Social distancing regulations will forestall anything but a virtual mob doing me harm for uttering such a heresy.  But I will say it again.  Prayer doesn’t work.

The week ends with many of us exhausted from prayer, spent by prayer.  We startle awake in the morning – and in the middle of the night – called to prayer for our friends, our good and faithful friends.  “Heal, O Lord. Comfort, O Lord.”

One of the morning psalms for today is 22. The words of the first two verses are familiar:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

To be sure, the words are messianic and borrowed by Jesus as the words he needed as he suffered there for us.  But the words were not written just so Jesus would have them that awful day on Calvary.  They are David’s words spoken from his anguished heart.  Given by the Holy Spirit, they are my words and your words this long week. Continue reading →