Pastor Answers

"Pastor’s answers"  is a blog and compilation of answers our own pastoral staff gives to controversial slavic questions often argued about. Keep tabs on this section as it will slowly develop into a large segment of our website, and a resource to the church as a whole.

To submit a question you’d like answered, email pastor@thechurchofgrace.org.

Prayer Posture

Full Question: Why do we pray standing up or kneeling down while people in other churches usually sit?

Pastor’s Answer: I believe that God hears prayers in any body posture. Moreover, I think that sometimes the Lord would hear and give an answer to the one who prays being seated while closing up to a prayer of the one who fell on his knees and even, perhaps, his face.

Why do we then practice praying on our knees or standing on our feet?  This is a question of our respect and awe before God and only then a question of our upbringing.  A person on her knees is a typical image of a praying person.  Bending of our knees is a symbol of humility and lowering of our human ego.  To bow down to your knees before somebody else means to break your pride and attest to your dependence on him.  We are to bow down only before God and not before any human being.  Also, when we pray standing on our feet we demonstrate our respect towards God.  In most of the cultures of the world people stand up in the presence of elders.

Bible gives us many examples when God’s people prayed kneeling down before God.  When King Solomon was praying his famous prayer at the dedication of the House of God he got up on the pedestal and bowed his knees in front of all the people (2 Chronicles 6:13).  David calls those who pray to God to bow down before the Lord (Psalm 95:6).  Prophet Daniel three times a day would kneel down before God in prayer (Daniel 6:10).  Even Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane praying would fall to his knees (Luke 22:14).  First martyr Stephen bowed his knees in prayer (Acts 7:60).  Apostle Peter praying for Tabitha knelt down (Acts 9:40).  Apostle Paul after giving his going away speech in Ephesus knelt down in prayer (Acts 20:36) and then fell to his knees in Tyre along with his co-workers right on the beach (Acts 21:5).  Finally, Apostle Paul said that the time will come and every knee will bow before Christ (Philippians 2:10).  Nowhere do I find an example of a prayer sitting down.  What else can be anymore believable?   

Church “Dress Code”

Full Question: Why do people in our church dress up to church on Sundays but people in other churches don’t?

Answer: It doesn’t matter a whole lot before God how we dress to church services whether we’re wearing festive clothes or regular.  The main thing is what’s inside of us but that’s a question of culture and ways of being brought up.  In our European culture it is common to wear festive clothes on the weekends especially when people go to church.  If people are invited to a meeting with, say, a governor or a congressman they put on appropriate festive clothes (a suit, a tie, a night dress, etc.).  So when we go to the very King our external appearance ought to look nice as well.

Oftentimes looking at people coming to church services dressed without care in shorts, T-shirts often wrinkled that remind of pajamas it doesn’t look appropriate and not very nice.

There is another extreme when some of our people, especially Ukrainian women, spend tons of money on expensive clothes to show off in church.

Clothes of Christians are to be nice, clean and not very expensive.  A Christian ought to look nice both on the inside and outside.

Clapping