Wednesday Night Service or Gossip Hour?

[fundyvangelicalcatholic]

Growing up Fundy, Wednesday night service was the stepchild of Sunday night service. The hierarchy went like this:

1. Sunday Morning - mandatory
2. Sunday Night - kinda mandatory (you were expected to be there, but you know....homework, work, obligation of life, etc could on occassion take precedent)
3. Wednesday Night - uh well, you should be there

I never really thought about it, but when I got married, my wife mentioned what a gossip my mother was. Now of course a wife critiquing a mother-in-law is unheard of, so I didn't really give it a thought. Then came my unemployment.

I didn't mention my unemployment to anyone in my circle of friends. I was too busy finding a job. I did mention it to my mother. Next thing I know, it is on the prayer list at her church and everyone in the county knew I was unemployed. Later on, I mentioned to her that one of my children had a medical issue that we hoped would soon heal. Someone I hadn't talked to in years friends me on facebook to ask me about my daughter. She told me that she heard in church that my daughter had a medical issue.

At that point I was done telling my parents anything. They "pray" for it in church, but I really think it is just to "pray" for everyone elses issues. I have noticed this on facebook as well. People get really specific on their prayer requests.

At the church I grew up in, you even had an "unspoken" part of the prayer sheet where you could write down your name and the number of "unspoken" requests. Since I never kept the prayer sheet from the week before, I couldn't realize whether a persons number ever went up or down. Is it really necessary to put down you have 4 unspoken requests? Sometimes that was just a lead in to have your prayer partner throw up all of their problems on you.

So this is kind of a two prong question:

1. Do you think it is really necessary to go into great detail about your requests? Does it really help people praying for you to be as specific as possible with God?

2. Is sharing openly all these requests in great detail really just gossip fodder?

[pastor's wife]

(02-21-2011 12:21 PM)fundyvangelicalcatholic Wrote:  Growing up Fundy, Wednesday night service was the stepchild of Sunday night service. The hierarchy went like this:

1. Sunday Morning - mandatory
2. Sunday Night - kinda mandatory (you were expected to be there, but you know....homework, work, obligation of life, etc could on occassion take precedent)
3. Wednesday Night - uh well, you should be there

I heard this once:
1. Attending Sunday morning means you love the church.
2. Attending Sunday night means you love the pastor.
3. But attending Wednesday night means you love the LORD!

Thus if you attended Wed. night, you could take note of all who weren't there, then look at them on Sunday morning and judge them in your heart because they didn't really love the Lord!

And prayer requests? I don't need all the details, but I like to have some. "Please pray for a sick relative" is so vague that it's hard to focus in prayer; it ends up more like, "Dear God, Sarah, Beth, Jane, and Joe all have sick relatives. Heal them please." It's more like a list. If I know details, I can pray more meaningfully. Sarah's beloved uncle who has advanced cancer becomes more than a number on a list to me; I can "weep with those who weep" when I have more information.

But I don't want to know everything! Stories about how the uncle ran from God and finally repented after ruining his marriage and losing his job -- I don't need to know that to pray for his health.

[hac84]

Pray for Aunt Mildred, she hasn't had a bowel movement in a week and a half. Please call the prayer chain.

[captain_solo]

Come on! No deacons are available to go anoint her with oil? Or perhaps administer a high colonic? What ever happened to those servants taking care of the widows and orphans anyway.

[fundyvangelicalcatholic]

Please pray for Mrs K. She had to go to Mexico to get a drug for her cancer. She had to have a shunt put in to administer the drug. The shunt is very painful. She hasn't slept through the night and is losing her hair.

Note: This was a real "prayer request". Seems like TMI to me. What the heck are you supposed to pray for?

I just believe that some people want to share the "how bad their life is" opportunity to elicit sympathy. You should hear some of the praying going on at my old church. It was a whose life is worse charade.

Oh....and I have 2 unspoken requests.......

[LMcC]

(02-21-2011 02:00 PM)captain_solo Wrote:  Come on! No deacons are available to go anoint her with oil? Or perhaps administer a high colonic? What ever happened to those servants taking care of the widows and orphans anyway.

Oh, come on! Actually helping those widows and orphans takes too much work!

(I only wish I were kidding. )

[greg]

(02-21-2011 02:05 PM)fundyvangelicalcatholic Wrote:  Please pray for Mrs K. She had to go to Mexico to get a drug for her cancer. She had to have a shunt put in to administer the drug. The shunt is very painful. She hasn't slept through the night and is losing her hair.

Note: This was a real "prayer request". Seems like TMI to me. What the heck are you supposed to pray for?

I just believe that some people want to share the "how bad their life is" opportunity to elicit sympathy. You should hear some of the praying going on at my old church. It was a whose life is worse charade.

Oh....and I have 2 unspoken requests.......

My dad still tells this story. Some years ago Mom and Dad were between churches, and were visiting a small non-denom with pentecostal leanings. Anyway, old hillybilly looking guy started testifying about how he didn't think that he was going to be able to make it that night to the service because all day he had been "hocking up stuff that would gag a monkey" but bless God he was feeling better now. Talk about TMI, I would have love to had been there.

[elfdream]

There was one dear lady whom I still love and count as a friend but I never liked having her for a prayer partner on Wednesday night. Her prayers were so looooong. I felt like she had been storing up all week for Wednesday night which made mine come out all stilted and amateurish.....but in my own defense I was only a teen-ager at the time.

[Perry]

Our Wednesday nights weren't really like a "prayer meeting" They have an altar of prayer at the beginning of the service and a prayer bulletin they give out, but that was it.. The adults had Bible study/verse memorization, while the children and teenagers had their own individual services in other parts of the church.

But I have heard some pretty wild prayer requests before...

[Jenni]

I quit taking prayer requests in my classroom the day one of my students said, "Please pray for my little fish. My big fish keeps trying to eat him."