The Nostalgic Prayer

We throw around this word "prayer" just as much as we throw around words like love and hate. Most people say "you're in our prayers" when something goes wrong or recently, "Pray for Boston." This also includes superstitious dinner prayers, pre-game prayers, and many more. This is a great thing, except for the fact that many are not actually sending up the prayer! Now it seems the "prayer" was simply the act of saying it or posting it. Prayer is not a word used between humans, and it's certainly not a status update or tweet. Praying is a real communion Jesus Christ has provided us with to talk to God. Understanding that prayer is actually a communion between you and the true God should motivate you to actually say the prayer, believing that God is absolutely listening and God will absolutely act upon your request. Saying that you're going to pray for somebody, holding a candle in a service, lining up in silence for the remembering of victims is all good and fun, but does not actually accomplish anything. In prayer there is a real work happening; if you wish to console a victim's family you will have much of a deeper impact spending an hour praying for them than you would standing in silence. We live in a culture that offers no consolation to pain; simply a superstitious gathering and a nostalgic use of the word prayer.