The Zen of the Prayer Room: Zip Worship Praise Eagle Kneel Dance Jesus Rawk

Set the wayback machine for the early and mid-90's: I was somewhat of a concert aficionado. The alternative music scene was my playground: Stone Temple Pilots, Live, No Doubt, Bush, REM, Radiohead, David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails... and many many more.

The concert was not just a show, it was an experience. Heck even the musical selection on the way to the show was important. Had to be a good mix of similar music, the artist we're heading to see (past tunes and current), a 90's version of Pandora. Why? To get primed. To get pumped up and ready for the show. It does something to your mindset...

I'd even change my appearance - to get totally into the show, man! READY TO RAWK!! (Flamingo pink manic panic does not wash out of hair nearly as easily as advertised, btw)


Fast forward 10+ years. Still a rocker at heart. But the focus has changed. I still get excited about music. Thankfully I'm out of my Wiggles phase - we're into Princess and Disney music these days. And worship music.

That's what I'll call it here. It's easier for me to describe it by saying "music that I like to worship to." That really includes a wide array - not just stereotypical "Christian" artists. So on our way to church - more often than not, our car becomes a pre-concert mix. Something to get pumped up - ready to rock out for Jesus.

Which leads me right into the brief focus of this writing: the prayer room.

Wait... the what?

Being raised in the Episcopal church, I had no idea what one was. Why do you need a room specifically devoted to prayer? You can pray in any room, right? Who needs somewhere else? And then do you just sit there and pray the Lord's Prayer? Again and again? I went to Catholic school, I know the Hail Mary. I've prayed the Rosary. Is that what we're talking about?

It's expected that one hit the prayer room before church service starts. I'm down with new spiritual experiences, so I head on in. Guys on one side, chicks on another. Why's that? Why segregate? And why are the lights turned down low? And there's some dude just walking around muttering to himself like a madman... wassup with that?

I grab a seat and sit down. "Think holy thoughts," I command myself. Nothing. "Pray like the guys across the way there....they are really into this prayer room deal." Nada. Okay, get up... walk around and say "Thee" and "mighty" and "greatly" and "holy" a lot. Zilch. I got nothing.

So I sit back down and shut up. A few deep breaths. Hmmm. That actually feels good. Rather quiet, low light... this is restful. A few more deep breaths. I'm actually digging on the serenity now, the zen of the prayer room. And only then do I start to listen, really listen. And Greg Fairbanks is praying just a bomb-diggity of a prayer. Its got worship, and thanksgiving, and reverence... i mean it is chock-full of Jesus-is-awesome stuff. And in the quiet of that room, i tapped into prayer. Corporate, deep, spiritual prayer.

Something shifted in my spirit, in the deep places of my heart. I began to pray my own prayer. Voiced, but not so that anyone could hear but God. And me and God, we started a conversation. The prayer room experience ended with Paul White, the associate pastor at the time, leading all the men (now standing in a circle) in a group prayer. He and we ask God to bless us, anoint our worship and our prayer, guard our wives and children, help us to do what is pleasing to Him and right in this world. In Jesus' name.

And then it's like a football game and we're on offence. We've huddled up. The play's been called: Zip Worship Praise Eagle Kneel Dance Jesus Rawk. And as we break and head into the sanctuary, I realize what the prayer room has done for me. I'm in the zone. I'm ready to get my praise on like it's nobody's business.

My pastor said in a sermon last year, "the prayer room is the power grid of the church."

I understand. It gives us a chance to find some peace. To just sit and be with God for a few minutes. To re-group. To re-charge, re-focus.

There are days when I'm the guy who walks in off the street, who visits with some folks, sits down on the pew thinking about stopping by Walmart on the way home... and I don't get the hand-off. I'm not the go-to guy. I let the blessings of God pass me up in my arrogance that He is there at my beck-and-call.

And I know I'll be that guy some days. But today, I'm heading to church early. To be there like 30-40 minutes early. I won't be hanging out. I won't be sitting on a pew waiting for God to show up.

I'll meet you in the prayer room.