Praying and Working

Ok,
I have not posted in a long while. I will try and do better. There are a lot of people who need prayer these days and when someone comes to me with a concern it is second nature for me to say, "I will pray for you." Many times I wish I could do more than pray and sometimes I can. Is praying enough? Don't get me wrong, praying is essential to the Christian life and prayer is doing something (it is efficacious). Many people are praying for those affected by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. It is also the job of Christians to find others ways to help those in need.  Perhaps a church can raise money together and donate to a sister church "on the front lines."
In early Christian theology many writers made a distinction between the contemplative life and the practical life. The contemplative life is often focused upon prayer, study and fasting. While the practical life focused more on the "hands on" work of ministry. It might do us good to be mindful of these distinctions and seek, as Christians, to learn the value of both. We United Methodists have a tendency to emphasize the practical, because of the nature of John Wesley's ministry(so in might be helpful for UMs to be a little more contemplative before we charge in with our pragmatic swords). The Christian faith seeks to establish both the contemplative life and the practical life as essential to a faithful Church. Pray church. Work church.

Mark