Hi-Tech Prayer

I knelt to say my bedtime prayers and began my list of those I wanted to pray for. I remember how a friend emailed today and asked for my prayers and asked if I could pass on her request to any others who I knew would pray.

I realized then that our manner of praying has changed a bit. Well, not our manner. More like our method of communication.

Years ago, back in the 70s, I had a friend in N.J. She had a prayer chain she had helped set up. Anyone who needed prayers would call someone in that chain. That person would call five others. Each, in turn, would call five more. It was wonderful. It embodied the promise that God would be in the midst of two or three who were gathered in his name. A prayer chain was a gathering, even though each person might be miles, or ever states, apart.

Today it is even more amazing. We can be continents apart. We contact each other by email, or we text, or we "chat." We can even go to specific websites where we can post our prayers, secure in the knowledge that members of that site will also be praying for our concerns.

We might have issues over inappropriate posts on the internet. We might deeply abhor the porn that flies through cyberspace. We might even detest the way bullying has been tossed around online. But we cannot deny that there are many good things, too, that have come from our computers.

Dear Father, help us please to expand the good things in our technology and to limit or control the bad things. Guide us, please, in ways we can help the good offset the bad in our computer use.