PRAYERS OF COMFORT?
Mark Galli asks "Are prayers in a time of war really about comfort?"

"...And on it goes in papers big and small, from The Washington Post to The Fresno Bee. Today's issue of The Winchester (Va.) Star reports that 'Ideally, [spiritual leaders] want to help quiet internal battles between war and peace, and between faith and politics.'

"Let me be fair: journalists are partly right. Prayer does, in fact, bring comfort to the fearful and anxious. But why are these journalists universally reporting that the whole scope of these prayer services is to bring comfort? Are the pastors telling them this? Are parishioners? Why are so many assuming that the primary purpose of prayer is to make us comfortable? Is anyone in these churches telling these journalists that they are missing the biggest story going on in these prayer meetings—that prayer actually changes things?..."

"...prayer isn't about getting us comfortable with the troubled world, but about changing it." Link to Mark Galli's article