Prayer

I just returned from visiting a friend in the hospital. All is well and he will return home tomorrow...better off due to a new heart cath. Hospitals, doctors and nurses are wonderful human and divine gifts to us!
Before my brief visit with he and his wife was completed, an employee arrived to take my friend from the cath center to a regular hospital room. I said goodbye before asking to pray with he and his wife. And that got me to thinking.
I am a professional "prayer of prayers." As a clergy person, it is expected (and sometimes even appreciated) that I would offer a prayer during a visit like the one recounted above. In worship services that I lead there is most often a time set aside for a "pastoral prayer" wherein I can try to capture and brielfy put into spoken words the prayers, thoughts, concerns and celebrations of the assembled congregation.
A 2008 survey (88 congregations, 950 participants) of United Methodist congregations (Anglo, African-American, Latino, Korean, and Chinese) on "The Place of Prayer" in UM churches revealed some interesting facts. See if you find yourself in any or many of these findings:

• UMs think prayer is very important to spiritual health and vitality.
• Most in leadership find prayer tends to become a function of the job.
• For the majority, "at church" is where most of the praying is done.
• When asked what they expect to happen when they pray, 56% said, "Huh?"
• For 92% of UMs, prayer is about what we say to God.

Mostly, I feel badly about these findings. Too often, my responses could be quite similar.

Ouch.