On Public Prayer

As a leader in your congregation you may be asked from time to time to offer up a public prayer. (Remember, pastors are not the only ones who can pray.) It can be a nerve-racking experience.

One of my anxieties as a beginning pastor was praying publicly. I remember as a freshly minted minister being asked to say the prayer at the potluck for my first installation. 

The pressure was on. My wife was present, Mom and Dad too. Area clergy, veterans of  many a potluck prayer, stood waiting to hear what kind of fella the Seminary was producing these days—would he get all the words right? And the eager faces of the members, heads reverently bowed, betrayed a hopeful prayer of their own that the new pastor they were getting a good one.

A lot was riding on that first prayer. Lots were listening. Great pressure to get it right for all the assembled.

Then it occurred to me: I wasn’t talking to them. There was a point of clarity in my mind that first day of ministry that has seldom been equaled: public prayer, public as it is, is not a performance.  Oz Guinness in his book The Call reminds us that our audience is One. 

When you pray publicly, remember that you are praying for the people around you not to them. The thing that matters is bringing issues before God. It is great that the people are joining their hearts with your words, but the connecting with God is what really matters. So relax. You have this.

Do not worry about sounding “religious.” Unless you use “thee” and “thou” in your everyday speech, do not use them in your public prayers. Don’t try to use religious language you don’t normally use. Speak with your own voice.

Do not worry about the theology. You have not been asked to deliver a sermon. You are simply talking to God on behalf of the others. Bring him the issues at hand. Remember, as you pray the Holy Spirit is interceding and helping your prayers ascend properly to the Father.

Do not worry about getting “the right” person. You may address your prayers to the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit.  Ordinarily we do address the Father and close the prayer “in Jesus’ name.”

When you pray publicly, you have two options. You can pray a prewritten prayer, one written by you or someone else, or you can make up a prayer on the spot. Praying “on the spot” is often misidentified as an “ex corde” prayer, one from the heart. That is erroneous. A prayer made up on the spot is not ex corde it is extemporaneous, one for that time. 

Here’s the point: every prayer you pray on behalf of others should be ex corde, whether it is an ancient prayer handed down through the centuries or a prayer out of a devotional book or one you are making up as you go. If you are not praying from the heart, keep the prayer to yourself. (Technically, you do.) 

One more thing: The best way to grow more comfortable praying in public is to spend lots of time praying in private.