Tonight at Bible study we opened and closed with prayer. There were four or five people ill within the congregation, and our small group prayed for them almost exclusively. There was a time when I would have judged this harshly as exemplifying an insular attitude. Surely we should have spent at least half our prayer time petitioning for international peace, universal social justice, worldwide missions, and various and sundry spanning noble causes. Instead we prayed for Sally, and John, and Mary who recently fell and broke her hip. The great commission has a worldwide scope; yet tonight we were, so to speak, introspective. In writing composition one is taught to write about what one knows. I think our prayer life often flirts with grandiose pomposities lifted heavenward as if by thundering hot air balloons. Are we praying to God or playing to the bleachers?
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