Monday, July 11, 2011
Prayer breakfast heresies
Over at the Huffington Post, my colleague Mark Osler laments the sorry state of "prayer breakfasts." A snippet:
What fascinates me about these events is that they drape themselves in the faith, yet create a scene that Christ himself would (and did) directly condemn. They are the epitome of a culture that celebrates itself, rather than embracing what Jesus actually taught.
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2011/07/prayer-breakfast-heresies.html
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I guess it depends on the prayer breakfast. Since the matter is raised experientially, I've attended prayer breakfasts which are draped in humility and offer clear presentations of the gospel. An individual's sharing of God's faithfulness in one's life in an open forum to a mix of Christians and curious non-Christians does not strike me as a bad thing. Similarly, praying corporately and in smaller groups seems like something that ought to be encouraged. I'm sure prayer breakfast are co-opted for other purposes, but let's not write them off entirely.
Often times you have people rising before the sun to pray for others (sounds familiar).
I'm not trying to de-emphasize private prayer, however, I think Christians could stand to grow in Christ's likeness by more corporate prayer for each other and for others as opposed to less.