I was asked last year to offer a prayer at a PIM Christmas party. I was caught a bit off-guard (I like to have material ready, especially if there's a chance to preach!), but I never mind praying. In anticipation of being asked again this year (though I doubt I will be--there are plenty of others), I've been doing some studying and meditating. I want to share some of my thoughts, however disjoint they may be.

My first instinct last year was to challenge people. It's my thing to do. I wanted to challenge their preconceptions about prayer positions, for example. I found that most Scriptural references to prayer position was hands and head uplifted, eyes looking toward heaven. Further study this past year revealed five types of positions, but the most common is indeed uplifted. Given I was very new to PIM and nobody really knew me or my habit of challenging the status quo, I ended up offering a "conventional" prayer last year. I don't think I'll bring this up this year, either (if I'm even asked to offer a prayer again). It may be a bit more complicated of a topic than is warranted for the occasion.

I then considered the context of the prayer content. For the most part, it's a prayer of thanks and blessing. As such, I began to dwell on that for which we have to be thankful. Obviously, salvation (yay!) and the food (it's a party, after all) came to mind. The party context is dance. These are PIM dancers, their families, the leaders and teachers, and those of us on the fringe who just like to help when we can. I found myself dwelling on how thankful we all are for the awesome talent given to these dancers, for the joy we feel in watching their witness being performed, for the chance to worship in this way, be it in dance or in support of those who dance for the Lord. If heaven is anything like that, the blessings will be overwhelming!

As I said, I doubt I'll even be asked to say anything this year. I had my 60 seconds in the limelight last year. That's more than enough for me. If asked, I probably won't say much--just a simple prayer of thanks for the gifts of dance, good food, and the great friends I've found through PIM. Nevertheless, it's been nice meditating on what the Word says about prayer; and it's a joy to consider the blessing PIM and those involved have been to me and my family, not to mention the countless thousands to whom PIM ministers.