The Posture Of Kneeling For Prayer

In addition to formal dance, the postures taken for the various acts of worship are an important aspect of movement in worship. Posture both reflects and shapes the attitudes that we bring to worship. One of the most important postures for many Christians in worship is that of kneeling for prayer. This article traces the history of the use of kneeling in worship and commends this practice to all Christians. Anglicans traditionally kneel to pray, although worshipers in many parishes are now invited to "sit or kneel," which suggests a growing uncertainty about what is appropriate. Most Protestants sit; some stand; and many of the Nonconformist traditions object to kneeling on the grounds that it is unacceptably ritualistic or Romish or both. Should we, or should we not kneel to pray, and does it matter? Here is what Screwtape writes to his young charge in C. S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters: One of their poets, Coleridge, has recorded that he did not pray "with moving lips and bended kne…