READING A PRAYER

This week I was offered the opportunity to say the closing prayer at a community Good Friday service. 

Knowing that I sometimes verbally stumble around in my public prayers, I decided to go into the evening prepared.

I first Googled "Good Friday prayers" and scrolled through several pages looking for the perfect prayer.

I got bupkis.

Then a 2023-inspired thought popped into my head: Let's see what ChatGPT might come up with.

Honestly, the prayer written by AI was better than a lot of the others I was reading on line, so I emailed myself the text intending to simply read it off my phone ... while all heads were bowed.

But as the service approached, I felt weirder and weirder about reading a prayer written by AI. I went back and forth in my mind. Was it really any different than reading one written by some other human?

Not really.

Then it hit me: THAT was the problem - reading a prayer.

I know there's a time and place where that might be appropriate, but in my opinion it most often turns the prayer into a ceremony when it ought to be ... communion with God.

Or at least an attempt at communion with Him. 

I decided I would rather offer the genuineness of an impromptu prayer even if the price is a few awkward pauses and some verbal gaffes. 

(I ended up basing my prayer on a passage of Scripture which I had open in front of me.)