First We Are Sons

I grew up in a church that did a lot of reading. The prayers were printed and recited in a call and response pattern. I would join with the hum of a hundred voices. If we were singing, the song was a single note. Because I didn’t understand at the time, my participation was passive.

But I’ve come to believe written prayers can be powerful tools. The outcome depends mostly on what is going on inside the reader. Yes, it is possible to turn off your mind and just repeat words on a page. But even a spontaneous prayer can devolve into noise the second we get hit with the unrelenting distractions of this world. The beauty of written prayers is they provide a fixed point on the horizon…