{"id":135320,"date":"2017-11-08T08:51:10","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135320"},"modified":"2017-11-09T13:52:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T20:52:54","slug":"thoughts-prayers-aftermath-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/08\/thoughts-prayers-aftermath-tragedy.html","title":{"rendered":"On “Thoughts and Prayers” in the aftermath of tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve often heard that the point of prayer is not to invoke a change in reality — a magic spell to cause God to make things all better — but to invoke a change in the pray-er: to clarify needs and wants, to gain inspiration of what to do toward the end being sought, to derive strength for action.<\/p>\n

And that comes out, in the Bible, time and time again, particularly in the New Testament, where prayer without action to back it up, prayer for the sake of praying (or, worse, for being seen<\/i> to be praying), is roundly condemned.<\/p>\n

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.\u00a0(James 2:14-18<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The “thoughts and prayers” of politicians in response to disasters and heartbreak — most visibly of late following mass shootings — are nice to see, but are only meaningful if they are followed up by action.<\/i> Looking to have the grieving comforted? What are<\/i> you doing to comfort them?<\/i> Looking to prevent such things from happening again? What are<\/i> you doing to stop it?<\/i><\/p>\n

That’s not to advocate a particular legislative agenda — but, for example, the tragedy of gun deaths has been discussed and debated and lots and lots of ideas have been floated to help address it, from gun regulation to better mental health care to more mental health interventions to better study of the issue to simply coming to accept that piles of bodies are the Moloch-like sacrifice we must make to ensure our freedom. Whatever. This is to advocate grabbing onto one of those agendas, or more than one, and fight for it. Act on it, or be open about your inaction as the wisest course.<\/p>\n

Prayer is not a “Get Out of Moral Obligation Free” card. In fact, it’s the precise opposite, because it shows an awareness of a need, and so calls on the pray-er to do something to meet it more than offer up pious thoughts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\n\u2018Thoughts and Prayers\u2019 Could Be Exactly What America Needs<\/a><\/span>
\nGandhi called prayer \u201cthe most potent instrument of action.\u201d But will politicians follow through?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve often heard that the point of prayer is not to invoke a change in reality — a magic spell to cause God to make things all better — but to invoke a change in the pray-er: to clarify needs and wants, to gain inspiration of what to do toward the end being sought, to … Continue reading “On “Thoughts and Prayers” in the aftermath of tragedy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,109,298,358,27,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-church-state","category-guns","category-poor-citizenship","category-religion","category-religion-me"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/unnamed-4.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16524,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/12\/pray4trig-and-playing-parlor-tricks-with-god.html","url_meta":{"origin":135320,"position":0},"title":"“Pray4Trig” and playing parlor tricks with God","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Jan-10 9:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Les, from Bay of Fundie, I've learned of the \"Pray 4 Trig\" website, which seeks to gather up enough congregations of True Christians to pray for Trig Palin, in order to cure him of his Down Syndrome. Um ... Intercessory prayer is a tough nut to crack.\u00a0 Orthodox Christianity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Parish"","block_context":{"text":"My Parish","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-my-parish"},"img":{"alt_text":"Prayer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/prayer-244x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33330,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/23\/prayer-is-not-enough.html","url_meta":{"origin":135320,"position":1},"title":"Prayer is not enough","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 23-Apr-13 5:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some would say it's not anything, but even if you believe in the efficacy of intercessory prayer, it's not a substitute for action. It is complement to it, an encourager of it, an inspirer of it, a focuser of it, or should be. Whether for yourself or for others (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3849,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/21\/pray_tell.html","url_meta":{"origin":135320,"position":2},"title":"Pray tell","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 21-Mar-03 5:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some interesting thoughts about prayer during time of war -- especially when you have folks in the same household praying for opposite outcomes. And for another perspective on prayer during...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49733,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/03\/dont-want-none-of-them-hindoos-praying-around-here.html","url_meta":{"origin":135320,"position":3},"title":"Don't want none of them HINDOOS praying around here!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Mar-15 10:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because, you know, they believe in crazy things, which are definitively un-American. North Idaho senator objects to Hindu prayer - The Spokesman-Review A North Idaho senator is objecting to allowing a Hindu prayer as the opening invocation for the Idaho Senate on Tuesday morning, and says he\u2019ll walk out. Sen.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4495,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/08\/20\/back_to_basics.html","url_meta":{"origin":135320,"position":4},"title":"Back to basics","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Aug-03 6:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Randy sent me a link to a nice little description of what a truly Biblical concept of marriage (as the \"Presidential Prayer Team\" is praying that Dubya codifies) would look...","rel":"","context":"In "Love & Marriage"","block_context":{"text":"Love & Marriage","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/love-and-marriage"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13575,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/12\/praying_for_electoral_vic.html","url_meta":{"origin":135320,"position":5},"title":"Praying for electoral victory","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-Nov-08 5:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"So one would think that, if anyone could be prayed into office, it would be the McCain\/Palin ticket. Prayer for John McCain and Sarah Palin Please pass this prayer on...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135320"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135330,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135320\/revisions\/135330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}