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Manna From Messiah
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Pastor Ellen Mumper, Canada
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A
Different Kind of Prayer
It is likely a solid
fact that none of us spends enough time in quality prayer. One problem seems to be HOW to pray and
another seems to be all the distractions that the enemy of our souls sends our way
in preventing us to pray. There are so
many kinds of prayer in Scripture - prayer examples and models- such as
intercession, pleas for mercy, prayers for needs, prayers of longing, etc. There is one kind of prayer I would like to
introduce that is perhaps not as well known as our usual personal prayers in
our devotional life. When I first became
a believer I was brought into an evangelical church where prayer was
spontaneous and personal. There was no liturgy at all in the church
services. Is there a place for
liturgical prayer at all? I believe
there is and I believe the model is in the synagogue, and was observed by
Yeshua also when He walked on the earth. Imagine this:
The
cantor is standing before the congregation. Every head is bowed low and there
is a hush in the air, and pure worship as he intones the Kedushat YHWH.
"N’kadesh et shimcha b’olam, k’Shem shemakdishim !"
We are
there. We are in the presence of the Most High, somewhere away from earth, high
in the heaven of heavens where our Elohim dwells. We are in worship. Listen! We
can almost see the prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah) in chapter 6 of his book, where
he is standing in awe before the Holy One.
Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh! Holy, holy, holy! His train is filling the
heavenly temple. There is the fragrance of smoke of incense before the throne.
Can we smell it? Seraphim, guarding the holy Throne, are flying about and
crying to one another before this awesome King of the Universe. His voice
causes the very doorposts to move and tremble. Holy, holy, holy is our
God. Earth recedes. Illness, job
problems, cranky relatives, housekeeping- it all recedes. We have come now to
worship before our King.
So many
people struggle with the beauty and purpose of liturgy. What is it? Is it
necessary to use liturgy in our worship of God
If so why? Especially on the Sabbath, we connect with the Creator of
all. And this Creator loves us! Imagine, such love! Eternal in the heavens with
Avinu, our Father, the Word of God, the Living Son of God, lived and loved us
and then came to earth, God robed in human flesh to die a sacrificial death
that we all might have life. Messiah Yeshua! Our Redeemer, Savior and Shield!
We worship!
There is
a protocol for coming into the presence of a King. Choose any king on earth,
and there is a guaranteed protocol for coming into the royal presence. We could
not go before this king brazenly. We could not go unclean. We would approach a
certain way. We would wear the right thing and have the right gift in our
hands. How much more for the King of the Universe?
In the
absence of our Holy Temple, can we still bring a sacrifice? Hebrews 13:15
entreats us to "offer Him a sacrifice of praise continually, for this is
the natural product of lips that acknowledge His Name." Who can come into
His Holy presence? Who can "stand in His holy place? Those who have clean
hands and pure hearts..." (Psalm 24)
Liturgy
does this! It brings us before the King, prepares us to worship with pure
hearts, and presents us as a royal priesthood before Him, a holy nation as it
says in Shemot (Exodus) 19:6 and 1 Kefa (Peter) 2:9. Yochanan (John) 4:23 says
"But the time is coming -- indeed, it's here now -- when the true
worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind
of people the Father wants worshipping Him."
Hebraic
worship uses a siddur. A siddur is a vehicle for taking us into His presence,
through prayer, blessing, repentance, song, adoration, etc, as the people of
God. In order, we come with devotion in
our hearts, concentrating on Him alone, as one people, single-mindedly. In the
order of worship we are led step by step into worship and we are prepared for
the teachings from the Word of God.
Many of the prayers and blessings of the Siddur were from as much as 400
years before Messiah walked the earth.
Messiah Yeshua Himself entered into synagogues and worshipped in this
way.
So what
are we to make of Messiah Yeshua’s command in Matthew 6:7, sometimes quoted as
not “praying vain repetitions”? First we need to understand that Messiah Yeshua
was referring to the babblings made by those making a show of their personal
piety and not connected to their hearts. This could also refer to the prayers
and mantras of heathenism, which uses chants of names and key words over and
over.
First of
all, when we pray together we are praying TO a Person, and in His authority and
character. If any prayer to God becomes simple rote, then it’s maybe best not
to pray it, although concentration on Him can bring one to prayer if he’s not
already. Messiah Yeshua taught His talmidim to pray, and gave us permission to
copy His patterns.
Congregational
prayers, and blessings, and praises in unison do two other important things.
One, they demonstrate that we are indeed a body, instead of separate entities
all going our own separate ways. Modern
society stresses individuality and free choice but the Scriptures show us over
and over that we are a community of believers.
Second, it focuses us on the Kingdom of God, because AS a community we
are serving the King. We are not coming
together to pray for our needs so much. Does God want and encourage personal
prayers, prayers of petition, etc? Of course! We are to pray without ceasing. But there is a power and a blessing in
coming before Him in unity and singleness of heart. We focus on the Creator and
HIS Kingship, submitting ourselves before Him.
There is
a tremendous amount of Scripture embodied in much of the blessings and prayers
of the siddur. In coming together as a body we invoke His Kingship as His
subjects, forgetting ourselves for a short time. HE is exalted and we are
edified in the process as we confirm as a people Who He is, what He has done,
and His attributes.
