Liturgica: We stand to pray

SOME RITUALS are so simple that they pass us by! A case is point is that we should stand together when we take part in the Prayers of the People. These are not just a string of petitions, but an acknowledgement that we are a community before the Father and our needs become one with the prayer of Christ Jesus. It is the prayer of Body of Christ. It is part of the task of the People of God to voice its needs and those of humanity before God. Voicing our needs is not giving God information nor is it equivalent to bothering God in the hope that more and more noise might move God to action! Voicing our needs is an acknowledgement of where we are as needy creatures, a declaration of our dependence on God, and a statement that the answer to the world’s problems is greater than the creation. The curious thing is that, when we exhibit our neediness we should not grovel, nor kneel, but stand. In this we are following an ancient bit of ritual practice. Jesus’ first followers stood in in the synagogue when praying (Mt 6:5). A generation or two later, when they gathered they still stood to pray because Mark (11:25) puts this into the mouth of Jesus: “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” And a generation later again, another teacher wishes “that ... intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone ... and that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands” (1 Tim 2:1 and 8).

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Thomas O’Loughlin

is Professor of Historical Theology in the University of Nottingham. His The Rites and Wrongs of Liturgy offers a theological basis for evaluating what we do when gathered for worship.