"Religion is responsibility, or it is nothing at all."--Jacques Derrida

One one occasion he happened to be praying some place.  When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us how topiary, just as John taught his disciples."

He said to them, when you pray, you should say:

Father, your name be revered.
Impose your imperial rule.
Provide us with the bread we need day by day.
Forgive our sins, since we too forgive everyone in debt to us.
And please don't subject us to test after test.

--Luke 11:1-4, SV

Let the reader understand.

Still nothing to add, except to note what Allison said, and to pick it up where Thought Criminal left off:

Prayer is sweeping the front porch.

Prayer is poetry, too, but poetry meant to spur action: Singing to a god of the glory of its creation, calling others to that glory, using the only voice a poet has to bring people together for a common purpose. Prayer does something.

Prayer is love, and love is work, or it is nothing. Anyone can sing a song.

And prayer like that has moved mountains and it has built cities and it has brought the walls of Jericho down. Prayer like that would take the events of today and shake the foundations of this country until our fear-mad politics and our angry, resentful culture came tumbling down, too. Prayer like that would pass laws. Prayer like that would make this one the last one.

So when we say our prayers are with the victims of a crime, we’d better mean our backs are bent to work to help them, or we’re not talking about our prayers.

And let the people say, "Amen."