[ExGeeEye]

...the tradition of Christians turning toward the East in prayer...

I've never done this. The long axis of my present church is North-South, with the pulpit at South. Since this is based on architecture and location rather than tradition, I had to think about it, and on first typing it mistakenly put the pulpit at the North.

Us Baptists is weird, I guess :)

[bronx2]

I think early Christians read Mt 24 26:28 and felt that the Son of Man would be coming in the clouds like lightning in the East lighting up the west. Thus they faced east to greet the coming of the Son of Man.

[ExGeeEye]

Well, I just checked with my pastor, who reminded me that (a) God is Omnipresent, therefore looking or bowing or whatever in a certain direction doesn't point us at Him, and (2) while it is not Baptist doctrine to pray specifically to the Holy Spirit, He is nonetheless a member of the Trinity and personally indwelling each believer, so we might as well try to face a mirror or each other in order to get to the nearest Presence; and (c) as Heaven is not on Earth, and Earth rotates on its axis toward the east, if we were to face east to pray we would only be facing Heaven about 1/24th of the time.

(Shrug) IMHO as long as the content and intent of your prayer is right, how you orient is immaterial; contrariwise, orientation will not repair an otherwise faulty attempt at prayer.

Peace be with all of you.

[Salvation]

I think words in the new translation instead of saying “from the east to the west” will say “from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun” or something quite beautiful — a lot better than from the east to the west.

[MarMema]

“For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27)

[MarMema]

why we pray facing east

[MarMema]

why we pray facing east

[MarMema]

sorry for the duplicate post...