(The following has been inspired in part by wisdom found in John Devries book “Why Pray?”)

This Sunday afternoon, many of us from Calvary will gather with leaders and members from other churches in the DC area to “Pray for the City.” One question that may come with such an event is why? Why are doing this? Why pray rather than getting out there and start doing some work? What are the goals of our prayers? What happens if God doesn’t seem to answer?

These types of questions are often associated with prayer. It is hard to understand at times the exact purpose and power of prayer, especially if we have prayed for something that does not go as we hoped.

So does it pay to pray? This question might be natural for any business person seeking accountability and efficiency in their operations. “We don’t do it unless it pays!”

But perhaps prayer doesn’t pay – at least not like that – and maybe that’s not why we do it.

A fair analogy might be to ask “does it pay to talk to your spouse?” I know there are a lot of jokes that could come next, but is that why we talk to our spouse, our kids, our friends? Does it pay? Or do we do it because we love them?

In our human relationships when we talk something through sometimes we get our way, sometimes we compromise, and sometimes we lose. This definitely gets trickier in our relationship with God, after all he KNOWS what is best. But one thing is certain – the relationship is strengthened by communication. It helps us to know each other and it is an expression of love, opening our hearts our lives and our desires, and seeking to hear from another.

As we gather to pray it is a faithful act drawing us closer in spirit and closer to our creator. And we can pray with assurance that God will act and lead his Church just as he has always done.