The funny things people say in prayer meetings

Pre-service prayer meetings, whilst in theory good and Godly occasions, are frequently a source of minor amusement for me. Yesterday gave me three great examples:

"We thank you God that you contracted to a span" was used twice by two different people. It's not a phrase I've ever come across before, and when I checked with my brethren-upbringing wife, she'd never heard it either. I've googled it and apparently it's a line from a hymn by Charles Wesley, but certainly not one I've ever sung! "Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made Man."

"We pray for those who are sick of our fellowship and dying, that you would undertake most wondrously for them" is something of a classic, but I kid you not, it was said exactly as I report it here.

"We pray for all true churches across our land, and we beseech you that the full number of those whom you have fore-ordained to attend will come". Which begs the question, what's the point of the prayer?