Prayer. Why Bother?
Prayer is a fraught topic. It's hard to talk about it in the church, and harder to talk about it outside of the church. Almost everyone has an experience with prayer - prayers answered, prayers not answered, prayer stage fright (or maybe that just happens to pastors!). Prayer is such a personal topic that I think sometimes we're afraid to talk about it in fear of offending someone or negating their experiences. But here I go. Prayer reveals our heart to God...and to ourselves. It is the act of opening ourselves us and sharing our intimate selves, that changes us. And it brings us closer to God, our neighbor and ourselves. When we pray whether it's unprepared or written, we are revealing what matters most to us. Our concerns, our wants and desires, our joys and triumphs, our failures and guilt. A prayer can often be surprising, even to ourselves. Even when we're not being entirely honest, well, that reveals something important about us too. Scripture says a lo