“Our Facebook, who art on the Internet, followed be thy pages . . . “ Social media prayer is a thing now, right? But how to ask for prayers on social media. No–wait: more important why do we ask for them?
Don’t worry: this isn’t a screed on the devilish dangers of social media. It’s too easy to locate trouble and place blame in structures and technologies beyond us. Our modern problems do not lurk in apps or software. In truth, our modern problems are not modern at all. Our “modern” problems reside deep within us, where they have always hidden. Social media merely puts us—and our problems—on display with astonishing speed and reach. In one respect Facebook and its many children have provided a new outlet, social media prayer, or Facebook prayers.
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Social media is like any other technology, a device capable of good or ill. It’s a tool to be wielded well or to hinder the real work of living life wisely. Social media is a comfort to the shut-in, and a means to share everyday joys; it is also the latest platform for fears and fools to find expression.
What was formerly the province of what was called a “prayer closet” is now an opportunity to broadcast our prayers around the world in search of someone who will hear. Prayer has always been difficult because we have so often felt alone—in the very place we are told to pour out our hearts before God. In prayer, when we meet the silence of God, we usually fill the silence with our own words. With social media, others will fill the silence for us.
We go to social media to know we are not alone. We post our Facebook prayers because we will certainly get some kind of answer.
TYPICAL OF FACEBOOK PRAYERS: You guys! I’m going in for a job interview today. Please pray that I get this job because I really need it.
TYPICAL REPLIES:
- You’ve got this!
- Hugs to you, I’m praying.
- Don’t worry: God’s in control.
These answers, well-meaning but completely powerless, feel better than no answer at all, which is what we often think we get from God. Traditional prayer is the place we bump into the silence of God. Facebook prayers are how we fill the void apart from the still small voice of the Spirit.
