The most important thing I did in the lives of the people in my congregation to help them live in a disordered world was teach them to take time to worship. We’re in such a hurry. Efficiency is such a tyrant. People are in such a hurry, they want to get through it. And it’s not that they want to leave the worship service, it’s just that they think if things don’t happen fast, it’s not going to be productive. I very deliberately decided we were going to have leisurely worship – we were going to take time. When it came time for me to give a Pastoral prayer, instead of jumping up from the seat and starting the prayer right away, I’d count to 5 or 10, then say ‘Let us pray.’ Then I’d pause to collect my thoughts, let them collect their thoughts. It drove them nuts. It took them 10 years to get to the point where they could figure out what was going on and love it.
- Eugene Peterson [as quoted by Ken Myers]
[painting: Dean Mitchell, 'Let Us Pray', www.westhillgallery.co.uk]
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