On Wednesday evening, 1 April, the Chinese prayer meeting brought the in-person and online groups together for the first time. Participants were free to choose.
I chose to go to the church.
As soon as I arrived, I saw the co-workers testing the sound volume.
Not many people were there in person: five in all.
In front of the seats there are kneelers. As soon as I knelt, a lot of scattered, jumbled thoughts fell away.
But I sat while singing, and sat while listening to others share; I knelt only to pray. This shifting between sitting and kneeling didn’t make my knees hurt. The prayer meeting lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and being there in person it passed more quickly than it does online.
The hymns the pastor played came out of the church’s speakers with a certain richness. The church setting itself shields you from many distractions, which made it hard for me to lose focus.
The prayers and sharing of those online were played through the church’s sound system, and the sound quality was very clear. The interaction between those in person and those online was smooth, beyond my expectations.
If I were praying online from home, because my home internet is unstable and my equipment’s sound quality isn’t good enough, the experience of prayer wouldn’t be as strong as in person. But praying online really does make things easier for participants who find it hard to travel; it is better than not being able to take part at all.
At first glance, this seemed to be nothing more than a change of format. Only when I was truly in it did I realise that what changed was never the format itself, but my heart: it let me intercede more quietly and with greater focus.
The prayer began at 7:30 and ended at 8:45. The pace was tight, with no snags. Thank you, Pastor, and thank you to the co-workers who are not so often seen. They put care into the background and sorted everything out, so that we could pray with more focus.
