#567. Opening your eyes in church when you’re supposed to be praying.
Jun 25th by JonYou shouldn’t do this. I think there’s a verse in 2 Thessalonians that mentions the need to have your eyes closed at all times when the pastor is praying at church. But if you do, if you willfully decide to crack your eyelids for a peek, the very least I can do is prepare you for what you’ll find.
It’s a church wonderland.
It really is. When you open your eyes during a prayer it’s like going snorkeling for the first time and being shocked at how much life is going on under the surface of the water. All the years you were clutching your eyes shut, you had no idea what you were missing.
The removal of instruments? The magical set changes or pulpit vanishing acts that happen on stage? That’s during prayer. The way ushers seem to materialize out of thin air with the offering buckets when the prayer is over? That’s accomplished during a prayer. In fact, the momentum of the church staff doesn’t stop when it’s prayer time, if anything it speeds up the moment you close your eyes. But that’s housekeeping stuff. What about the underprayer wonders you’ll see?
A few of my favorites include:
The guy that thinks he’s invisible when he’s praying.
You might know him by his more common name, “Nose pick guy.” He’s made the assumption that everyone has their eyes closed and he is therefore invisible. (My youngest daughter does this when we play hide and seek. If she can’t see you, she assumes that you can’t see her so the only body part she’ll hide is her head.) As soon as people bow their heads in prayer this guy suspends all social graces and has no problem combining a prayer with a ferocious session of nose-picking.
The bathroom jail breaker
She has got to go. And like Tom Cruise hanging from the ceiling in Mission Impossible, she knows this is her moment. She quietly gets up, moving with the deftness of someone playing the game “Operation.” And the second she breaks free of her row and gets in some open space, she starts powerwalking. The clock is ticking. If she’s going to make it to the bathroom and get back to her seat before the sermon, she knows she has to hustle.
The little kid who knows silence amplifies his yelling.
This rascal had his yelps and giggles hidden under a warm blanket of worship music, but no more. It’s quiet now and this is his time to shine and shine he will. Standing up in his seat he’ll fill that quiet time of reflection with loud talking, highlighted when his mother whispers, “be quiet” and he yells back “Why?” But if you’re really lucky, if you’re special, you’ll witness a “little kid call out” and will actually hear him yell, “Mom, that man is picking his nose.” Oh, so rare. It’s like seeing a unicorn fish floating about the reef. A creature so rare I had to make it up for the purpose of this paragraph.
The only thing that ruins a good open eye exploration session, other than that you might be missing the point of prayer, is when you make eye contact with someone else doing the same thing. It’s like bumping into a family of other tourists when you’re snorkeling. Some of the wonder of being in a completely foreign undersea world disappears when in the midst of floating about gently in a clear blue sea you bump into a guy wearing a “Fear This” t-shirt. Look away. Look away quickly and either close your eyes and jump back into the prayer or try to find a bathroom jail breaker you can time with your watch. Will she make it back? Will she get caught off guard by an unexpectedly short prayer and end up interrupting the sermon with her reentry? Ohh the intrigue.
Have you ever opened your eyes during a prayer at church?
(P.S. big shout out to Jered R. for suggesting this topic, or what he called “The cone of silence.” I completely forgot to mention him and that is my bad. The best ideas come from readers and this is one of them.)
Comments
I've found that if someone does catch you sneaking a peek, it's best to pretend you have a painful speck of something in your eye.
Then they won't suspect you of disobedience and you can deal with your own conscience later.
Besides, certainly they wouldn't point out the speck in your eye without first examining the log in their own.
I have to echo many thoughts… which is weird, they contradict each other!
I am the mom who is up front, mic in hand, eyes open during prayer silently scolding her babbling young sitting in the first few rows because they won't close their eyes and stop touching each other… either that or I'm part of the tech crew shuffle, set up for communion (yes people get that ready, it doesn't just appear by God speaking crackers into plates… even though that would be awesome!)
Of course, you missed the whole sneak back in when the kids have been dropped off at Sunday school while wishing for the cover of prayer so you wouldn't have to admit the screaming kids were yours….
I'm not sure I ever felt like I was fully able to worship during a worship service of that nature as a result. I much prefer where I go now, in my jeans and t-shirt (I know that's against the Baptist manual too… I need a copy myself) and get to put my head in my lap and KEEP PRAYING even if everyone else stops and no one bats an eye. If it's technical, they handle it on stage when it comes up, not in advance… God knew it would happen anyway… no big deal.
CaliGirlinVegas — unicorn fish are real – that rocks. See, He is a God of wonders!
wv: eries: feeling you get when caught praying with your eyes open in church.
I pray with my eyes opened. I'm taking a class called Healing Prayer and one of the techniques they suggest is praying with your eyes open so you can see what God is doing. It's interesting.
When I was a nursing mother, I got the idea during church one day that if I got the baby hooked on during a prayer, no one would notice and I could stay put to feed her instead of going to the nursery. So that's what I did, feeling all stealth and proud of myself. Until she started gulping. LOUDLY. It was like the kid hadn't eaten her whole life. So, yeah, everyone's eyes were closed but they all knew exactly what I was doing.
Oh, I forgot about a guy at my parents' old church who would approach the microphone to lead a prayer and then, as everyone was bowing their heads and closing their eyes, he took the opportunity to PULL HIS PANTS OUT OF HIS CRACK. He did it every single time and enough people noticed that the elders had to talk to him about it. He kept doing it; he just starting glancing around the sanctuary first to see if anyone was looking. This was one guy in front of a congregation of about 800 thinking NO ONE WAS WATCHING HIM. Great entertainment.
I have the terrible habit of opening my eyes when the pray-er starts wrapping things up. I hear the cues (ex: we ask all these things; it's in Your Name; in Jesus' Name, etc.) and my eyes fly open like it's some kind of race. It's like I don't want to be the last congregant to open my eyes or something.
The problem is that sometimes the pray-er fakes me out and asks for something in Jesus' Name, but the pray-er is not even remotely finished. I've opened my eyes two or three times before because of this careless cueing and it gets really annoying.
(Yes, I've tried to keep them closed through the "amen" but it's excruciating and even more distracting. I don't know why.)
When we were little, my sister would always squint over at me during prayer, hands folded, and whisper "close your eyes, we're praying!" She would bust me every time. Clearly I am the more Godly sister, since I wasn't peeking AND whispering during prayer.
You guys kill me.
I remember one time before a church shared meal; we're all crammed into the back hall and someone's giving a very long prayer, and the little girl sitting next to me chose that moment to start saying, very loudly and penetratingly, "Daddy's got a diddle! Daddy's got a diddle!" Of course, we being teenagers, we launched into smothered giggles, and she knew it was funny, and got louder and more persistent. Her poor mum.
Trying to think if I've ever prayed with my eyes closed in church…. lol. Not since I started working in the soundbooth, and thats two years, and before that, why would a 16year old kid care lol?
I gotta set at ease all those concerned about mid-prayer activity and "would we do this in the presence of a king?"
When a king sits at table with guests that he honors, his servants are in constant motion.
As an "eyes-up" server, I am grateful for the days I get to be eyes-down.
Also: Don't forget to thank the ushers that watch over the purses and possessions when 100 people close their eyes at once.
i have a 5 year old. one eye always has to be open!
Ok, huge confession here…during those "end of the series" sermons, which always meant asking people if they're ready to make a commitment to Christ? The pastor would be up on stage, we all had to close our eyes as we prayed, he'd ask if anyone was ready and if so, to just raise their hand (instead of the traditional alter call) and he would say "I see you…I see you…and I see you" as if many people were raising their hands. I'm not saying they weren't…but sometimes, sometimes you got the feeling they WEREN'T. And I just had to peek. But, I never knew if it was someone seated behind me. I felt terribly guilty and to this DAY wonder if the pastor was lying. Bad, bad Christian!
Yes, I have opened my eyes in church simply because I'm a lip reader. In other words, I'm deaf. I want to be able to understand the words being said.
just saying, sometimes at the end of the sermon, I am so tired wanting to go back to sleep, I am glad I am allowed to close my eyes without anyone noticing I'm secretly wanting to sleep. Our service starts at 8:15 on Sundays so it is quite early…
But other than that… I am perfectly cool with open eye praying… especially over meals… We don't talk to our friends with our eyes closed? why do we always have to talk to God with them closed? I understand the respect for the altar calls… that's why i usually bow my head, and I don't look around. I also understand with children too… but sometimes I think it is just habit, and culture. God transcends culture so I don't think you're going to the hot place below if you open your eyes during prayer or transition in the band…
related topic, touched on briefly above; prayer giggles – we've all had them, and the accompanying snort from trying to contain them.
The really frustrating thing is that they can be triggered by something or nothing.
Sometimes the something is the prayer preacher, who is actually praying at the congregation rather than to God.
Sometimes it's the grape juice that nobody bothered to check, that's been in the dodgy donated church fridge for too long and is now about 60%proof – but not at all nice for all that!
On the eyes closed thing, I remember as a kid willing myself to keep them closed through the entire pastoral prayers – not sure I ever made it, and the fact that I was concentrating on that pretty much ensured I wasn't actully connected & engaged in prayer myself.
I also remember the conversation with my dad where I discovered it wasn't a rule to keep your eyes closed, just something that helped you concentrate on talking to God instead of being distracted by the things around you. he even told me that sometimes having your eyes open could help you pray, because the things around you could remind you of people or situations to pray for, or things to thank God for. Always been grateful for that conversation.
Also, sometimes I pray when driving. I trust God to guide me, but not that much – eyes definitely open for that one.
wv – resti; something busy mums in particular have to guard against during prayer.
I closed my eyes for the prayer, and 5 minutes later suddenly realised I'd just been having a good old resti
I always have my eyes open during all prayer times, because I interpret for the deaf. Maintaining eye contact is important to good communication.
Erm…I have really bad equilibrium and worse proprioception (oh yeah, I whipped those two out), so I generally either have to clutch the chair in front of me with a death grip or keep my eyes open. Otherwise, I will inevitably crash into the person standing next to me. I find that staring at my shoes is a good compromise. No distractions, and I can verify that, yes indeedy, my feet are still attached to the floor.
I started leaving my eyes open a lot of the time when I got contacts. keeping them closed for a long time with contacts in gives me blurry vision when I open them again, which is unpleasant.
The apostles, Finney, and as far as I remember, Billy Graham were not interested in having people close their eyes and 'slip up their hands'. Billy, I recall, always stated, everyone that Jesus called forth, he called forth PUBLICLY. Their sins were public and they weren't ashamed before, but preachers treat conversion as though it were something to be ashamed of. Conversion is a public witness through and through. And don't ever forget it. "…PUBLICLY…" If they weren't willing to stand with everyone watching, like a marriage ceremony, then they certainly were not willing to cease fighting God's authority over their lives. If God has thoroughly convinced a sinner of God's rights and claims, there is nothing that will hinder the penitent from making reparation and getting right with God.
Yeah, Unicorn fish are real. Google "Naso unicornis". What? Some people are called to missions, I've been called to sell tropical fish.