Early Risers

The last church I served as pastor hired a young woman from South Korea to work as a Minister of Music.  As I got acquainted with her, I learned some things about the church in Korea.  I had often read that the church culture of that country placed a great emphasis on prayer.  What I had read was more than just true.  Even while living here and giving leadership in our church, she would often go to early morning prayers at a community Korean service.  It was something the church did every day.  People would gather to pray before going to school, before going to work, and before beginning their day.   Her native church had a rich tradition of its people gathering to pray in the early morning hours and not even being in this country changed that part of her spiritual life.

 

I fear the church we know as the American church places a great deal of value on things other than praying.  We are not a people raised to gather to pray.  When I was growing up, churches had Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, but it was not really about prayer.  It was more like an informal worship service, or a Bible study.  People will gather to worship on Sunday, fuss about money at budget meetings, and come in great numbers for musical concerts, but do not offer a gathering for praying and expect a crowd.  And, most assuredly, do not expect a crowd to gather for prayer before the sun comes up.

I have a hunch that all of this speaks more to the problems of our church today than most might figure.  We want to say the problem is with the apathy of people, the lack of money to do the big program stuff and build the bigger buildings, or maybe even the theological uncertainties.  It is easy for most of us to point toward the reason the church of our day struggles.  To consider the possibility that a lack of prayer is undermining it seems a bit too simplistic to everyone, except maybe those Korean Christians who are gathering before the sun to pray.