When I finally joined a church (after years of facetiously describing myself as a lapsed Unitarian) I did so because I found a home. I found a community where I could belong. The church I joined is Episcopalian and I describe it as being theologically conservative and socially and politically liberal. The congregation is mostly middle class, although there are a number of political movers and shakers and occasional homeless people. What still moves me is that during my baptism part of the service has God saying, "this is my beloved child with whom I am well pleased". It's brought me comfort and happiness. I do pray, but I don't really expect an answer; perhaps the act of praying itself gives me what I need.

perhaps the act of praying itself gives me what I need.

This most accurately sums up my thoughts on prayer.

Whenever people talk about prayers being answered, I am reminded of this joke.

One day, there was a huge rainstorm, and it was clear that there would be flooding. A very devout man lived in this town. His neighbor stopped by and said "we're going out of town, would you like a ride?" He said "no, God will take care of me". The water began to rise. When it was up to the second floor of his house, a man came by in a boat, and said "I have room if you want to come with me" And the man said "no, God will take care of me". Finally, the water had risen so high that he was sitting on his roof. A helicopter flew over and they threw down a ladder, saying "climb up!" he said, "no, God will take care of". And so the water rose, and he drowned. When he got to heaven, he said "God, why didn't you take care of me" and God said "I sent a neighbor, a boat and a helicopter, what else did you want!"

Which I take to mean that, if you pray, you need to pay attention and take opportunities as they present themselves, because God doesn't always work in flashes of lightning and angels.

And Ginger, I'm sorry that the phrase "after a long battle" hits you that way. Is it any help to remember that sometimes we lose battles?

History rarely celebrates the achievements of the losing side.

You've had an unfortunate abundance of health problems too. Did you ever really feel you were actively battling your way to health? From my point of view, I felt like I did help pick a path, but after that my job was to put one foot in front of the other. It was nothing so active or heroic as battle.

Yeah. I used to listen to music and sing along as a way to de-stress and calm myself down, and then I noticed that I always started by having to think a lot about the phrasing and messing up a lot of things, but by the time I got to the end of an album, it was much less difficult, and the effect would carry over into regular speaking for at least a little while. It doesn't last long, though, and in order to keep it going for a little while, I usually have to kind of run the songs through my head while breathing as if I were singing them, until it's my turn to talk.

Remember that article about people re-wiring their brains using mirrors and the body part that was working correctly? I wonder if this exercise could start to do that if a person did it consistently. Once a day, twice a day... something like that.

My BFF has Vampire Weekend on her Amazon wish list. Is it bad that I want to buy it JUST because it has a song called "Oxford Comma" (of course, the chorus is "who the fuck cares about the Oxford Comma", which is not the message that I want to send, but still)

It just shows that you're one of us.

perhaps the act of praying itself gives me what I need.

This most accurately sums up my thoughts on prayer.

Me too.

My Mom does this thing she calls a prayer diet. When she's feeling overwhelmed with her life she'll pray only prayers of thanksgiving for two weeks.

There's also the notion that a prayer is an act of love. When you pray for someone (not in the antagonistic pray-for-god-to-fix-the-evil-sinner way) you are loving them in their time of trouble.

Thanks for the discussion y'all! I'm about to hit a bar for an after work drink so I'm out-you know what they say about religion and bars.

Yeah, I'm headed home to a glass of wine in a few minutes myself!