loong prayers

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Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,177
113
#1
What the longest someone has ever prayed in your church?
Have you ever had to sit through a service where one person prayed for ages and didnt let anyone else have a turn, and you found yourself falling asleep before they got to Amen???
 

Billyd

Senior Member
May 8, 2014
5,048
1,490
113
#2
We solved the long prayer situation a long time ago. The pastor or one of the church elders deliver the oral prayers. We have a period of music for all others wishing to pray to come to the alter and pray silently.

Sometimes we have a long period of music, but everyone has the opportunity to pray.
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
24,912
8,164
113
#3
Sometimes I've heard somebody try to preach a sermon through what they are praying, like they are making pointed comments in their prayer that seem directed at the people listening instead of directed at God.

If I'm not praying myself, I listen in. You never know what you'll learn by paying attention to your surroundings. If it is just somebody going on and on, I tune it out and think about something else.

If you fall asleep before somebody gets done praying, either you are in a pentecostal prayer meeting or maybe you might have diabetes, falling asleep so easy like that.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,177
113
#4
my church has prayer before service, and prayer during hymns off to thr side for anybody, but I do notice whoever is speaking can sometimes pray for too long before we get to the Lords prayer which we all pray together.

I dont want to interrupt as would be rude, but I do find sometimes they can go on for so long that I fall asleep. ?!
 
Mar 5, 2020
485
133
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#5
What the longest someone has ever prayed in your church?
Have you ever had to sit through a service where one person prayed for ages and didnt let anyone else have a turn, and you found yourself falling asleep before they got to Amen???
The day I left. Thirty minute! And it was the pastor before his sermon.
What's up with that anyway? Didn't Jesus tell the faithful in him to not pray in public like the heathens? But to pray in private in a closet or some such?
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,177
113
#6
The day I left. Thirty minute! And it was the pastor before his sermon.
What's up with that anyway? Didn't Jesus tell the faithful in him to not pray in public like the heathens? But to pray in private in a closet or some such?
yea I thought that too.
wow 30 minutes is way too long. what were they even praying about can you remember? did they name everybody in the congregation or something.
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
24,912
8,164
113
#7
Wow. Y'all really need to visit my church some time. Or a church like my church. The only time one person prays alone is when one of the ushers prays before taking up the offering. Every other time during church service, everybody prays.

If one person stood up and started praying for 30 minutes, and everybody else was just supposed to stay quiet and wait it out... we might start feeling like Moses, "Let my people go!"
 
Mar 5, 2020
485
133
43
#8
yea I thought that too.
wow 30 minutes is way too long. what were they even praying about can you remember? did they name everybody in the congregation or something.
I don't remember the details this many years later. I do remember that near what was finally the end though that didn't seem like it was coming in the near future at the time, the individual words in his prayer started to blend into what sounded like hives of bee's buzzing in sync.
When he was finished I felt like jumping up and yelling, PRAISE GOD! Just to celebrate its end. I had a headache and my sinus were burning. I have no idea what that was but it was a miserable start to that Sunday service.
 

Mezame83

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2019
291
316
63
#9
Didn't happen in the church but at a wedding. The whole prayer time lasted 1 hour. Seriously, 1 hour. It was in a foreign language so I couldn't understand what was being spoken. I felt a bit rude when I got up and walked out with my children because they were becoming quite restless. My youngest was only around 3 or 4 at the time.

Sometimes I've heard somebody try to preach a sermon through what they are praying, like they are making pointed comments in their prayer that seem directed at the people listening instead of directed at God.
This reminds me of people that pray (when in pairs of groups) and start naming people and airing their personal business. I realise we're suppose to pray for one another but it's like these people are praying in a way that is exalting their self in their 'gossiping prayers', if I can call it that.