Thoughts and Prayers

 Two days ago, there was another mass shooting in the United States.  In fact, as of writing this, there have been more mass shootings in the United States in 2022 than there have been days!  The one I am referring to was the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed two teachers and nineteen elementary school age children.

Every time this happens, I find myself completely heartbroken.  I struggle to process it.  I don't understand the evil which infects someone's heart that makes them capable of ending another person's life, let alone the lives of multiple people, or even more unimaginably, the lives of children.  The whole thing is a testimony to sin and the brokenness of human nature.  

The other testimony to sin and brokenness is the fact that, despite this being more than a daily occurrence in the United States, absolutely nothing is ever done about it!  It angers me at every level.  I also will fully disclose that I loathe guns to the core of my being.  I really have no problem with hunting or sport shooting.  These are relatively benign activities, and in the case of hunting there are environmental benefits.  

It is the amassing of weaponry by citizens with all kinds of excuses that simply do not hold water.  Both the far left and right need to grapple with the reality that the United States is exceptional in gun violence.  For all the secondary factors always mentioned as reasons - mental health, poverty, white supremacy, fragile masculinity, etc. (all of which I am not saying may not be at play) - the common denominator is the ubiquity of guns. 

This post, however, is not about guns - although it sort of is.

This post is about the term that comes up every time there is a mass shooting: "Thoughts and Prayers".  There are two major misuses of this term:  The first is is when it is used as a platitude; and the second is when it is dismissed completely.

Do-Nothing Words

For as long as I can remember, as our country has dealt with gun violence, the first response of many politicians and leaders is offering these said, thoughts and prayers.  From a spiritual standpoint, this becomes a platitude.  Without action, they are meaningless words.  

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  

But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

           (James 2:14-18 NRSV) 

The words from the Epistle of James reminds us that talking about faith without providing action nullifies the act of faith.  It is a long, first century way of saying "Actions speak louder than words".  Without some works backing it up, there is no faith but empty and and meaningless words.

Dismissiveness

The other fallacy I have seen is how, in response to empty words, people will say that prayer is useless.  Just as much as using prayer as a platitude, dismissiveness fails to understand prayer.  Prayer is actually quite a powerful spiritual tool.  It is what connects us with the Divine and opens our hearts.  The Catechism of the Episcopal Church says that "Prayer is responding to God, by thoughts and deeds, with or without words." (Book of Common Prayer, 856)

To really understand prayer, one needs to pull this definition apart.  The first part says that prayer is responding to God.  This seems like a backwards way of understanding prayer.  We usually think of prayer as being human initiated.  We believe that we are talking to God and asking for something or talking about something.  This notion fails to recognize the power of God's omnipresence.  God speaks to us through our emotions.  When I talk about my own heartbreak at the news, that is God moving in my innermost being.  God can speak to us through the words of others, through Scripture, through worship, through preaching, through inner-thoughts, and countless other ways.  The impetus to kneel down and fold our hands is that God has spoken to us.  We have have to remember that we are mere vessels of God, and any sincere prayer is God-moved.  

Jumping to the last part of the definition is thinking of prayer with or without words.  Sometimes silence is the best form of prayer.  Sometimes speaking or thinking words can be valid prayer.  Also, listening to words can be valid prayer.  When we pray publicly, say in the setting of worship, we often listen to the words of a clergy-person, preacher, or intercessor, and we respond.  It is not only a solo action, but rather prayer is also a communal action.  It is an interchange between us and the Divine, through varied means.

And now, backing up to the middle part, one must think of prayer in terms of thoughts and deeds.  Prayer as deeds, speak to the words of the Epistle of James.  Prayer is action.  It is doing something in response to God.  It is following up and understanding that the conversation is ongoing.  Prayer is not just a one-off, it is a continuous exchange, where we are inspired by the Divine.

This leads me into the last part of prayer, which is about thoughts.  Thoughts may feel like the first part, and it can be too.  Thoughts, however, are the part of prayer where we are opened up and exposed.  As God moves in us, our thoughts can tell us much about how God is speaking to us.  If our thoughts are not changed through prayer (in all its forms), then we need to keep praying.  The empty platitude of "thoughts and prayers" happens because we do not pray with the openness that God will change our minds and hearts.  

Both/And

To fully understand thoughts and prayers is to understand prayer as a transformational act.  It is one in which we open ourselves up and expose our most vulnerable innermost selves to the Divine.  Prayer opens our hearts to new ideas.  And further, it is cyclical.  We pray through silence, we speak and hear words, the words inspire us to action, and the action leads us to more reflective silence.  This cycle of prayer is the ongoing interchange between each of us and all of us with the Divine.  To use Christian language, it is an Incarnational act, which brings the Divine into the physical realm - or really, in which the Divine crashes our party.  

To only say we are offering thoughts and prayers is disingenuous.  Actually offering thoughts and prayers leads to transformation and action.  At the same time to understand transformation and action as anything other than an act of prayer is also disingenuous.  Both of these are at play in this dance between the seen and unseen, the known and unknown, Creator and creature.  Our prayer is action and action is prayer.  There is no distinction or either one is incomplete.