Three Days into New Year, People Unite in Prayer

It was shocking, sickening and scary to see Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin crumple to the turf last night in the first quarter of the Bills-Cincinnati game.

Never saw a moment quite like it, while watching live sports.

The immediate, instinctive response from players, coaches, spectators, commentators, fellow athletes, media folk, etc., etc. was prayer. Heartfelt, fervent and calls for continued prayer.

I believe this response is almost entirely authentic and sincere, allowing for maybe a little posturing or bandwagoning.

And I think it tells us a lot about what we really believe about prayer, faith and God, despite what we are often told about prayer and public affirmation of faith being coercive, menacing or triggering. In fact, prayer was all we had in the first scary moments last night. All anyone had, other than a handful of medical professionals, who went to work on Damar, heroically.

I pray for Damar Hamlin’s life and recovery, and for the comfort of his mother, family and teammates. They need our prayers, and so do we.