The other day I found myself making noises for no reason. Well, I shouldn’t say for no reason…sub consiously I wanted to affirm the person praying but realized that I was just making sounds to make sounds. I rattled the same thing off under my tongue over and over….”Yes Lord”…..”Thank You Father”. As I realized that I did this out of good intention but soon out of routine, it started bothering me. I started to listen to everyone’s version of “prayer mumbling”…and wondered if they were being authentic or just going through the motions.
You know you do it…..some people just make sounds like….”hmmmmm” others say entire sentances under their breath like….”Yes, heavenly Father, please, we beg you… or just “Jesus” over and over again. Don’t get me wrong, I realize the reason, I realize it is easy to zone out when someone is praying and by affirming the prayer, you can stay focused…but for some reason, lately I have just gone through the motions. I could be thinking about my next meeting and still utter “Yes Lord” under my breath. I am just being honest, take a minute to check your prayer mumbling next time you do some good ‘ol fashion popcorn prayer.
It goes the other way as well. I have found myself trying to say great, powerful prayers that get a lot of “yes Lords, and “Amen” and “hmmmmm’s”. Why do I care? It isn’t about how you pray but for some reason, I go through it in my head to make sure I am saying something that get people going. Just being transparent here for a second. Lately, it seems like I get the most out of praying when I just sit there in silence with the Lord. It lets him speak and makes me shut-up….I don’t care about how I am praying and I don’t care who says “Amen”.
Has anyone else felt this way? I try to examine my motives in a lot of things I do with God, because I find myself always making it more about me, than about Him.
Keep affirming people! Just take a minute and check yourself!
November 15th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Thanks for the honesty.
I grew up in a strict Presbyterian church – the frozen chosen – where the most involved we got in somebody else’s prayer was saying A-men at the end of a prayer. Do you know how long it took me too feel comfortable enough to raise my arm during praise songs??? LOL
My point? I made it a point refrain from saying such things unless I was paying absolute attention, totally agreed with whatever the prayer was praying for, and felt so moved.
Any way… I appreciate your post.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:53 am
I would expect that this urge you have to follow routine (I often have the same urge) is directly correlated to the way American Christianity has been formed. I often find it hard to find the Jesus of the Bible in the American Christian Church. Church has become a routine in America. We go on Sundays and then go about our life. Sometimes I find myself in church wanting to mumble something in response to the prayer because the person next to me is mumbling something. I don’t want them to think I’m not paying attention, or that I’m not as Holy as they are. Why do I want to please that person next to me so much? Shouldn’t I be seeking to please God?
I would say that the ‘following Christ’ that Jesus demanded in the Bible is much different than attending the contemporary service on Sunday morning, which is often our idea of ‘being a Christian’. I would say that how we should actually follow Christ is through an altering of our entire life. It’s helping the poor people in your neighborhood. And no, that doesn’t mean just giving the guy on the corner a few bucks, it means going out of your comfort zone to invest your time and effort. It’s giving not just a few bucks, but your life to serve those that Jesus calls us to serve. It means listening to those who are suffering and reminding them about the love that Christ has for them. It means going out of your way to be a good friend, a good neighbor, a good son, husband and father.
This is something that I am not good at, it’s a process that I am working through. It will never be easy, for anyone. That’s sort of the point. We need to continually be seeking after God, doing His work and loving His people. It’s not easy, but being a Christian isn’t easy.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Great insight Rob, I think you hit the point right on the head. We get into habits, and we seek the approval of those around us. Often it turns into dogma and not an authentic relationship. Although I offer this article as a moment of transparency, I do understand and appreciate real agreement and verbal support during prayers. I just catch myself pretending in my faith too much, and have to ask why.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Agreed. The place I often find myself in is having to choose between these two choices:
1. Should I fake my faith by doing what is expected from a Christian, so that I can please the people in my church.
or
2. Should I live out my faith authentically as Jesus has called me to in order to please Him, even if that means the people in my church will look down on me?
Hopefully I choose #2 more than #1.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Great article – I’ve been there; and still go there from time to time. It’s so true that we sometimes get so distracted by what other people might think that we fall into this trap of “people pleasing” – Authenticity and Obedience … that is what I have to strive for
We read how Jesus tells us how he will turn away many on that last day who claim that they are worthy of entering the Kingdom based on the fact they cast out demons and other “mighty works” – on reading this account we can see that Jesus is more interested in those tat “do the will of the Father” … Jesus is more interested in morality (godly obedience) than spirituality – that is amazing; we are conditioned in our christian culture to measure our maturity by spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, prophecy etc.) but Jesus also tells us that it is by our “fruit” that we will be known not our “gifts” …
This is a challenge! Risk looking unspiritual in order to be truly spiritual
Affirmation and all the “amens” are fitting but you are so right that we should only do so for the right reasons; as soon as it is about “me” and how people “see me” then its time for me to shut up!!
(sorry don’t know the scripture references off hand)