Let me ask you this: is it customary to bring a card to a celebration event (retirement party, birthday party, wedding party, baptism) to show your congratulations and support to the guest(s) of honor?

Of course, and furthermore I think it’s pretty fair to say that it's both right and good to abide by our culturally established traditions (ie giving cards in the example here) when looking to show support or gratitude or praise, etc. Why?

Because we’re human, and God has designed us in such a way as to be able to derive special meaning and value from outward signs, rituals, traditions, customs, tokens—even if we know those things have no intrinsic meaning in and of themselves. For example, a card is just a folded piece of thick paper with letters and a picture on it, right? It doesn’t have meaning in and of itself. We give things like cards though because of the culturally-established meaning they have.

Furthermore, it’s also true that we go out of our way to make sure that what we give (and the meaning it has) matches what is expected or asked from us. To do otherwise wouldn’t make sense. So here, if someone uses the registry to call upon us to pray for them, it makes sense to offer your intercessory prayers for them using the registry; after all, that’s part and parcel of why they put it on the registry in the first place.

If all that isn’t reason enough, then let me add this. Knowing how simple it is to use the registry so we can show our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who put their prayers here that you are praying for them, what would it say and mean to them if we just….didn’t take the time to show them we’ve prayed for them?

Far be it from me to imply that it’s necessary to use this registry to pray. What I will suggest is that a Community Prayer Registry can easily allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to not only extend the reach of their prayer requests, but also derive the emotional and psychological benefits we as humans get from being able to see outward (and here digital) signs of the spiritual support others give us.

May the Holy Spirit inspire and guide us to use this Community Prayer Registry for the benefit of ourselves and others!