship life of the church in its first few centuries of existence. While the people of God have alway prayed for each other, they have always done it in a wide variety of ways. Some things worked better in certain churches than in others and the format and style of prayer changed in response. 

When we gather for worship at St. Matthew’s, we lift up the joys and concerns that are on our hearts and then we pray together for those things. It is one of the key ways that we support one another. We typically do this by asking for joys and concerns and passing around a microphone so that those can be heard by the gathered congregation. This is something that we have done for some time and it fosters a sense of connection and community among us.

However, the pandemic prompted us to internet live stream our services and then post them to our church YouTube channel. This change allows us to better reach people who cannot worship with us in person due to health, travels, work, etc. Unfortunately, it also raises the issue of privacy when it comes to our sharing of joys and concerns in worship. While it is great to request prayers for fellow church members, friends, coworkers, family members, community, nation, world, etc we often share very detailed and specific information in those requests. Now that we stream our worship service these prayer requests are now broadcast over the internet and the more I reflect upon it, the more I believe that we need to adapt how we share our joys and concerns in the service. We need to bear in mind that not everyone wants their personal information shared on the internet. This is especially true for detailed personal or health information.

Therefore, I and the worship committee are recommending that we do what the church has always done and adapt to these new circumstances by adjusting how we share our joys and concerns in worship.  Beginning next week, I would ask that people contact me via phone, text message, or email with something they would like shared at the prayer time in the upcoming worship service. I will then prepare the list of joys and concerns to share in the service and will do so with the privacy of those mentioned in mind. Please contact me with any joys and concerns you would like mentioned by Saturday at 9 pm each week so I can prepare them for worship the next day. I can be reached at 610-533-9367 (cell/text), 610-688-7055 (office), or pastorjohn@stmatthewsvf.org.  This will also allow us to offer the same joys and concerns at both services when we are in our two service schedule. To put this change in perspective, this is how many churches handle prayer joys and requests in their worship services. 

In addition, we are adding a prayer request card to the pews that can be filled out by someone requesting prayer for themselves or someone else. This card should be dropped into the offering plate and our ushers will ensure that I receive the card after the service. Depending on what is indicated on the card, I will add the joy/concern to the prayers for next week’s service, share with the prayer chain, or follow up with the person making the request. I believe this will help us to be more intentional in our prayer life as a congregation.

Finally, I plan to move to the altar rail to share the prayer joys and concerns during the worship service and will invite those who feel so led to come forward and kneel at the altar rail during the prayer time. This is a tradition in many churches and can be a way for worshipers to make the congregational prayer time more personal. 

We plan to implement these changes on Sunday, June 25. I know that they will take some time to get used to but I pray that we will keep an open mind. As always, I am glad to talk with you if you have any questions or concerns about the changes.