The 'Os Have It

Part 3 the FRAGO

Anything that changes the original plan is considered a FRAGO. Since, most orders are published by staff that hasn't slept in days and are barely in touch with reality, they are usually flawed in some way. To counter this the Army invented the FRAGO, to fix the order without having to scrap it and start from scratch.

Chapel services are 90% FRAGO run. In an earlier post I refer to flexicution as the main method of running an Army worship service, this can also be looked at as FRAGOing. This comes to frantic head when the projector won't work, the Sunday school director is out sick, and the Chaplain's assistant got stuck on staff duty.

Since, I am equating specific parts of the service to their respective 'Os, I have dubbed Corporate Prayer time as the FRAGO of Chapel services. Every Chapel does it a little different, but the basic premise is that members of the congregation can share their prayer requests, and then the Chaplain/designated representative has to wrap it up into one big prayer. (This is a prime spot to drop the Pray4.) Anything can come out during this, kids provide some great material if they haven't already been sent of to children's church. These requests can sometimes require fast thinking, so here are some tips to help out if you ever get pegged with leading corporate prayer.

1. Write furiously.
You don't want to be the guy who forgot Aunt Sally's 200lbs goiter, or the little girl in front who asked for prayer for her dog Lefty who just lost a paw in a bizarre gasoline fight accident.

2. Mumble.
You may have to pray for someone with an unpronounceable last name like Hazimazibrohimi-Movich. Rather than get it wrong, just mumble through it, God knows who you are talking about, its all good.

3. Filler.
You may get picked to pray on the Sunday where no one has anything to say. It is a well know fact that your holiness can be judged by how long you pray in front of groups, so have some backup material just in case.

4. Dismount.
It is tricky to get your prayer just the right length. Coordinate ahead of time with the worship leader to start playing the next praise song very softly once you've made it through all the prayer requests. Then you can end your prayer with the first verse of the song, a kinda "spoken word" type thing.

This raps up my 3 part series on the "O"s. Three is God's favorite number after 7, but right before 40. School House Rock calls it the Magic Number, but since we hate magic... and Harry Potter, I'll just call it 3, while secretly listening to Blind Mellon's remake and reading The Goblet of Fire with a flashlight under my covers.