Propinquity

Why am I making such a fuss about us sitting as close together as possible when we meet together for prayer on the first Sunday evening of the month?  Am I just trying to be ornery or irritating?  Do I usually insist on insignificant things?  Then maybe (whether you can see it or not) there is something important at stake in my request.

Consider some other questions about physical nearness:

Why, when you child is hurt and crying, are you not content to simply say from across the room, “I’m sorry, honey.  I hope you will feel better real soon.  I love you?”  Why, for that matter, when they need comfort, do they run to your arms?  Love wants to express itself in nearness.

Why, when you “fall in love,” are you no longer content to keep your distance as an observer?  Why do you want to be physically close to the one you love?  Love wants to express itself in nearness.

Why, when you want to have an intimate conversation, do you not simply shout across the room?  After all, the other person would be able to hear you.  Love wants to express itself in nearness.

Private prayer is an intimate conversation with God — “a drawing near to God.”  And God responds by drawing near to us.  “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).  Because the Spirit of Christ has no problem with spacial limitations, he can bring you near to God anytime, anywhere.  But even at that, we usually seek out a place to be “alone with God” — where the desired intimacy is reflected in our solitude.  Jesus speaks of praying to God “in secret” — “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6:6).

Not all of our corporate prayer can partake of that sense of intimacy.  Logistical considerations make it difficult for prayer within the context of our ordinary public worship services to have that intimate flavor.  We are assembled for more than prayer, and other factors dictate where we sit and how we pray.

But the kind of corporate prayer we are trying to encourage during the monthly evening congregational prayer meeting is different — we are trying (as much as possible) to promote a shared intimate conversation with our Father.  That is the main purpose of our assembly.  That being the case, I’ve tried to arrange the seating accordingly, and I’ve urged you sit as close as possible to one another.

Now I understand that some, for legitimate reasons (e.g., having to do with infants and small children) may have to sit farther back, and that’s OK, though I think most of the children are more fully-engaged when they are in the middle of things (I wonder, for example, if James would have entered into the prayer time the other evening if he had been sitting in the back of the auditorium looking at the backs and bowed heads of all the others who were praying).  

But for most of us, I think its more a matter of feeling a bit awkward — after all Americans “need their personal space.”  We are too often willing to remain distant “spectators” rather than full participants — and we choose our seating accordingly.

I understand, it will take a little self-sacrifice (in the form of moving outside your “comfort zone”), and the effort will have to be sustained long enough to make sitting closer together begin to feel natural, as it should.  But I think you will find it a blessing in the end.

We don’t use the word “propinquity” anymore (though it is a lovely quirky little word).  According to the dictionary it means “physical proximity; nearness.”  That’s what I’ve been talking about here — sitting close to one another in prayer is “intercessional propinquity.”

But the dictionary mentions two secondary meanings which are significant in light of my point in this post:

“Kinship” — As believers we are not only members of one body, one family; we are “members one of another” (Rom. 12:5; Eph. 4:25).  Our members function in close proximity to one another.  So should we — in prayer especially.

“Similarity in nature” — We have individually “put on Christ” (Gal. 3:17).  We have been given a new nature in him.  So ours is a “similarity in nature” given by one Spirit.  That similarity should make it easy for us to “draw near” to one another physically when we approach the throne of grace.

Together — close together — “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebr. 4:16).

Think about it…