Prayer is an action

A few days ago someone commented that offering our prayers for the people of Moore, Ok was empty sentiment which is hollow.  I have always thought that prayer is an action we do when there is nothing else we can do.  We have been told here not to leave the state (we are close by) without having a specific job because we will only add to the burden of who needs to be taken care of and there are workers there who are skilled. 

So what do we do?  Shut up and not offer up our prayers?  Prayer is our action in relation to God.  It is what we offer and do when we see events that are too much for us to process, when there is too much sorrow experienced and seen, when there is too much pain we offer it to God.  All of it wrapped up in prayers of care and concern for our neighbor.  After all wouldn't it be nice to know after all you have been through that there are people praying for you. 

We lift up fragile, frail words not expecting the answer to come, but knowing we are already known and loved.  It is so much more than just sentiment because it is a holy and sacred act.  Connecting us to the source of life, to the one who has known sorrow, to the one who knows death and knows it is not the end of everything. 

1 Corinthians 15:50-55

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

⁵⁰ My friends, I want you to know that our bodies of flesh and blood will decay. This means that they cannot share in God’s kingdom, which lasts forever. ⁵¹ I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed. ⁵² It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. ⁵³ Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. ⁵⁴ The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the Scriptures will come true,

“Death has lost the battle!
⁵⁵ Where is its victory?
    Where is its sting?”