Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Monday, March 16, 2015
Day #23 – Social Media? Share, Like, Pray!
Ooo, I could really sink my teeth into today’s suggestion! When on social media, paging through Facebook or scrolling down my Twitter feed, the suggestion is: pray!
Not as much with social media, but certainly with news stories? I have done this on a fairly regular basis, for years. Especially when I am confronted with a particularly horrific photo, or meaningful portrait, or heartrending narrative, I pray. Sometimes I even touch the photo or the words or names of those involved when I pray. And later, when I get up and go away from my computer, the images or names or situations come back to me. And, I pray some more.
To tell the truth, I’ve kept quiet about this aspect of my computer use. It wasn’t something I would trumpet about. Instead, for years, I liked the fact that it was a quiet ministry, an intimate connection that I made with these people and these situations. Sometimes they could be in different parts of the United States. Sometimes in different parts of the world. But every so often, I felt a visceral contact with a person far away.
So much is in the news today. From the cyclone Pam that devastated a Pacific archipelago to the skirmishes with the Islamic State in Iraq, and nearer to home, continued drug-fueled violence, new findings of racial inequality, and a hotly-contested mayoral election in Chicago. Much to pray about! And, sometimes, we just need to leave things in God’s hands.
As today’s post said so clearly, it does not matter whether we are praying for people who are happy or sad, whether our feelings are up or down, or whether we pray for our fellow social media “scrollers and trollers,”
The three suggestions at the end of today’s post are all excellent. Please, pick one of them. And from time to time—as you read social media, Twitter, look at photos on Facebook or Instagram, or read or watch the news—please, pray. God has promised to hear, to respond, to encourage, love, support and comfort. Thank God for that!
Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.
(Check out #40acts; doing Lent generously at www.40acts.org.uk )
Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind. @chaplaineliza And read #40acts sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er .
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