Sentiment

You are like a beautiful tree
With roots in the ground so deep
That they could never be seen.
I'm a leaf that's ready to fall.
And the wind's going to blow me,
Someday, away from it all.

I just want to write you in a song,
Put your smile on paper so you can sing along.
I just want to bottle the sun,
Keep your light a secret I can find when you are gone.

Jason Reeves, "You in a Song"

...And, yes, I am a softy sometimes.

I don't believe in the power of prayer

I believe in God, attentive to his creation, present in history.

I do not subscribe to the belief that belief itself is credible. It is not. Faith is only as reliable as its object.

"Credulity is no virtue."

Prayer itself has no power.

If there is no hearer...
If there is a hearer who is not interested in responding...
If there is a hearer who has no capacity to respond...
then prayer is a pep talk at best, willful self-deceit at worst.

I think we should not pray for the sake of praying.

I think we should pray as the consequence of the belief (no matter how tenuous) that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the God of Jesus - is attentive to His Creation and present in our human affairs.

And so I do not agree whatsoever with the statement, "I believe in the power of prayer." For I do not believe in prayer; I believe in God.