If Prayer Would Do It, I'd Pray...

Today, May 4th, is the National Day of Prayer in the United States.
People are asked to "turn to God in prayer and meditation."
The President always signs an official Proclamation "...encouraging American to pray..."

I suspect the whole thing is not as much a celebration of prayer as it is a celebration of showing we are in favor of prayer...much like we are in favor of mom and apple pie.
Those are my thoughts on the importance of the day...they will not be the thoughts of everyone.
Everybody gets to think their own thoughts.

Here...on this National Day of Prayer...are thoughts (some of which I have previously put in print) about what prayer may or may not be.

What prayer is and is not is a mystery to me.
Does it involve words?
Is silence the real key?
Does prayer only "work" when its offered in some deity's name?
If 500 people pray for the same thing (like a sick friend, or world peace) is that more effective than if just 1 person prays?  Or, 50?  Or, 499?

Is contemplation the same as prayer?
What about reflection?

If I say "I will pray for you," is that dismissive of your problem/pain/illness, or does it show compassion and concern?  Maybe both?

Found a definition of prayer that describes it as "an invocation or an act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity."  I wonder if that is really the best way to invoke or activate a relationship with a deity.  Any deity.  Don't know that it is, don't know if it isn't.  But I suspect there may be other and better ways to go about this thing.

I wonder what the proper place of prayer in real life is.
I think often of these words from Stephen Levine:
“If prayer would do it, I’d pray.”

At the advanced age of 72, and after over 41 years of serving as a pastor, I think very differently about prayer than I did earlier in my life. I think of prayer now as a way of quieting myself in an attempt to sense what can be known about the Creator's presence. I think of prayer now as a way of "dumping" some of the busyness...some of the crud...some of the trivia that resides in me, and taking in some calmness and grace that the Creator may want to send my way.

On those Sunday mornings when I led the prayers during worship at the final church I served, I offered these words: 

“In these moments of silence

Speak, and we will listen

Listen, and we will speak the words of our hearts.”


That’s where I am with prayer these days…and most likely where I will remain.