Where Real Things Can Happen

In a part-time job, I am a member of a team responsible for preparing the church's gymnasium to hold a contemporary worship service each week. We set up the chairs, tables, giant projection screens, and the live band equipment, plus do the necessary wiring. After the service, we put it all back up. There is quite a bit of labor involved in turning the facility from an athletic room to a formal place of worship. One of the jobs I usually do each week in this process is to carry the kneelers from the storage room to the front of the transformed sanctuary.

Now, there is a lot of symbolism involved in a worship service. The lit candles serve as the light of Christ. The garment colors serve as representation of the various seasons of a Christian year. And of course, the communion elements represent the body and blood of our Lord. Yet as I look at those kneelers I carry in and out every week, I have come to realize there is more than symbolism with them. Real things happen on those manmade pieces.

Kneelers are usually wood formed into the necessary shape, just like a lot of the furniture we use. But lives have been improved and even transformed on those pieces of lumber. During the service, people use them for a variety of reasons: to pray for a loved one or to simply address a major concern with God, to rededicate themselves to God, and even more spectacular, they give themselves to Christ and become saved. In the past, I would go to the storage room, carry them out, and put them in place without much thought, but now I want to pray to the Lord for His blessing of the events performed on these pieces of hardware. May He hear the cries and the yearnings of the users as they get on their knees and surrender to Him.

Scripture tells us in Psalm95:6 that getting on our knees is another form of worship. It is a form of acknowledgment used throughout history to revere the higher authority. Plus, it is a formal way to surrender, as a person on their knees would have a hard time defending themselves and trying to fight on their own. So no matter what the user of a kneeler is there for, whether they are making requests, just meditating, or rededicating, they are in a form of worship that God finds honoring.

Prayer can happen in a variety of ways, whether you are on your knees or not. You can talk to the Lord throughout the day as you go about your business because He is there with you. Other times, you can make it more formal, like your true daily prayer. Getting on your knees periodically does have wonderful benefits, as you can give God your salute this way, just like the way a soldier salutes his superiors, and it causes you to be more still which is something the Lord likes for you to do as you acknowledge Him and know Who He is. It can help you concentrate more in the process of prayer and worship. I might also note that you do not have to have a kneeler to get on your knees either. Kneelers are there to simply provide a little extra support for the individuals in their quest.

Just because you are on your knees, don't expect God to answer your prayers in the way you wish. In Luke 22, Jesus got on his knees to ask God to allow him to avoid the cross and all the shame that he was to endure, but God didn't take that cup from Him as that was part of His purpose for being on earth. So our trials will not end just because we get on our knees. Yet if we get on them with sincerity, good things will still happen in our relationship with Him and these rewards will be eternal. Of course, good things happen every time someone prays, yet for a lot of people, a new beginning happens on the simple kneelers located in the front of the sanctuary.