Worship

Variety in Worship

Variety in Prayer

To pray as Yeshua's early followers did we must include variety in our prayers. There is a different dynamic when praying alone, with one other person, as a group, and when listening to another pray. We must pray individually, for each other, and as an entire assembly.

Spontaneous prayer is fundamental to relating to God. Scripture contains very few examples of liturgical formulas, compared to countless instances of spontaneous prayer where people pour their hearts out to God in humility and honesty. But not all prayer should be spontenous. Using verses from the Psalms or liturgy as prayers is useful to provide structure. These can help us progress through the scriptural steps of prayer and ensure that we do not overlook any important ways of thinking about Adonai, his Kingdom, his covenants, and our relationship with him.

Variety in prayer also includes who is speaking. Most groups of people find it most worshipful if there is an (unequal yet purposeful) balance between when individuals taking turns praying spontaneously, when everyone recites a prayer together, responsive reading, and when a designated leaders recites liturgy that highlights Adonai's holiness.

A third type of variety involves the size of a group praying. Most groups of people find it most worshipful if a service includes a time of praying silently by one's self, a time of praying in pairs to encourage each other, as well as the typical majority of time spent praying as the entire group.

Finally, people who pray intensely often change their body position during prayer. Most liturgies specify a few traditional times to stand and pray. Beyond this, people praying should always have the freedom to change their posture since the optimal posture at any moment often relates to how God's Spirit is working with each person individually.

There is scriptural precedent for worshiping in many postures. The following list has only a few verses for each posture although scripture usually includes many more.

while bowed, both alone and in a congregation: Exodus 34:8, Nehemiah 8:6, Ephesians 3:14
while standing: Exodus 33:10, Psalm 135:3(2)
while kneeling: Psalm 95:7(6), Daniel 6:10, Second Chronicles 6:13, Luke 22:41
while prostrate on the ground: Matthew 28:9
with dancing: Psalm 149:4(3), Psalm 150:5(4)
in bed: Psalm 4:5(4), Psalm 149:6(5)
while lifting our hands: Psalm 134:3(2), Psalm 141:3(2), Psalm 63:6(5), First Timothy 2:8
with clapping our hands: Psalm 47:2(1)
with speaking: Psalm 109:31(30)
with singing: Psalm 146:2-3(1-2), Exodus 15, Judges )
with shouting: Psalm 132:10 and 17(9 and 16), Ezra 3:11
with instruments: Psalm 150
loudly: Psalm 150
silently: Psalm 46:11(10)

About the only posture not mentioned is sitting down!