What Key Do You Pray In?

From Morguefile

I was at a  conference  last week (via satellite) and after some of the speakers, one of the hosts would step up beside the speaker and pray with them.  We always knew when the host would be going to pray, because a keyboard would begin playing softly in the background.

It was most telling for me when a woman from India spoke about her work rescuing people from slavery and human trafficking.  She finished with a call for response from us mixed in with her own testimony.  It was powerful.  But as our host (it might have been Bill Hybels*, I think it was, but I'm not sure) stepped up on the platform, for me, the power of the closing of her message was destroyed by the upswelling of the "prayer music" as the host "unpacked for us" what the woman had said and then prayed for her.  I remember the prayer being a powerful prayer, heartfelt and authentic, don't get me wrong.  There was nothing wrong with the prayer itself.

The music killed it for me.  We went from a real moment to a produced moment.

 My spirit sagged...

And, I kid you not, I thought to myself, "I wonder what key they play for him to pray in?  Do they have different keys for different people?  Is it minor or major?  Does it depend on what came before?  Does the pray-er give the keyboard player a heads up as to content so as to not be playing happy notes under a sad prayer?  Or do we trust that the Holy Spirit can actually sort that out?"

I've liked music under prayers before...but this time it really struck me as inappropriate... and actually launched me right OUT of worship...

So, what key do YOU pray in?**


















*Bill Hybels isn't just a person anymore, he's his own website :)
**I'm a minor key guy, and we all know that D minor is the saddest of all keys :)