I heard that Freddy Franz was famous for the longest closing prayers ever at DCs. He'd go on so long that people had to leave in the middle of it otherwise they'd miss their buses home.
The longest prayer ever done scenario
by asilentone 17 Replies latest social humour
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Hadit
11 minutes was the longest one I've heard. The assembly was already 30 minutes overtime. I was fuming and so were many others. Totally unnecessary. It summed up the ENTIRE three days! I should have just come for the prayer and saved the three days.
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blondie
I heard Fred Franz give a few long prayers....one was past 20 minutes....my family left after that so I don't know how much longer it went, we said Amen silently and were gone.
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Searchn4answrs
Honestly,there's been a couple of prayers that could literally make you faint.. Not because you feel an overwhelming sense of spirituality. More like ,being bored to death! Now that's torture!
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Band on the Run
I would swear that the brothers went on for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Maybe it is the time is relative and I so much wanted release from the boredom and cultiness.
Obviously timing it would have been funny but I also would have been executed by my family. The entire family used to talk about the length of prayers. Freddie Franz was one thing but the local moron was another.
My father was a former Bethelite who forged his own way w/o disfellowshipping. He knew massive amounts of Witness stuff. This sister was present and thought he was d'f'd or not active. She actually placed a hanky on her head! I wanted to knock her off her chair. It was the most tangible insult of all of them. He could go chat up Knorr and Franz, and all the factory people but he couldn't tell her what to do with her hanky. It is all right. One of my epiphanies occurred when a prof explained Son of God (any male) vs. son of man (messianic). She pointed out all the Sons of God in Israel but not one single daughter. I said F....you. You want no daughters of Israel, I don't worship male gods. And how they make him male. I became interested in surrounding goddess worship.
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Juan Viejo2
As a JW kid I can remember Sunday night Watchtower study. I used to worry that they would ask a couple of brothers to say the closing prayer because they always droned on and on forever.
Sunday night had Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock, and Twilight Zone on TV in our area. If the meeting ended on time, we could see the last 30 minutes of Bonanza and the all of the other two shows.
One night, when I knew that one of my favorite episodes of Alfred Hitchcock was coming on (saw it in the TV Guide), I heard the words that meant my evening was trashed.
"Brother Wysocki, will you close our meeting with prayer?" Since it was so rare that he was ever called upon to pray, when he was, he made sure that he got his fair share of time. One of his prayers lasted nearly 30 minutes.
Brother Wysocki claimed to be one of the "anointed" - and so was his wife. But he held no servant's position and no one paid any attention to him. The word was that he and his wife survived the Holocaust because they were Polish. But we didn't know for sure. Whenever he was called upon to pray - you could hear everyone in the whole Kingdom Hall let out a collective moan. His prayers were unintelligible because of his accent and went on forever. I remember that one time when we were standing for prayer, one sister fainted and had to be carried out of the Hall to be revived. Wysocki just continued on for another ten minutes. The rest of us all wanted to go out and give the sister mouth-to-mouth. I would have been willing to give a corpse mouth-to-mouth that night.
JV
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Band on the Run
Oh, the TV lineup. I was such an unabashed Beatles fan. They were scheduled for appearances on TV but I had to miss it for KH. We were so isolated being white in a very black KH. My parents sought out a former Bethelite contact so that we could have measure of kids our own age. The Beatles were slated to "Hello, Goodbye". I thought kids my age would understand and I'd see it on their TV. No way, like super nerds they announced they liked blue grass music. I just cried and cried in front of every one.
Decades later, a DVR still gives me a rush. Missing TV shows......My only hope with the Witnesses was that if we behaved,we'd have love finally. The extended family were Wtinesses. I grew up expecting total and complete rejection any minute. Other girls parents got them Beatles tickets. Well, it made the Beatles and other teenage idols more precious to me.
There is a JW culture, separate from the doctrines, that is so unreal and painful, esp. for children. I grew up in a 99% Catholic neighborhood. We were not invited for play b/c we had no toys. Those prayers cut into precious time. I had no respect from the brothers. We viewed ourselves as above them, yet we had to go through motions.
Bonanza was the power house. I watch it on reruns and wonder what was so compelling about a buinch of land barons screwing other people. Bonanza felt like family more than the KH. My TV lineup was very precious to me. Now I have no clue when my favorite shows actually air.
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Band on the Run
Oh, the TV lineup. I was such an unabashed Beatles fan. They were scheduled for appearances on TV but I had to miss it for KH. We were so isolated being white in a very black KH. My parents sought out a former Bethelite contact so that we could have measure of kids our own age. The Beatles were slated to "Hello, Goodbye". I thought kids my age would understand and I'd see it on their TV. No way, like super nerds they announced they liked blue grass music. I just cried and cried in front of every one.
Decades later, a DVR still gives me a rush. Missing TV shows......My only hope with the Witnesses was that if we behaved,we'd have love finally. The extended family were Wtinesses. I grew up expecting total and complete rejection any minute. Other girls parents got them Beatles tickets. Well, it made the Beatles and other teenage idols more precious to me.
There is a JW culture, separate from the doctrines, that is so unreal and painful, esp. for children. I grew up in a 99% Catholic neighborhood. We were not invited for play b/c we had no toys. Those prayers cut into precious time. I had no respect from the brothers. We viewed ourselves as above them, yet we had to go through motions.
Bonanza was the power house. I watch it on reruns and wonder what was so compelling about a buinch of land barons screwing other people. Bonanza felt like family more than the KH. My TV lineup was very precious to me. Now I have no clue when my favorite shows actually air.