Ways of Praying - Essay Example

?Running head: WAYS OF PRAYING Ways of Praying Insert Insert Insert 01 November Ways of Praying Prayers of confession are either personal or corporate in nature. Prayers of personal confession involve presenting our issues to God and seeking forgiveness for the harm we have done on others. Presenting ourselves to God involves the work of contrition and release towards the transformation that is yet possible for others and us (Suchocki, 1996, p.67). Prayers of corporate confession focus on the wrong that is committed jointly, rather than the sins of each person. Paul Bradshaw, in his book Two Ways of Praying, describes these prayers as cathedral prayer and monastic prayer. Cathedral prayer is mainly led by ordained, formally appointed ministers, while in monastic prayer each person in the community takes obligation to take turn at the reading, speaking or singing that is part of the prayer (Bradshaw, 1995). Cathedral prayer is the obligation of the whole congregation while monastic prayer is more of individual activity. In addition, cathedral prayer is mainly outward, involving occasional gatherings for prayer that is reinforced by praise and intercession. Monastic prayer is mainly inward-looking, that is communicated through a person’s mind and heart, and thus it assists in forming the person who prays. Moreover, cathedral prayer is supported by externals of worship actions and materials such as candles and vestments, while monastic prayer does not necessary require material support, since it mainly involves silent meditation. Generally, prayer enable us to communicate with God by allowing us to be aware of the encounters with God we experience at various times of our lives. Prayers therefore help us to learn to arrive with fullness of our heart, mind, body, feelings, and experience into the living presence of God and to receive the revealed fullness of God’s own heart, word, body, love, and reality for us in ever-deepening mutual intimacy (Dahill, 2005, p.10). The next part of this paper will be based mainly on corporate prayers of confession in the church. One’s spiritual wellbeing is much related to the spiritual wellbeing of others, thus, goodness of the community is very essential for the goodness of individuals. God uses confession as a means for helping people to move past their sins to better and deeper self lived existence within the communal interdependence. Through corporate prayers of confession, community is able to turn away from sin and begin the process of healing from the suffering. This type of confession enables community to receive God’s will towards wellbeing, as the sins are washed away because they normally block the community from receiving the goodness. Sins therefore lead to isolation and fragmentation of our society, as we concentrate on seeing the problems as originating outside ourselves, rather than concentrating on ways of resolving these problems as a community. Fragmentation in turn leads to powerlessness, as fragmentation makes us focus on perpetuating the problem rather than participating in forms of it resolution (Suchocki, 1996, p.80). The powerlessness makes people to refuse responsibility for problems that are caused by evils in our society; hence, they distance themselves from efforts to seek forgiveness and addressing the problems. The powerlessness makes people to be more individualistic, thus, the church does not confess its corporate sins. By church shunning confessions of its corporate sins, the God’s merciful power of social renewal is left uninitiated, as church member are more concerned about addressing their individual problems while hiding from the social aspects of all personal sins. Christians therefore become more involved in privately confessing their personal sins, while forgetting that personal confession only is not sufficient to attract God’s forgiveness for social sins of our society. As individuals, we participate in various corporate evils that warrant corporate confession. When the church fails to confess corporately, it misses the power of confession that can enable it to achieve corporate renewal and restoration of the things that require confession. Suchocki clearly explains the purpose of corporate confession by revealing, “the power of corporate confession is the triple identity that it works, and the sense in which that triple identity overcomes isolation, fragmentation, and powerlessness” (Suchocki, 1996, p.82). Corporate confession will essentially lead to healing that brings the community together as God transforms the society from ill-being to well-being. Before corporate confession, it is important for each member to understand their role in the corporate sins, since by acknowledging their roles they can form better communal identity. Through personal realization and confession, members are better prepared to confess with entire church in appreciation of their society identity. Normally, corporate confession is blended with other components of worship in any of the following ways: pastoral prayer, private prayer, unison prayer, responsive reading, scripture reading, corporate hymn of confession, solo with appropriate message, and choral anthem (Chapell, 2009, p.147). Mostly, it emphasizes that all members come as sinners to hear the teachings and receive the sacrament as part of their worship (Provance, 2009). Corporate confession of sin is mostly said early in the worship service as a preparation for the rest of the service. Through corporate confession, we are able to acknowledge that we have not loved God with our whole hearts or our neighbors as we love ourselves, hence we humble ourselves together and seek God’s forgiveness together. Corporate confessions also remind us that we are equal before God’s eyes and we are only forgiven because of God’s grace on us as humanity. By participating in public confession during our corporate worship, we are reminded that God forgives the repentant and we together share in the experience of that reality and the joy and inner piece that accompany it. Through corporate confession, we confess not only our sins, but also the sins of humanity of which we are a part. Hence, we are able to recognize our solidarity as part of the human community and realize sinful actions affect not only the sinner, but others as well. This confession enables members to use the power of naming the problem and the self and then brings the power of consciousness to our nature. By being united with the problem, we are able to overcome the false isolation from the problem and seek solution to the problems. Social sin is part of our lives, thus, it somehow webbed into our identities. By understanding our participation in the social sins, we are able to identify and join one another in the communal confession. Since all social sins are both a communal and individual problem, when we identify them, we are more empowered to address them. When corporate confession is emphasized and we identify with one another as participants in the problem of social sin, there is bearing together of a pain that is too great for any one of us (Suchocki, 1996, p.84). Thus, this kind confession can improve sensitivity to one another and bring about new understanding of one another. Therefore, the prayer of corporate confession helps us to transform the individualistic nature into an understanding of togetherness in pursuit of meeting the law of Christ. In our sins, God identifies with us through Christ, who died for our sins in effort to save the whole world. Christ died and rose for the world, thus, through Christ, we receive the communal forgiveness as part of identification with God through Christ. During fellowship for corporate confession, we pray to God who forms part of our identity as he identifies with us. This identity grants us forgiveness that comes to us in Jesus Christ. God forgives us our sins based on Christ’s death on the cross; hence, we receive the benefits through faith. When we confess our sin, we have promise of God’s loving forgiveness that is shown to us in Jesus Christ. We confess the sins because we are sorry for sins, and then receive repentance that is our contrition and God’s gift to us for turning away from sin. This forgiveness liberates us from sin’s power. As we confess, God holds us together through the mutual participation in God, as He understands us as the God of the community. Through prayer of corporate confession, God is able to give the church the power to become a force against sin within the church and the community, since confession leads to the power of forgiveness. This power helps the society to resolve it problems and move forward. A confessing church is able to achieve forgiveness and become a force for good of the society. The power of forgiveness opens God’s transforming power within the community by using the communal force of the church to address the evils found within the larger society. By using corporate confession, the church can be able to criticize the community towards its social transformation, leading to communal well-being. Corporate confession is a powerful tool that church can use to be united with the resurrecting power of God. Through transformation, “in place of isolation, fragmentation, and powerlessness of complicity in social evils, there is union with one another, God, and ourselves” (Suchocki, p.88). This union becomes a powerful tool for eliminating sin in our community and enhancing better social structures within the society. Through corporate confession, the church is united together by the Holy Spirit. This way, the church gives itself to God and to one in agreeing to take responsibility for our sins and receiving God’s gift of mercy and forgiveness. The union enhanced by the corporate confession is one of the best ways of reminding the church members of their spiritual commitments and corporate responsibilities. The union that is created by this confession manifests the free activity of God in the lives of individual believers who are joined together in faith and fellowship as they pray for communal forgiveness. Hence, corporate confession clearly portrays the church as a visible group of people that are united together in their joint confession through Jesus Christ. The mutual confession through Jesus Christ enables Christians to work together as people of God with a sense of belonging to God and one another. This is largely achieved as all members of the church confess allegiance to Christ, since they are joined together in the corporate confession and submission to God’s will through Christ. Due to human nature, we live through seeking forgiveness for our sins continuously; hence, we should focus on continuous confession of our sins. By being involved with a confessing church, we can be significantly transformed and then eventually transform our society socially. Corporate confession will always challenge us to be reunited with resurrecting power of God; while at the same time, we are able to intervene in the problem of sin. Corporate confession leads to transformation thus the church can always use it to positively transform the society and avoid the powers of destruction that accompany sin. In essence, corporate prayer of confession is a divine tool that enables the church to achieve personal and communal forgiveness for its members and the society. To accomplish it, the church needs first to seek personal realization and identity. From that point, the church should form communal identity with the aim of confessing the social sins. The confession is then based on seeking forgiveness based on the love Jesus Christ had for humanity to the extent he was crucified for salvation. It is through forgiveness that the church will achieve transformation and be able to fight the social evils. Through corporate confession, we invite Jesus to intervene for our social sins and to be granted forgiveness together with restoration that comes with it. Hence, in confession, we confess our inadequacies and hear Jesus’ reassurance of everlasting love and peace. In summation, corporate confession by the church should be a regular thing rather than being an occasional that is offered once after a long period due the crucial role it plays in the well-being of the church and the society. References Bradshaw, P.F. (1995). Cathedral and monastic prayer. In P F Bradshaw (Ed) Two ways of praying (pp 13-28). Nashville: Abingdon Press Chapell, B. (2009). Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice. Baker Academic. Dahill, L. (2005).Truly Present: Practicing Prayer in the Liturgy. Minneapolis: Ausburg Publishers. Madigan, S. (1998). Christian spirituality: A liturgical spirituality. In S Madigan (Ed), Spirituality rooted in liturgy (pp 1-22). Washington DC: The Pastoral Press Provance, B.S., (2009). Pocket Dictionary of Liturgy & Worship. Intervarsity Press. Suchocki, M. H. (1996). Prayers of corporate confession. In M H Suchocki (Ed). In God's presence: Theological reflections of prayer (pp 79-90). St Louis: Chalice Press.   Read More