The Siddur Project

Answering Objections to Liturgical Prayer

By Aaron Eby  | Comments (7) | Posted on February 2, 2007

In this post, I will tackle some of the common objections that people have against using liturgical prayers.

To many people from an evangelical or charismatic background, “liturgy” is a bad word. It is considered synonymous with deadness, dryness and non-inspiration. It is often perceived as a box that serves only to prevent the Spirit of God from moving during a service. It is discarded as one of the “traditions of men” that the Messiah warned us to avoid. I spent most of my upbringing in a charismatic church, so I am personally quite familiar with many of these sentiments.

Liturgy can technically refer to any prescribed set of rituals used in a religious service, but in this discussion, I am primarily referring to prayers. Is it OK to employ pre-written prayers as a part of our worship?

As people have come to appreciate a Hebraic approach to faith and Scripture, and as Messianic Judaism has sought to employ the mode of worship in synagogues, liturgy has pushed its way forward as a primary issue among these types of congregations. In some sense, the debate on the use of liturgy in Messianic congregations has supplanted the common church argument over traditional hymns versus contemporary choruses.

It bears repeating that it is a common misconception that Jewish prayer is always liturgical. Judaism does not by any means teach that prayer must be formulaic, or at any particular moment of the day. One does not need a minyan, a quorum of ten men to pray, nor does one need a synagogue or a Siddur. Judaism has always taught that one may directly communicate with the Creator in your own words, in your own language, at any time, wherever you are.

Why the opposition?

In the U.S., the opposition people hold toward liturgy probably stems from two main sources. One is the individualistic mindset of American culture. It is this “I can do it myself” mentality that got many of us to start thinking outside the box of the religious system in which we were raised. Hebraic roots people like ourselves are already used to bucking the system, and we’re hesitant to replace it with another system.

A second source of opposition is the influence of the cultural transformation that occurred in America during the 1960s. The values that flourished during that era had a profound and lasting effect on American religion. This is so much the case that it is common for people to confuse true godliness and spirituality with ideals popularized at that time: freedom from restrictions and authority, egalitarianism and spontaneity. In the U.S., most people in positions of religious authority today (including Messianic congregations) come from a generation that was heavily influenced by those ideas.

“Liturgical prayers are vain repetitions”

The main argument against liturgy is that it represents the “vain repetitions” condemned by Yeshua. However, take a close look at Yeshua’s instructions:

And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. (Matthew 6:7 NASB, emphasis mine)

Yeshua’s criticism in this passage is not leveled against the Jewish mode of prayer. He explicitly identifies meaningless repetition as a Gentile thing. He might be alluding to the commandment in the Torah that forbids us from serving God in the way of that idol worshipers serve their gods (Deuteronomy 12:29–31). Perhaps one example of this can be seen in the contest between Elijah and the idolatrous prophets on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).

As my friend Dana once aptly pointed out, in order for something to qualify as meaningless repetition, it must satisfy two conditions:

• it must be meaningless and
• it must be repetitive.

Being repetitive alone does not make a prayer “vain repetitions.” Jewish prayer is often repetitive, but it is far from being meaningless. In fact, Jewish prayer is deeply meaningful, being comprised mostly of the Scriptures.

Everyone employs some repetition in worship. This is not a sin. It is not a sin if you pray for the same thing twice, or even twice in one day. It is not a sin if you use the same words in a prayer that you used last time. In the most spontaneous prayers, there is typically a substantial amount of repetition.

Some congregations that would never pray a pre-written prayer because of “vain repetitions” have no difficulty reading the words to their praise and worship songs from a screen, repeating the chorus of the songs four or five times.

The use of liturgical prayers is not in view of the Master’s condemnation. The problem is when people don’t mean the words that they are repeating…or if they don’t have a meaning. This is what Yeshua was speaking against.

Traditional Jewish commentators on prayer would heartily agree. It has been said, “Prayer without kavanah (sincere intention) is like a body without a soul.”

“Repetition leads to loss of meaning”

Some people believe that repeating something over and over will cause it to lose meaning. This is sometimes the case, but not always. If I get stuck in the ritual of prayer, and do not focus on the words that are coming out of my mouth, then it can mean less.

However, it might be just the opposite. Each time you a read a passage from the Scriptures, do you discover that it means more or less to you? If you are attentive, it will mean more to you each time you read it. Each time you read it, it will take less time for you to recall what it means.

The same can be true of the prayers. The prayers are deeply poetic and profound. At first, it can be difficult to focus on them and to understand them. But each time you pray, you may notice more and more about them, and it will be easier to concentrate on the meaning. It’s much like someone who walks through a field or a forest. At first, trudging through the weeds is difficult and slow going, but after doing so day after day, week after week, and year after year, it becomes easier and easier to get from point A to point B.

This is one reason you may hear Orthodox Jews praying so quickly. It takes very little time for them to recall the profound meanings in the prayers, since they have been doing so from a very young age.

“Liturgy does not allow the Spirit to move”

There are some that feel that something that is written or follows a formula does not allow room for the Holy Spirit to move. But choruses such as “Blessed Be Your Name” or “Open the Eyes of My Heart” are also written in advance. If it must be entirely spontaneous in order to allow for the Spirit, then choruses such as these should never be used. People should just sing (or say) whatever comes to them at the time. Yet we know that that would lead to chaos and disunity.

Even the most “Spirit-filled” congregations usually follow a standard order or worship. They may open with a Psalm, sing a certain number of songs, take an offering, hear a sermon, and have an altar call. The structure of service found in the siddur is the very same idea, except that it is rooted in an ancient tradition that dates back to the Messiah and the Temple services sanctioned by God.

It was the Holy Spirit that filled the Tabernacle. And yet, it pleased God to have a specific order and structure to the way the services were run. In fact, the Bible itself is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the Bible is structured and written. Thus we see that the Holy Spirit can also inspire things that are structured and written.

Fundamentally, this objection stems from the non-biblical idea that the Holy Spirit is the zany, unpredictable, spontaneous personality of God. Just as something can be spontaneous does without being inspired by the Holy Spirit, something can be inspired by the Holy Spirit even if it is not spontaneous.

If you belong to a congregation that values the ability to be spontaneous, which is by all means a good thing, you can still benefit from liturgy. It is not all or nothing.

“Jewish liturgy is too impersonal”

Some people think that the synagogue liturgy is impersonal. As I mentioned before, there is room within Jewish prayer for personal prayer. Prayer can be spontaneous and flow from the heart.

But it is true that the synagogue liturgy is often not personal. That is by design. There are times when it is appropriate to focus on personal issues, but when we stand united with all Israel, our personal issues are miniscule compared to the glory of God and His Kingdom. The point is to get our minds off of ourselves.

In our culture, we have become so self-centered. Everything is marketed as “choice,” “personal,” “customized.” Everything you buy or do is a chance to express yourself or define your identity. This aspect of modern culture has pervaded the Church. The sermons are all about self-help. The praise and worship is often self-focused: “I/me/my.”

These prayers are not personal, because they are about God and His Kingdom.

“These prayers remind me of my Catholic upbringing”

Another common way to reject the prayers is to say, “I grew up Catholic, and all the liturgy just reminds me of that. Praying those liturgical prayers was so empty for me.”

Certainly the Catholic Church has some things wrong. But just because the Church does something does not make it wrong. The Catholic Church borrowed many things from Judaism (because they believe that the Church has replaced Judaism). In addition to this, they were influenced by many non-Jewish and non-biblical ideas and practices, and for this reason it should be no surprise that a person may have difficulty connecting to the God of Israel in a Catholic service.

Second, the person attending a Catholic service may be in need of genuine spiritual renewal. When this person prayed those prayers in the Church, he or she may have been a different person from who they are now.

Someone who was raised with a liturgical tradition that they did not appreciate is presented with the difficult challenge of overcoming emotional barriers and looking at something with new eyes. That can be difficult, but it is worth it.

“I don’t get anything out of liturgical worship”

Some people reject liturgical prayer and worship because they don’t get the same positive feeling from it that they do with other forms of worship. But prayer takes sacrifice and dedication. We do not worship or pray because we enjoy it, although that may often be the case. We worship because God deserves it. Everyone likes to feel spiritually charged, but whether or not a person feels spiritually charged from a form of worship should not be the primary issue. True worship is submission to God. Our goal should be to determine how God wants us to worship Him. To put it bluntly: we’re not worshiping you.

“Non-believers will be turned off by liturgical prayer”

Some congregations hesitate to employ liturgical prayers because they are afraid of what visiting non-believers might think. As I previously mentioned, our goal should be to worship God the way He wants it. It is entirely backwards to worship God in the way that non-believers want Him to be worshiped.

Of course it is important to make services accessible to newcomers. It is important to help them know what is going on and to help them understand why and how you do things. That can be done even if you use liturgy.

This objection is usually raised by people who are turned off by liturgy themselves and project their own sentiments onto non-believers and newcomers. In reality, non-believers often do not have the same religious hang-ups we do, and some appreciate the poetry, beauty and authenticity of these ancient prayers.

I hope these answers have addressed some concerns you may have had about liturgy. I know that there are many other objections that people raise. My hope is that more disciples of Yeshua will learn to appreciate and employ the traditional mode of worship. In a future post, I would like to discuss more of the positive side of the coin and show the benefits of Jewish liturgical prayer.

Aaron Eby
14 Shevat 5767

About the Author: Aaron Eby writes for messiah magazine and other FFOZ publications. He is also the author of the forthcoming siddur project, as well as the forthcoming Hebrew lesson DVD.

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